Richard Herskowitz, I'll start with you. How is AIFF’s approach this year different from last year and previous years?
Richard Herskowitz: Well, you know that we did our 2024 festival in October of ‘24, so this was a really rapid turnaround so that we could get ourselves back on the April track, which our audience really wanted us to do and the board wanted to do. So what that meant was that we didn't do the open call for submissions that we normally did, but rather, Aura Johnson, my co-director of programming, and I really curated this program.
We attended various film festivals, Sundance and Slamdance, both of those virtually, and others. Filmmakers sent us work, and from those, we selected the 18 or so film programs that we have planned for this year. Because of the rapid turnaround, it's not quite the size that it used to be. It’s even a little bit smaller than October. There's still 22 events, and that's quite a lot. But the most important thing was that we were really back in April and intending to return in April ‘26 for our 25th anniversary festival.
Well, first of all, what a busy few months you and Aura, especially, have had. Is it your intention to have the festival in spring from now on?
Herskowitz: Yes, I believe that's what the board wants. You know, October was a really crowded month for Oregon film festivals. Bend, Klamath Falls, eastern Oregon. It's really quite a log jam, and it's much healthier for film in Oregon, for us to continue to occupy the April position.
There are 22 events. Is that how many films will be screened? It's over a four-day period at Varsity Theatre, right?
Herskowitz: That's right. There are 18 film programs, including three shorts programs and 15 features. And then there are four talkbacks. All the film programs are in the Varsity Theatre, and the talkbacks are in the AIFF’s Film Center on Main Street.
Great, that's a cozy little venue. I've enjoyed talkbacks there. Now, this year's festival features several films with Oregon connections. Let's start with the feature-length documentary “I Know Catherine, the Log Lady.” It explores Catherine Coulson's extraordinary death and life as her role as "Twin Peaks'" Log Lady. Richard Green, you directed this. How did this project come to be?
Richard Green: I knew Catherine since I was 20 when I was in Los Angeles, coming down from San Francisco. We had been in a large theater company, and I got a job in LA and ended up hanging out in Hollywood Hills with Catherine and David Lynch and Jack Nance, and knew them through the years. And when Catherine passed away, I got a call from Donna DuBain, our executive producer on this, who has since passed as well, just telling me what had happened, which is that they had shot Catherine’s scenes in her living room because she was too sick to travel.
All the scenes had been rewritten for the Log Lady to not be traveling, to be dying of the same disease that Catherine was dying of. They shot it, and four days later she passed. When I heard that on the day that she passed from Donna DuBain, I just thought, “This is an amazing story. How did this happen? Why did this happen? Has it ever happened before?” And just got really interested.
"[Catherine Coulson] was a community leader through her religious affiliation - extraordinary woman."
Such an interesting story. So obviously, with this size of a documentary, you have lots of interviews and archival footage. Who and what can audiences expect to see in this?
Green: I think you can expect to see a portrait of someone who was just incredibly dynamic. It wasn't just the Log Lady on camera. She was the Log Lady behind the camera. She pulled focus on “Eraserhead,” where she learned how to be a first assistant camera. She also worked on two Cassavetes films and “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan,” with Nicholas Meyer as director, as first AC. And she also had 22 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and plays all around the country.
So on camera, behind the camera, on stage and in the community, she was a community leader through her religious affiliation — an extraordinary woman.
And what you'll see are her amazing and extraordinarily eloquent friends, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights like Robert Schenkman and prize-winning playwrights like Lisa Loomer and maybe David Lynch's final onscreen appearance. I don't know that for sure, but we had worked together on Mulholland Drive, incredibly intimately. I played the magician in the Club Silencio. We'd known each other so long that when we finally worked together, it was just special.
And 20 years later, when I interviewed him for this film, it was the same intimate conversation. He is so charming and funny and interesting and moving in this movie, as are all of her friends, just incredible people from the cast of "Twin Peaks" and from many different walks of life.
She certainly did make an impression on those who worked for her. Schenkman created new works for her, as did David Lynch, who just passed away himself in January. And a new fact for me was that the idea of the Log Lady was actually conceived in 1973 on “Eraserhead.” I saw that in that, finally, in the 90s. And I had no idea that she was originally involved in that.
Green: They were very close. She was going to be the star of this crazy television series. There's a lovely moment when David just talks about saying, “What a stupid idea, but say it was fun to think about.” And then 20 years later, he surprised everybody.
