An Interview with Andy Bond

Andy Gately and Andy Bond, director of Information, Lullaby, shoot the breeze about film, comedy and the AUFF ‘06 screening.

AUFF: Hi Andy, thanks for talking to us.

AB: No problem. Thanks for askin’.

AUFF: So, what was the last film you paid to see in theaters?

AB: X-Men 3.

AUFF: What’d you think?

AB: It was terrible.

AUFF: I’m always surprised when Brett Ratner continues to get work. Do you feel that you’re especially influenced by any contemporary filmmakers?

AB: Werner Herzog, Jem Cohen and Errol Morris. Their influences are the most apparent in my work.

AUFF: Your film Information, Lullaby just screened in Austin. Was that your first time to visit the city?

AB: Yes it was. I loved it. The food was great. Public access TV was the best.

AUFF: Any stand-out shows?

AB: I saw one episode of Reel Women. They interviewed Kelley Baker. I loved it; it was very inspiring for an aspiring filmmaker. I was familiar with [conspiracy theorist] Alex Jones already.

AUFF: We got some good submissions from Reel Women. Alex is always entertaining. I enjoyed his cameo in [Richard Linklater's] Waking Life, you catch that?

AB: God yes. I heard it got a standing ovation somewhere. I wish I was in that audience.

AUFF: I bet you’re looking forward to A Scanner Darkly.

AB: The light on the horizon as far as this summer looks.

AUFF: Alex’s films are put out by Sacred Cow, the same production company Bill Hicks helped to start. I understand you’re a fan of his?

AB: He’s one of my heroes. Finding his work in high school made the outside world seem less lonely.

AUFF: Did you get a chance to go to Capitol City Comedy Club [formerly the Laff Stop] or any of his old stomping grounds?

AB: I had a couple places plotted out but didn’t end up going there. I wanted to have my own experience of Austin first. I’ll get around to it though.

AUFF: Before the show my brother, Mike Z and I were remembering Hicks’ infamous Chicago show, where he goes off on the unappreciative crowd. Seen that bootleg?

AB: Yes I have. My LiveJournal icon is him jumping across the stage at that show. My girlfriend made me a button that says “I’M A DRUNK CUNT!”

AUFF: She sounds like a keeper.

AB: She’s something special.

AUFF: Of the many things [Denis] Leary stole from him, I always found it amazing that he even stole his angry dance.

AB: Mediocrity holds sway.

AUFF: Indeed. I thought for sure that someone would call him out at his Comedy Central Roast, but they missed the chance yet again. What did you think of the reception of your movie at the Austin Underground Film Fest?

AB: Most I’ve talked to liked it.

AUFF: How did this screening of Information, Lullaby compare to others?

AB: Very similar. Everyone seems to be watching mostly in silence, I hope thinking and absorbing it in. And I have no clue how it goes over until someone comes and talks to me about it. In all of its screenings it has been in a line up of very different films. No one really gut laughs at it but I can’t help but giggle at it.

AUFF: Got any new projects on the table? I enjoyed your film about Lucifer, as well as the one where you confront religious picketers.

AB: Ah yes, Crosswalk. And The Adventures of Satan Incarnate. The latter originally aired on Ball State University Late Night, a student comedy show I was on.

AUFF: Have you screened Crosswalk yet?

AB: Yes.

AUFF: How’d it go over?

AB: It won best Documentary at Frog Baby Film Festival.

AUFF: Congrats.

AB: Thanks. Jesus always gets a huge laugh.

AUFF: Did any of the other films at AUFF stand out for you?

AB: All the films were pretty solid. The ones I admire the most were the ones that were beyond just a film. As filmmakers with the political/social ideas we address, we try to at least cause conversation or get the audience to think, whereas [Andy Medlin's] Meditation on the Speed Limit was already affecting the real world. I enjoyed that one. They not only took action by presenting a film, but they made a statement just making the film.

AUFF: Kind of returning filmmaking itself into a revolutionary act?

AB: Well, they’re documenting their act to pass it on, further than that moment they acted. Now, speaking as a visual artist, I felt the concentration wasn’t on a visual aesthetic with the majority of the films. Which is fine, but that’s where I differ from the other filmmakers.

