Diego Ongaro
Name of filmmaker: Diego Ongaro
Film title; Bob and the Trees
Description of film: Drama, 28 minutes, color, HD
Short plot: A day in the life of Bob, a fifty year-old logger with a soft spot for golf and hardcore rap, who struggles to make ends meet in a threatened industry.
Filmmaker bio
Diego Ongaro is a French director based in the USA. He holds a degree in economics and cut his teeth as a director working on television shows and music videos. In 2005, with his childhood friend Thomas Pousson, he directed and produced the short film, “Me, My Bag and My Ball” which won numerous awards and accolades in influential film festivals throughout the world, including the prestigious Canal Plus Prize at the Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival in 2006. Working on both sides of the Atlantic, he then directed two other short films: “Return To Labradoria,” and “Rice and Meat,” which won best short film in a parallel section of the Milan International Film Festival in Italy in 2008.
He moved a few years ago to a small log cabin in the middle of the American wilderness, where he shot the short film “Bob and the Trees,” and is currently working on two feature length films.
Film Industry Questions
Who are your role models in the film industry?
Directors like Michel Gondry, Jim Jarmusch, Wes Anderson. Film producers like James Schamus at Focus Features because he continually releases top quality, challenging films. I like risk taskers.
Who or what has influenced you as a filmmaker?
As a teenager, the first filmmakers I admired were Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. Now that I’m in my thirties, I draw a lot of inspiration from my filmmaker friends who are working hard to produce independent films that challenge our expectations of what a film is, or could be. I also admire the work of contemporary photographers; Stephen Shore, Massimo Vitali and Martin Parr.
What are your top three favorite films? Explain for one what makes it a favorite.
A fistful of Dynamite (Sergio Leone) / A Bout de Souffle (Jean Luc Godard) / The Conversations (Coppola)
A Fistful of Dynamite, because I’ve always loved Sergio Leone’s films. They mix epic and western like no one else has ever done. Ennio Moricone deserves a lot of credit for them – Leone’s film wouldn’t be the same without his music. James Coburn and Rod Steiger make this amazing, unpredictable pair, cruising through the Mexican revolution. It gives me goose bumps just to think of it.
It has been said that there are only a limited number of original plot ideas. In the midst of that, what nuances make your film stand out from others in its genre?
Probably their lack of action! A movie can begin, climax and end in a room without anyone actually leaving it. I’m very interested in inaction, actually, in boredom and routine, and how people cope with it. Plot ideas are unlimited, unless you’re talking about a Blockbuster Rom-Com!
What obstacles did you come across as you entered the film industry? What motivates you to persevere?
I’m always coming across obstacles, but what motivates me to keep going is that I keep on finding stories I want to, I have to tell. Whether it’s because I’ve come across a fascinating character, as I did with Bob, who plays the lead role in “Bob and the Trees,” or because I wake up in the middle of the night with an image in my head, that then turns into a film (as was the case with my last film, “Labradoria”), I’m never at a loss for stories to tell. I can sometimes be at a loss for the means to produce them. There is no doubt about it, that is the real challenge. In my native country, France, it is much easier to produce and show short films. There is more funding for them, there are many prestigious short film festivals. In the US, it is much harder. There isn’t a built in audience for short films.
Film Questions
What inspired you to create this film?
Three years ago, I relocated from Brooklyn with my wife, and co-writer to a rural town in the Berkshires called Sandisfield. The town has no Main Street and a population of 782 people. I haven’t met a single person that hasn’t fascinated me somehow, but one family in particular have really touched our lives. I wanted to tell their story on film. I think I’ve only just begun telling it.
What message do you hope your film conveys to an audience?
I hope that the audience will understand how hard it is to work in an industry such as logging. I also hope they will care about Bob, the main character, and not jump to conclusions. I find him very endearing.
What are your aspirations for this film?