I don't think Mark Frost knew she was coming up when he had her switching on the lights and the pilot of "Twin Peaks." And as Mark says in the movie, when the pilot aired, she was pure gold. They just realized she was very valuable to the show.
Is there a lot of footage from the show? Can we expect to see Kyle McLachlan?
Green: There is. We were able to purchase at a very favorable rate from CBS and Showtime for the rights. CBS has seasons one and two, and the Bravo intros, which are all Log Lady intros — beautiful — and Showtime, we were able to get. I think we have a total of about 10 minutes of actual "Twin Peaks" footage in the film, and then many other performances from Catherine in various situations.
Wonderful. Now, you'll also have a talkback at the festival on “Working with Catherine.” Can you tell us when that's scheduled, and do you anticipate certain questions that typically come up at these Q and A's?
Green: I believe that's scheduled for Sunday.
Herskowitz: That's exactly right. And at Carpenter Hall and the Shakespeare Festival.
Green: The kind of questions I might anticipate: People are fascinated by her relationship with David and their experience meditating together. They're also fascinated by how the film came about.
It's been a long process, starting with that first phone call for me, and then a few years later, doing a crowdfunding Kickstarter to raise the money. We have 1,752 backers across the world, and a couple of the backers and myself tripled the budget off of that because it took a long time to make this.
If there’s any kind of biography where you really need to research that, the first couple of years is really just sort of putting the story together.
How long did it take to put this together?
Green: We did crowdfunding in June of 2018, so that's seven years. I actually shot the interviews with David prior to that, in September of 2017. So for me, it was a solid eight years of just working through COVID, and our initial limited budget meant that I was doing all of the editing and everything myself.
And it took a long time to make this thing work. We have a three-part miniseries that we brought down to this feature, which we think is the best way to introduce Catherine in this light to the public, but eventually, I hope to be able to give them the larger story as well.
Yeah, these big projects do take a lot of perseverance. Just a side note, you mentioned that they meditated together, David and Catherine. I know that David was a proponent, or a big practitioner of, TM - transcendental meditation. Is that what you meant by her religious affiliation?
Green: No, actually, they did meditate together, and she stayed with it all of her life, though she was not quite as dedicated to everyday meditations as David was, apparently. But Catherine was raised a Catholic. She grew up in Disneyland; her father was the head of PR.
And at some point later in her life, she converted to Judaism and married a rabbi, and they went up to Ashland, Oregon, together. He became the rabbi at the local temple. She was what's called the rebbetzin: the rabbi's wife, who really is the outreach to the community.
And her reputation in Ashland was even larger than that. She was everybody’s welcome committee. Catherine Coulson’s welcome committee would publish pamphlets of where people could get things when new cast members came up.
This was a woman who organized people and brought them together, and in my opinion, helped form David. David Lynch is renowned for treating his actors, his cast, his crew, and everybody who's working with him just really personally, so everybody feels a part of the project. And I've always believed that might be Catherine's influence, from her days in theater and also at Disneyland.
"Everyone who knew [Catherine Coulson] felt special to be her friend and work with her."Gary Lundgren
It's interesting, you called her a sort of a one-woman welcoming committee, and I just watched the Ashland Film Fest trailer that features her, and she's there on the street [near the theater]. And she really does just look so warm and welcoming.
As a matter of fact, we have in-studio here Gary Lundgren, who shot that footage for the trailer. Gary, you appear in “I Know Catherine, the Log Lady,” and you worked with her often. What insights can you share on the woman and the work?
Gary Lundgren: Well, Catherine was just such a lovely person, I loved her. I miss her. I was lucky to work with her on two movies, and I was sort of a fanboy at first because I love "Twin Peaks," but then she became a friend. And you feel like, “Wow, Catherine really likes me. She's cool.” But then you realize she likes everyone, and it's true: everyone who knew her felt special to be her friend and work with her.
Sounds like someone who saw the best in people.
Lundgren: Absolutely. And I think Richard's film really captures Catherine, and I think audiences are going to love getting to know her.
By the way, what movies did you work with her on?
Lundgren: She came in and auditioned for “Calvin Marshall,” the film that brought me to Southern Oregon. I couldn't believe it when she walked in to audition. I was like, “You got the part.” And also “Redwood Highway.” I filmed the Criterion Collection interview with her for “Eraserhead,” that's on Blu-ray, and then helped film her role in "Twin Peaks" season three. You know, four days before she passed away,
You're part of a special closing night event at the Ashland Film Festival. It's called “An evening with Bruce Campbell, Ida Gearon, and (your wife) Annie Lundgren.” What's the topic of that conversation?
