Dana Kippel discusses her new film and feature-length directorial debut.
Fans of New Age drama should find Reflect thought-provoking. The film centers on 30-ish Summer. Dissatisfied with her life, Summer leaves home and embarks on a surreal emotional journey with four gal pals where they explore mental well-being, trauma and female relationships. The odyssey is complicated by the fact that they are being pursued by mysterious hooded figures.
Summer is performed by Dana Kippel who also wrote and directed the film which is Kippel's feature-length directorial debut. Reflect was released on Digital VOD on January 9, including on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play and Vudu.
I posed some questions to Kippel about Reflect.
QUESTION: What was the impetus for the creation of Reflect, and what ideas and themes is the film exploring? How do you hope the film will impact audiences?
DANA KIPPEL: Many different things but I think the biggest one was wanting to tell my story...make an original film, something that reflected truth as I saw it. I was writing to understand myself. It was a personal piece of art I made. I really hope it will help people become more curious about themself and their connection to self, others, nature and the otherworldly. It is a movie that is made to reflect whatever you are meant to see or hear. Everyone sees something different. And if you watch it twice you just might pick up on some deeper meanings. Also I wanted people to feel less alone and understand we all feel disconnected sometimes.
Q. I thought that the atmosphere of the film had interesting ancient classical and New Age motifs. Is this an accurate assessment and are you interested in metaphysical issues in general?
KIPPEL: Yes! I definitely love ancient mythology and I love optimistic futurism. My style bleeds both. And in the middle of that is presence which is the most powerful. It's a circle. I am obsessed with metaphysics. All things metaphysics.
Q. Was there anything unexpected or particularly memorable that happened during the course of filming?
KIPPEL: Probably the day it rained. We had an outside shoot and I had to rewrite like 7-8 pages of my script to be filmed in "mother earth's womb" = that whole thing was rewritten and staged on the day.
Q. This was the first feature film which you directed. Do you have any advice to give to other first-time feature film directors?
KIPPEL: Yes! Believe in yourself. You can do it. Do not listen to negative nancy's. Choose your team wisely. Be kind to yourself. You CAN raise money. YOU set your own limits. YOU know your vision, you do not need anyone else to tell you how to achieve your vision.
KIPPEL: Have an open mind and view it as an experience.
Q. Would you like to share with us what your future projects are?
KIPPEL: I can't speak much on it but I have a really exciting sci-fi project I plan to shoot this summer! More to come soon!
-Interview conducted by Paul Hansen