With this film, I blurred the line between documentary and fiction. So I’d like this film to linger with people, so you slide on each side without knowing on which side you really are. I rarely create films with an agenda, and this film isn’t an exception to that rule. If anything, I hope people learn a little something about the logging industry, and about how hard loggers work.
How difficult was it to stay under budget for this film? What is your favorite guerrilla filmmaking tactic?
I had three days to shoot the whole thing, and we managed to shoot within that timeframe. The filming was definitely the biggest part of the budget, so I had a rough idea of the amount I would spend. The editing and sound editing was done in France, with friends of mine who agreed to work with me for a few peanuts. That’s my favorite guerrilla filmmaking tactic- working with friends.
How did you choose which festivals to enter?
I’ve been around film festivals for a few years now, as “Bob and the Trees” is my fourth short film. I know which are important, or the ones I don’t want to miss. I put them under three categories: The important film festivals (like Cannes, Berlin, Clermont Ferrand, Sundance…), up and coming festivals (like Boston Independent, Aspen, Woodstock…), and then the local festivals around the area I live in. There are also festivals happening in places that I’ve always wanted to travel to, so I’ve a good excuse to make the trip if my film gets accepted. With “Bob and the Trees,” I’m submitting the film in festivals across North America and Europe mostly.
What was the most challenging part of this film?
I was shooting with non-professional actors whom I chose because of their personalities. The hardest thing was to find the proper method for working together. I wanted them to be themselves and not try to learn dialogues from the script, which could make their acting stiff. So I gave them the script to read, then I took the script back. That way they had an idea of what the story was like, but didn’t have memorized lines. After that, we did some rehearsals that I shot with a digital photo camera. I would give the actors some clues about what was happening and the emotions the characters were going through, and then, I let them make it their own. This method meant that we would have to be very flexible and quick with the camera when it came time to shoot the scene for real, because anything could happen. The actors and their performance was the top priority, the technical aspect came in second. We had to shoot it like a documentary, filming the scene in its entirety with no cut. We got what we got with each take.
What was the craziest or most unbelievable moment that occurred while making your film?
The rap scene at the end of the film. The truck we had shot in before broke down right before filming that scene. In it, Bob, the main character, is rapping along with a hardcore rap song while driving. We ended up filming it in another truck which was much smaller than the first. So, Chris the Director of Photography, Zach the sound man, and myself were packed on top of one another on the passenger seat with the camera and the sound equipment while Bob was rapping his guts off, acting angrier with each take. It was very intense.
What is one thing you wish you had on set?
Chocolate croissants.
What type of junk food did you consume the most of on set?
Donuts.
Which moment of your film reflects your “signature?”
The scene where Bob, the main character, plays golf in the open field.
List four adjectives that describe your film.
Provocative
Tender
Realistic
Pulsating
Personal Questions
Why did you choose film as an expression of artistic medium?
When I was a little boy, I used to learn by heart the names of the cast and crew of films that were broadcast on TV.
Is there any other artistic medium that you work with in your spare time?
Carpentry.
What is your favorite piece of art?
I don’t have one.
Did you ever consider another career besides filmmaking?
Being a baker, but I gave up pretty quickly on the idea when I figured you had to wake up at 4 am every morning to start making bread.
What sparked your interest in becoming a filmmaker? Was there a specific moment/experience that encouraged your interest in this artistic field?
In what ways have your friends and family supported you?
What advice can you give to aspiring filmmakers or artists?
I think I’ve answered this in the prior questions. I enjoy the support of my friends and family, definitely, but not blindly. If they don’t like something, they let me know! I do a lot of the scriptwriting with my wife, Courtney Maum, a fiction writer. As for advice, I would say be patient and drink a lot of confidence.
If you had an unlimited budget and could shoot anywhere, what would your dream project be?
I’m not too concerned by an unlimited budget, since my films are quite realistic and fairly simple. I have a feature project in the making, so I would put an unlimited budget towards that!
Where do you see yourself five years from now?
I’d rather not see myself anywhere. Superstition…