An interview with fledgling filmmakers, Donavan Seschillie and Deidra Peaches

NAICA: Donavan how did you meet Deidre?
Donavan: Thomas Elementary School in Flagstaff, Arizona is where I first met Deidra Peaches. We were about 6 or 7 at the time and from there our little friendship kind of bloomed. Also we lived in the same area not too far from each other and as kids we would get together and play small games, such as running around with toy guns or playing tackle football with her brothers and among other friends.

NAICA: Deidre how did you meet Donavan?
Deidra: I first met Donavan in elementary school. We lived in the same apartment complex so it was just a matter of time before we would meet. I even remember that in the summer, we would play guns and Donavan was always the “Arms Dealer.”

NAICA: When did you know you wanted to be filmmakers?
Donavan: Well it was in 1998 when Saving Private Ryan was released in my local theater. During the first opening act I was blown away. Then and there I wanted to become a filmmaker. The camera style is what took me in because most of the movie was shot hand held specifically the battle scenes, which I loved, and I kind of adopted that style into my short films. I tried to incorporate that gritty look, mixed in with surround sound, but I was a kid, never hurts to dream.
Deidra: It started off with me wanting to be a comedian. I would watch Adam Sandler movies and would always laugh at all of his jokes. From there, I moved on to wanting to be on SNL. I would see Steve Martin Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and laugh my socks off. From that point on, I became very infatuated with media. So, when film making came about, I saw it as a way to dream outside the box and create something out of nothing.

NAICA: When did you start working together as collaborators?
Donavan: We started working together one summer when we were in middle school, about 7th or 8th grade. I had an old Sony 8mm tape camera that I borrowed from my Uncle Jason and in order to pass time, numerous friends came together and we decided to make movies that ranged from action, comedy, and even montages that I would edit together with 2 VCR’S.
Deidra: I think that it started in early high school, or maybe late middle school. I started working with Donavan because a lot of his friends were my friends too.

NAICA: What are your hopes, as far as film making goes, five years into the future?
Donavan: In five years I’d like to hope that I'll be making more short films or maybe even a feature length film, but I don't really look that far ahead, kind of hard for me to think about, since I'm only 19, turning 20 this year, which is scary.
Deidra: I hope to establish myself as a filmmaker and to also create whatever films I choose to make.

NAICA: Who are some of your favorite filmmakers (Native and non-Native) working today?
Donavan: Well my favorite and greatest filmmaker is Martin Scorsese, no one can beat his storytelling skills, well maybe Dances With Wolves, which beat out Goodfellas during the 1991 Oscars for Best Picture, which was an OUTRAGE!!! Just kidding, I like Dances With Wolves, but with Martin Scorsese’s depiction of violence and criminals, it always moved me because we dive into the criminal mind, and we think they're good guys; we feel sorry for them in the end, if you can persuade an audience to feel sorry for the bad guys, that's a skill that any director would kill for.
Deidra: My favorite filmmaker would have to be Michel Gondry. I am very intrigued by his use of imagination in his films. My favorite Native filmmaker would have to be Dustinn Craig. I like what he is doing for the youth in his community and I like the cinematic style he has in his films.

NAICA: What do you hope to get out of the film school experience?
Donavan: I hope to achieve a better understanding of what I'm doing with camera movements and sharpen my storytelling skills. But then again you can do it without film school. Just take's practice, technique, and experiments with different styles.
Deidra: Access to equipment.

NAICA: You participated in a "Navajo Cinema" screening on the reservation, how do you think that went as far as convincing the nation there could be a cinematic movement within their community?
Donavan: I think it opened their eyes that young people are creating works just like the older generation. I hope it went well, since I was absent during the screening, because I was having a great time starting my freshman year of college. Hell of a time that was.
Deidra: I feel that more out reach is needed. I think that so far only a slight percentage of my community has actually got a glimpse of the work that we do. However, I feel that any screening that has attendance is a positive outcome for us independent no-budget filmmakers.

NAICA: Today people conflate digital video with film though both are radically different from each other. Have you had the opportunity to work with real film stock and if not do you feel you are missing out on something fundamental to film making?
Donavan: I haven't worked with a real film camera before, but I want to since the history of cinema was started with film and it shouldn't end because digital is cheaper and smaller. But in my opinion, film has this fluid image, almost romantic in a way, it has so much depth and feeling in every frame that draws people in. So I hope to work with celluloid before it’s taken over by digital video.
Deidra: Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to use film. Yet, I don’t feel like I am really missing out on any fundamentals of filmmaking. I feel that by using a DV-camera, I am actually able to improve my techniques. You could buy a five dollar tape and record an hours worth of footage. While with film, you could record that same hour and be obligated to pay thousands of dollars for development and editing.

NAICA: As young people who have grown up in the digital age what do you see as its merits in terms of media making?
Donavan: Well because of digital it's becoming easier to make films about anything. You can make a documentary about walking to school everyday and post it on the Internet, that‘s how easy it is now and it‘s a good thing. Today, I think it's cool, I mean not too long ago I saw plenty of short films on YouTube and I was surprise because kids my age were making films like Collateral or Heat-two R-rated films that influenced 12 year old kids! So it’s nice to see because it reminds me of my roots as a young filmmaker hoping to make it big.