Lundgren: Bruce and Ida have a new film, and Annie and I have a new film, and they weren't quite ready to premiere their works in progress. So we're going to talk about just working creatively as a couple in filmmaking, us four, and then also show advance clips of our movies.
I have a film called “Pelican" that was filmed in Gold Beach last year. And Bruce is going to show clips of his film “Ernie and Emma," and it's just going to be a look at Southern Oregon filmmaking, movies that are being developed and crewed and filmed right here.
Wonderful, the business is booming here locally. Let's go to the Pride Award winner, Sandi DuBowski, and “Sabbath Queen.” “Sabbath Queen” is a remarkable 20-year journey in the life of a 39th-generation orthodox rabbi and a drag queen. Here's a clip from the trailer.
[Clip from “Sabbath Queen”]
"I'm Amichai Lau-Lavie. I broke the law…According to our family story, I descend from 38 consecutive generations of rabbis. My grandfather who died so brutally, my uncle, the Chief Rabbi of Israel…In my early 20s, I was publicly outed, and I did not give my consent.”
Richard Herskowitz, can you fill in some of the story on that film?
Herskowitz: Yes, this is a film made by Sandy DuBowski, who is winning our Pride Award this year, and he worked on this film for 21 years. The Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is actually Sandy DuBowski’s Rabbi in New York. He's called the drag queen rabbi.
He's descended from a long line of Jewish and Israeli rabbis. He was outed against his will when he was younger, and he emigrated from Israel to New York and created a drag character he called Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross when he came there. He also got very involved in the radical fairy movement. Ultimately, he decided to become a rabbi himself and started an alternative synagogue in New York. So that's what the film is about, and Sandy DuBowski will be here to present it
Another film touching on social issues is “The Librarians.” Tell us about that one.
Herskowitz: “The Librarians" is really about the current campaign to ban books around the country and the librarians who are mobilizing to fight this. The film was actually produced by somebody with Ashland connections, Janique Robillard. His mother actually was the person who hired me at the Ashland Film Festival in 2015. Anyway, the filmmaker, Director Kim Snyder, will be here presenting the film, which premiered at Sundance just a few months ago.
I see Kim Snyder not only directed “The Librarians” but also "Death by Numbers,” and that's part of one of the shorts programs that you're presenting that'll include “Death by Numbers,” “Chasing Roo,” and “Eternal Father.”
Herskowitz: Yes, all those films were on the Academy Award shortlist for best documentary, and two of the filmmakers, including Skye Fitzgerald from Portland, will be here for that program. Kim's film, “Death by Numbers” is about a student at a school where there was a shooting. Her name is Sam Fuentes, and she became an activist for gun control. She is actually also coming with Kim and will be attending that screening.
There’s also “The Humanitarian Trilogy,” a shorts program that will have “50 feet from Syria,” “Hunger Ward” and “Lifeboat.”
Herskowitz: That's the second shorts program. Skye Fitzgerald is presenting the first one that includes “Death by Numbers.” This one is three films by Skye Fitzgerald, he calls it The Humanitarian Trilogy. It's really about the refugee crisis in various parts of the globe.
Skye Fitzgerald is an acclaimed filmmaker, who has been nominated for Academy Awards several times, and we're featuring his work this year. He's also putting together a talkback on the subject of composing scores for documentaries, and he's bringing down two composers from Portland with him for that discussion.
I see on the schedule something called “The Beauty of the Score.”
Herskowitz: Yeah, we try to have talkbacks on various subjects of filmmaking. I don't think we ever covered film scoring before, so I'm really looking forward to this one.
I am too. That's a whole art unto itself, film scoring. Well, let's talk about some other films in the festival that have local ties. You mentioned Skye is Portland-based. What about “The Hole Story" that was filmed in Mount Shasta?
Herskowitz: Yeah, the director based in Mount Shasta is Elijah Sullivan. He's coming. And Autie Carlisle, who shot the film — she's one of my favorite filmmakers in the region. We've been featuring her work the last few years.
It's about a 60-foot hole that appeared in Mount Shasta and the investigation into what that was about. In a way, it connects with a couple of other films in the program, which are sort of true crime films. In this case, the true crime is “Who dug the hole, and what was the nefarious purpose of its digging?” It's a kind of a playful documentary.
That's true about another true crime film in the program called “Suburban Fury,” but it's something Aura, and I noticed at a number of films at Sundance this year that were really playing with the genre of the true crime film and in really playful, humorous ways.
