FANTASIA 2019: INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JORDAN GRAHAM

Sometimes in short films, the director would wear all the hats in its production and perhaps even be the main actor in the film.  In a full length feature though, its rare that the director would have his hands in all facets of the production of a film.  Aside from being an actor in the film, director Jordan Graham became a man of all hats for his debut feature film Sator which took over five years to make.  This slow burner follows Adam, played by Gabe Nicholson who lives in the deep forest by himself and only has two sources of human contact which is his brother Pete, played by Michael Daniel, who visits once in a while and his grandmother who is played by June Peterson.  Adam starts to become curiously obsessed with the spirit of Sator in which his grandmother summons and has quite the interaction with.  Nevertheless, Sator has a deadly trick up its sleave as director Jordan Graham takes you on a deep yet observational journey of this malevolent spirit.  FERNTV caught up with Jordan Graham to discuss this personal project of his in which he truly put his blood, sweat and tears into.

FERNTV:  You were mentioning back at the Q&A at Fantasia that the subject matter of your film Sator was inspired by what your family encountered for many generations.  Can you briefly explain that?

Jordan:  My great-great-grandmother had voices in her head that landed her in a psychiatric hospital. My great-grandmother also heard voices which caused her to commit suicide. In July 1968, my grandmother, who was 40 at the time, came into possession of an Ouija board and became obsessed with it. She conjured up a bunch of “spirits” that all had names and different character traits, but the one who was in charge was Sator. Throughout that summer, she learned how to communicate with him without needing the board through what she called “automatic writings.”  By the end of the summer, Sator made her do some things I’m not ready to share, but it did land her in a psychiatric hospital. While making this film, I stumbled upon all the automatic writings (which my family thought she had burned) in her closet and a thousand-page journal documenting Sator and her journey with him. After reading it, I knew I had to incorporate him into this film.

FERNTV:  The film was experimental in many ways as well it had a documentary-like lens when focusing on Sator.  Can you comment on why you did that in the film?

Jordan:  My grandfather is mentioned quite a bit in this film, but he passed over a decade ago so he obviously couldn’t be a part of it. My mom had a stack of old Hi8 home movies from 20 years ago transferred to DVD and I was just watching them one day for fun. I came across a tape of a birthday party in the house that I used as a location in the film, and there was my grandfather! The way he and my grandmother were filmed made it possible for me to create a scene using that footage. So I went out and bought the exact same brand Hi8 camcorder and tapes, and then I shot a flashback scene around that footage, creating a blend of the original 20-year-old home movie footage and new footage with my actors. I loved the grittiness of the Hi8 so I just kept using it for different flashback shots throughout the film.

FERNTV:   Explain some of your directorial influences and how they may have influenced this film?

Jordan:  Jeremy Saulnier was a huge inspiration. He performed many jobs on Blue Ruin himself with somewhat affordable gear and that film looked absolutely amazing. I also loved how mysterious the lead was in the first act- with a huge beard covering his face and limited dialogue leaving only the eyes to tell the story. But I really related with how Jeremy went about creating the film. Not knowing if a film career was going to be a possibility, he gave himself one last shot at making a name for himself by going all in. I’m in a similar boat. My fiance and I are ready to start moving on with our lives together, but I needed to try one last time to get a career started in this industry, so I gave everything I had to this film. Did it work? It’s still too early to tell. I really hope so.

FERNTV:  Discuss the experience of being a man of all hats for this film Sator?

Jordan:  Shooting the film was a blast. I love being hands-on even if I’m the only one. It made the actors feel more comfortable in a very personal environment. The only thing I wish I had was someone to set up my tripod and operate the gimble because they’re heavy which did take its toll on me physically. I threw my back out a lot. I also developed something called costochondritis which is inflammation in the sternum. When you get it, you’re supposed to rest in order for it to heal, but I had a movie to make and now I’m stuck with the pain forever. But it was worth it. The only aspect I truly despised doing myself was creating sound.  Besides my grandmother speaking and parts of some flash blacks, everything was recorded in post production from scratch with no sound libraries. Not having a place to go that was quiet resulted in me recording in my own makeshift foley pit enclosed by bed mattresses in my garage from 11pm to 4am every night for 1 year and 3 months. I respect anyone who does sound.

FERNTV:  What was the biggest challenge in this film?

Jordan:  So many challenges. Recording sound was one of them. Building the cabin was another… But re-writing the story while shooting was the only time I truly felt a little lost. My grandmother was never originally going to be a part of this film, but after deciding to use her house as a location I wanted to put her in as a quick cameo. Her first scene was with Michael, and it was completely improvisational. Before we shot, I instructed him to bring up spirits to get her talking and then she brought up automatic writing. That changed everything. I found that incredibly interesting and wanted to find a way to incorporate it into my story, but ended up having to change the plot in order to do so. So there were constant re-writes and juggling things around. You never know what my grandmother will say, so once I thought I had the story totally solid, the next time I shot with her, she would say something that would totally change the story again. And you can’t feed her lines because once the camera starts rolling she forgets that we are making a film and believes the characters around her are actually real people.

FERNTV:  Comment briefly about the score in the film?

Jordan:  I wanted the score to be organic without using virtual instruments. So my tools were a bass guitar with a violin bow, pots and pans, nuts and bolts. That’s it. I’m not a musician, so instead of trying to play notes, I was just trying to create unsettling sounds. There was a lot of experimenting with slowing stuff down. One of the pans had little rivets on the top. I would scrape my fingernail over it really quickly and then slow down the sound, creating a soft pulsating rhythm. It was fun, probably the only bit of sound I enjoyed recording.

FERNTV:  Now that the film is put together after five long years, what are your immediate thoughts about your film Sator?

Jordan:  I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish by myself. I’ve seen the film a thousand times and still, every time I watch, I think to myself, “How the hell did I pull that off?” So much of this film was just perfect timing, like with the weather and capturing my grandmother tell her story before dementia took over.

FERNTV:   How does it feel to be at your first film festival with that being the Fantasia International Film Festival?

Jordan:  It feels great and it was an honor to be invited. It was a little bit overwhelming. I spent so much time alone with this project that finally sharing it to the world and having so much attention was a whirlwind of emotions, but everyone was so incredibly nice and supportive. I was not expecting the film to be so well received that I’m starting to believe I may have a shot at getting my next project made (with a crew this time).