NAICA: How did you guys come up with the idea for the video for Real Love by the Beatles and why did you choose that song?
Donavan: Deidra had the idea and the imagery. She gave me the song, and I played the track over and over about 100 times in one day trying to piece it together. I knew what she wanted. I just captured it. It took us two weeks to film with four different actors. The main character in the film is actually three different actors. You can't see their faces since they’re covered with the paper bag-the paper bags were free from the local grocery store-neat low budget trick.
Deidra: First I came up with the concept of people who all look the same. Then I thought, “well with paper bags you can sorta have that effect.” Next, I told Donavan the story that I was brainstorming, and he suggested to use the track Real Love by the Beatles. For a while, Donavan had been wanting to use that track and with the paper bag concept, he decided that would be the one.

NAICA: Do you write a lot of your own ideas?
Donavan: Yeah, we do. We go to Denny's late at night and just throw out possible movie ideas that we can film with little or no budget. The hardest one's to do, and most expensive, are probably the action flicks, which I love to direct and edit. But time and laws prohibit some of the scenes I would like to do; like cops raiding a drug house, or an action star jumping on top of a car and gunning it to 88 because local residents would see 16 - 17 year olds running around with fake toy guns, and me with a camcorder. At the time I thought the residents were smart enough to see that I was making a movie, but they decided to call the cops. So when the cops arrived they drew guns on us and threaten us to shoot our heads off. Very nice people since they let us finished our shot.

NAICA: If you were to get a grant for a full-length feature film would you both get credit as directors or would one of you direct and the other would produce-sort of like the Coen Brothers?
Donavan: I wouldn't mind that, unless we join the DGA or something, then they probably wouldn’t let us do it. But we throw in ideas for different scenes, and the actors and crew also give me insight on how it should go. All in all it's teamwork, everyone’s suggestions are equally important.
Deidra: Most of the time me and Donavan flip a coin to see who is director or producer. Sometimes we have little contest and what not to see who will actually take the cheese. For example, for the Real Love film, Donavan and I had a Guitar Hero battle.

NAICA: Are you to just friends, related, or dating?
Donavan: Umm I guess you could say we're related by clans but not sure how the formula goes for that. You can say we're good friends, almost like a brother and sister relationship, but not. A good example is like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, they communicate with just looks and they know what the other wants.
Deidra: I am shock. How absurd, speculating that our creativity is in fact due to a intimate relationship.

NAICA: Do you foresee a long career as collaborators or do you think you will move on after some growing up?
Donavan: I do hope we collaborate on projects. I mean, how selfish is it to leave a friend behind who helped define your skill in filmmaking to pursue your own agenda? I don't think it's right. But we do grow up, and time is changing so time will tell. But I highly doubt we won't move on.
Deidra: Due to youth constraints, I feel that I am not entitled to provide a reasonable/mature commit at the given time.


NAICA: Would you rather win an Independent Spirit award or an Oscar?
Donavan: I would like to win both just so I can shove it in the faces of people who told me, "You can't do it".
Naw, I'm kidding, but I would like to win both just to have something to show in the display case and tell my kids, "See this? This is the most expensive door stop ever made, and someday you'll win one too."
Good role model eh, but I'm in for respect and not really just the statue, because Martin Scorsese finally won an Oscar last year and it even surprised him. So winning or not, it's not going to change our stance, my stance, on filmmaking, which is for the love of it.
Deidra: Oscar.

NAICA: Would you rather screen your first feature screen at Cannes, Toronto Film Festival or Sundance?
Donavan: Oh wow... tough choice... for now our goal is Sundance, since it's closer and we can travel by car. Then the Toronto Film Fest, hoping we'll get jobs and buy our own plane ticket, then finally Cannes...wherever that is.
Deidra: Cannes.

NAICA: What do you make of the Native cinema movement?
Donavan: It's a good thing. It's like the French New Wave but with natives. Because different people are making movies from their view points... some good... some bad. All in all, I hope it'll continue because I'm always fascinated what other filmmakers can bring to the table.


NAICA: Would you shy away from the label "Native director" even if your films screened at Native cinema film festivals?
Donavan: Well, from what other people have told me, it's better to have your work stand on its own rather than being showcased as a Native director because there are certain people that have been labeled "Native directors" whose films were shown at Sundance, and in my opinion, weren’t well made. But because they're Native they get screened at Sundance, and I don't see the quality that's put in as far as production values go. I don't want to point fingers or bad mouth others, but that's how I feel about the "Native" label. And in the end I always shy away from being called a Native Director, because my work would like to speak for itself in craft rather than the ethnicity of the director.
Deidra: Well it really depends on what your definition is for a “Native Director.”

NAICA: Do you think networking sites like Myspace and Facebook are a good way to market your work or a waste of time?
Donavan: Both a good waste of time and show off some work, but I mostly use youTube as a good source for showing films because there are many young kids like ourselves giving away helpful hints on equipment and special effects. As for Myspace, I mostly use it for friends and family, rarely for my films and such.


NAICA: Who do you think will win the Democratic nomination: Obama or Hilary?
Donavan: I'm not too much into politics. Must be the young ideology of not caring for presidents huh? Plus I rarely watch news coverage, because it depresses me, it’s like a front row seat on watching society tearing itself apart, not my cup of tea. So I guess neither.
Deidra: Conan O’Brien