5Q's w/Allie Light "Any Wednesday" Director

#1: Can you describe your movie and why somebody should see it?

Any Wednesday is relevant to our time: Addresses war, homelessness, race, aging, empathy, friendship and grief between two people.

#2: What do you want the Borrego Springs Film Festival audience to know about your film that isn’t obvious from its title?

I want the audience to know that friendship is possible in any situation and between any two people as long as empathy and compassion exist within them. In Any Wednesday, two people with apparently nothing in common find they have everything in common.

#3: What is your movie making background? Tell us about yourself.

I have been a documentary filmmaker for 40 years. I worked with my husband Irving Saraf—my partner in love and the movies--until his death in 2012. We made 17 films for theatrical and television. One film, Dialogues With Madwomen, received a national Emmy and one film, In The Shadow of the Stars, received an Academy Award. We didn’t make money as filmmakers, but we traveled the world showing our movies and loving our life together. Any Wednesday is my first movie working with actors and working with my own script.

Patrick Stark is a talented codirector and coproducer and we worked well together

#4: What was the biggest lesson learned in getting your film made?

The biggest lesson I learned was how to work with a large crew (30 people), relegating particular skills to certain people. All of our documentary films were made with no more than 4 people and we did everything: lighting, camera, sound, interviewing, setting up, wrapping the set. There is much to be said for working each way. I respect the filmmaker who is totally skilled in his or her medium and I respect the filmmaker who can do it all and helps wherever needed.

The other thing I learned in making this film was how to create the mise en scene--putting together what I had written: night, rain, lightening, thunder, the close confines of the car, the dialogue, to establish a dramatic story the viewer could not escape. Many people, on seeing the film a second time, have told me they felt the same unease as when they saw it the first time. The viewer is as much in the car as Agnes and C’Mo. The elements that make up the finished story start in the script and are then equally created on set and in editing. I enjoyed these processes tremendously.

#5: What does the future hold for your film and you?

My future is pretty much behind me now, as I am an old woman. I like my age except for its connection to loss. I’m very interested in this part of life and since I am the age I am, it’s my privilege to tell the stories of old people. After my partner’s death, I wrote four scripts on the subject of grief and desire in old age. Any Wednesday is the first of these scripts. I hope to live long enough to make the others three stories into films.