Director Daniel Goldhaber‘s psychological thriller CAM premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival and has set the bar when it comes to films that has the internet as an integral part of the film. CAM focuses on Alice Ackerman (played by Madeline Brewer) who plays a cam-girl named Lola who strives to be the best cam girl on a site called Free Girls Live. After putting on some exciting, thrilling and horrific live shows for her clients who tip her by tokens and raises her status, things start to go south quickly. One day she is unable to get into her account and an exact replica of herself continues to do the show without her. Alice then begins to struggle with her cam girl world and her real world where they start to stressfully intermesh. What really stands out in CAM is that the film is actually easy on the eyes rather than strainful. The film is so fast paced that the internet and Alice’s cam-girl universe becomes noticeably unnoticeable and blends in well for the duration and the tone of the film. FERNTV spoke to director Daniel Goldhaber to discuss CAM which recently was acquired from Netflix.
FERNTV: Tell us here at FERNTV what inspired CAM?
Daniel: CAM came about when Isa and I were working together a few years ago. I was shooting some pornography for her and started spending time with her before and after work. Her life as a camgirl was fascinating: her shows, her fans, her costumes. We began talking and she spoke to me about her desire to share this subculture with the world, and more than that, to show a wider audience that sex work is just… work. We toyed with the idea of doing a documentary, but ended up feeling that genre was maybe a better way to deliver our message. We wanted to make a fun, exciting, thriller, where maybe you don’t even realize how subversive it is while you’re watching it.
FERNTV: Can you tell us briefly why you chose Madeline Brewer for the part of Lola who is a sex worker in the film and what that whole casting process was like?
Daniel: Casting was difficult. Because of the subject matter, we were often turned down by agents who hadn’t even bothered to send the script to their clients. My dad actually saw Madeline in an episode of Black Mirror and recommended her to me. As soon as Isa and I saw her, we were convinced. We met with her before she came into audition, and she was so enthusiastic, smart and articulate. She understood exactly what we were trying to do both politically and creatively. Once she came in to read, we knew she was perfect: she completely nailed the audition.
FERNTV: For those who are not in the know, who did most of your computer programming for the film?
Daniel: We had a fully functional site built by CHIPS NYC, designed by Teddy Blanks and developed by Dan Shields. It was important to us that Madeline have a live chat to interact with, not only to get the eyelines right but also to replicate what it’s actually like to be a camgirl and be bombarded with messages and gifs and emojis all the time. The site chats were scripted by Isa and Isabelle Link-Levy, our producer. In addition to everything else she did for the film, Isabelle also literally operated the site on set, queuing the messages in real-time as we shot.
FERNTV: Did you receive any advice or follow a template when it came to shooting computer screens and programs for the film?
Daniel: There weren’t many examples to pull from. It was important to us that the film replicate the fun, hyper-stimulated feeling of using technology, and for that, I thought it would be best to cut between the Alexa and then these punched-in go-pro shots of the webcam feed. I wanted the webcam world to feel slightly grainier, so we shot those entirely on go-pros. We wanted the shots of the computers to feel fun and exciting. In the edit, we looked at David Fincher and Damien Chazelle cutting patterns, but frequently had no real prior work to rely on. It was exciting––like we were on the new frontier of a different kind of cinematic language.
FERNTV: Briefly describe one of the biggest challenge you had in the film?
Daniel: It was incredibly difficult choreographing the final face-off during the climax of the film. During pre-production we had the entire office set up to replicate that scene, with all the cameras, mirrors and computer screens, just trying to see if we could get it to work. Figuring out the mirroring-infinity effect, and then how long the lag should be, was quite a challenge too. It needed to feel as close to life as possible and that turned out to be very complicated.
FERNTV: From your perspective, is there a message or part of the film that matters the most?
Daniel: For both Isa and I, from the outset of the film, it was extremely important to have an audience empathize with a sex worker, and to have them view her sex work the same way they might view any other profession. We hope to help de-stigmatize camming and other sex work, and to demonstrate the ambition and creative fulfillment that Alice brings to each of her shows, much like any other creative professional might do. We also wanted to warn audiences never to order the Guacamole Queso Sorpreso at a restaurant.
FERNTV: Tell us about Netflix acquiring your film and how that all came about?
Daniel: Netflix saw the film, immediately understood our message, and were very excited about bringing it to the large audience on their platform. We are so thrilled that it will be available to so many people.
FERNTV: How does it feel to be part of Fantasia this year?
Daniel: We were so excited to be a part of Fantasia. The audiences were incredible, the city was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. It was a total honor to premiere our film alongside the amazing talent present at the festival, and we really hope to return again in the future.
Fernando Fernandez is a graduate of Environmental Studies at York University in Toronto. He became interested in entertainment journalism in the late 2000s writing for online startups. He founded FERNTV in 2009 and focused mainly on the film industry. With over a thousand interviews conducted with all walks of life in film, he is still learning as if every day is day one.