AUFF: That was one reason we played your film, because you clearly put so much thought into the editing, compositions, and color choices

AB: The visual communication of cinema is closer to how I think than other art forms. I’m not a very good writer, especially academically. My sister’s in library school and my mother works at a library, and my dad’s a photographer.

AUFF: Good stock.

AB: So I ended up being the most visual one.

AUFF: Do you paint or photograph?

AB: I just got my Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in drawing. At Ball State Art is a pretty general major though. I did everything from printmaking to painting to sculpture to video art.

AUFF: Your use of sound is also worth mentioning. Was postproduction on your piece a pretty lengthy process, with all the layers of audio and visual?

AB: Not as much as it sounds. Like it says at the end of the piece “all footage and sound found by.”

AUFF: I think I caught a Nader clip in there, wasn’t it?

AB: Yeah, slowed down and run though some filters.

AUFF: Gave it quite an apocalyptic edge.

AB: Gloom and doom.

AUFF: Where do you look for such source material?

AB: Turn on the TV. And search for specific things on the web. “Commercial” was a word I used a lot. That rave-like loop during the first part is actually a loop Fox News uses.

AUFF: That reminds me of something [comedian] Patton Oswalt said about “the Republicans stealing rock ‘n’ roll from us.” You turn on liberal NPR, its all folk music transitions, you turn on The O’Reilly Factor, it’s an electric guitar playing the national anthem over the Fox logo.

AB: Oh yeah. It’s entertainment, not news. The music I found helped me view it as a dance number when editing.

AUFF: That’s an interesting way to look at your film, a dance.

AB: Yeah, the two halves have different movements about them. The second to me is more elegant and smooth and flowing. Have you ever seen Network?

AUFF: “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

AB: Yes. I saw it for the first time about a month ago, and in the context of today its pretty scary, ’cause what happened in the movie really happened to news. The developing department merged with the news department. Now it seem like most of what is broadcast is an op-ed piece. They inform with a smirk on their face. And that’s a pretty literal statement.

AUFF: When you use news clips, are you ever concerned about copyright issues with your films, ala Sonic Outlaws?

AB: Yes. I am learning a lot about it. But I don’t let it affect what I want to do in the piece. I’ll worry about the legal stuff when I’m finished with what it was I wanted to communicate. I’m not familiar with Sonic Outlaws.

AUFF: It’s a documentary chronicling the band Negativland’s struggle with copyright lawsuits from U2, whom they sample from.

AB: Yeah, free use laws are very blurry.

AUFF: I found we have a shared interest in the Disinformation group.

AB: The show would have been one of the most important things on TV had it been picked up and actually shown.

AUFF: What are your favorite releases by them?

AB: There is a lot they’ve published which I haven’t gotten my hands on yet. I look forward to reading the Book of Lies. The Everything You Know Is Wrong anthology is great. And the 50 Things You’re Not Supposed To Know’s are great little books for the disinfo on the go. They’ve introduced me to so much - Robert Anton Wilson, [Documentary Filmmaker Robert] Greenwald’s work, Kenneth Anger.

AUFF: Gotta love Scorpio Rising.

AB: My friend finally found all his films.

AUFF: Wow, did he just collect them individually?

AB: I’m not sure exactly. I just know we’re working our way through them all.

AUFF: That should keep you busy for awhile. Well, thanks so much for your time, Andy. Any last thoughts, shout-outs, or advice to readers?

AB: Well first of all thanks to you and the rest at AUFF. I had a blast. As far as the legal issues with this type of work, just remember that Fair Use allows “comment and criticism.” I would hope that you would be able to quote as well, using video. I do think copyright law by definition is limiting what an artist can do. The possibilities of cinema and all art are infinite, so this is something that needs to be addressed. Specifically with Information, Lullaby I’m sending it to festivals to get it out there and seen, and I am keeping it available online for viewing. I’m not going to push to earn money off it; to me the ideas are more important for people to think about. I’ll have sustenance with other work.

AUFF: Thanks for letting us screen your work, and I look forward to seeing more of your art in the future!

AB: I’m sure you’ll see more. Thank you.

-conducted by Andy Gately on May 30th, 2006