I was going to ask you about that. Over the years, you've shaped so many film festivals and media arts projects in various states. You’ve probably presented thousands of screenings and exhibitions at this point. I was wondering if you were noticing any trends in recent years in submissions.
Herskowitz: Honestly, the documentaries keep getting better and better. Films like “Sabbath Queen,” which was 21 years in the making. They're really the passion projects of filmmakers, in many ways. They're a lot of the best ones I see. They sort of play with the boundaries between fiction and documentary.
That's true about “The Hole Story, and that's true about “Suburban Fury" and some of the other great documentaries we show that make you question, “What's truth, what isn't?” How we're being persuaded to believe the point of view of a filmmaker. That's one of the trends I've been seeing now.
With “The Hole Story," did conspiracy theories grow out of that?
Herskowitz: Oh, yes. The film investigates them and sort of follows some of the conspiracies, and you never quite know what's real and what isn't, what's staged and what's true. Is it a documentary, or is it a very creative film? It premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival a few months ago, and I’m really happy that we're going to get to show it.
Let's keep digging into some of these local offerings. We have one called “Raising Aniya,” and this was produced by Chris Lucas, who is actually an assistant professor and program coordinator in Southern Oregon University's digital cinema department. You're giving him an award this year. Talk about that and his work.
Herskowitz: Chris Lucas is getting our Lee Fuchsman local filmmaker award. He's the third recipient of this award. Lee Fuchsman was the vice president at Coming Attractions, who was really instrumental in the development of the film festival. She's sorely missed.
Chris has been really involved as a film producer and a film professor and has been really inspirational to many students at SOU, including our new managing director, Nicole Gullixson, who's going to be presenting him the award. I think other students will be there too.
He produced this wonderful film called “Raising Aniya” about a young dancer in Houston who was affected by a hurricane and the flood that followed, and she created a dance performance in response to that. And this dance performance really explores topics of environmental justice and the larger topics beyond the hurricane.
So again, not only will Chris, who produced it, be here, but the director, John Fauci, will be here, and Aniya herself is coming. I love when that happens at the film festival, the subjects of the films appear. And so that's the case with Sam Fuentes in “Death by Numbers,” and it's the case with Aniya in ”Raising Aniya.”
She was 16 years old in the movie. Has much time passed since then? Is she much older now?
Herskowitz: I believe it's about three years later. I think she's still a young woman, but you know the film just premiered in Washington, D.C., and I believe this is its second showing, but it's still early in its release.
That’s such a feat for such a young artist to choreograph and help produce this, tackling something as big as the legacy of environmental pollution in her Houston neighborhood. You're giving another award, the Visionary Lens award to Brittany Shyne, and she's bringing the movie “Seeds.”
Herskowitz: That's right. “Seeds” is about African American farmers in the South. This film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and last week, it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Full Frame Festival in Durham, North Carolina.
There's probably no more acclaimed documentary feature in the past year than “Seeds.” So we're really honored to have it and that Brittany Shyne is coming out. We're giving her our Visionary Lens award as an emerging filmmaker, and not only will she be attending all the screenings of “Seeds,” but we're going to do a conversation and talkback with her in the film center, in which she's going to show the two short films she made that preceded “Seeds.”
Just one thing I want to add about “Seeds" is it has the most gorgeous black and white cinematography. I'm just a sucker for black and white, and this film is just a knockout.
Can you tell us about “Sultana's Dream”?
Herskowitz: Yes, this is an animated film, and it's inspired by this feminist, real-science fiction story written in 1905 in Bengal called “Sultana’s Dream.” And in the film, it's about a young Spanish artist who travels to India in search of the author of this 1905 book, which envisions a feminist utopia called Ladyland. Anyway, beautifully animated with watercolor backgrounds and cut-out animation. It's just a knockout.
I can attest to that. I saw the trailer, and it is gorgeous. Gary, your movie “Phoenix, Oregon” was the number one movie in America during the pandemic. And last year, you brought us “Above the Trees,” which featured JPR’s Danielle Kelly. You work as a screenwriter, a cinematographer — what else are you working on now?
Lundgren: Yeah, “Pelican" is a movie we shot last year in Gold Beach, and it's kind of consumed my life the last year. It's a drama about two old fishing friends that meet up with their therapist for a weekend because they're having some life struggles. I'm also working on crew experience at SOU this year, helping students make a short film.
The 24th Ashland International Film Festival runs April 24-27, with ticketing available through the main venue, Varsity Theatre.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
