Q: Do you believe in a higher power? (Love, God, Universe, Grace, Spirit, whatever) Why? Why not?
A: Nope. Which isn’t to say I don’t think there are some big mysteries out there, but I do think they’re all ultimately explainable (though perhaps not to brains as primitive as ours.) Lots of things seemed inexplicable and were attributed to supernatural or divine sources in the past, and bit by bit we figured out the actual real-world reasons for them. To think that NOW we understand everything and anything left that we don’t understand (non-local effects! synchronicity! psychic phenomena!) must therefore be the result of a higher power/ magic/ spirit energy/ things outside the realm of scientific inquiry, or whatever, has always struck me as a little short sighted. But, for example, when I first encountered Nick Bostrom’s Computer Simulation Hypothesis, it clicked and made sense to me in the way that I imagine religion does for many people. But the difference is I don’t have faith it in. It’s a fucking cool, thought-provoking idea and it aligns with my experience of reality, but I’m also totally open to it being disproven and I wouldn’t be like “Sorry, this is what I’ve chosen to believe and nothing can change my mind.” Which is, I feel, the fundamental difference between believing in an utterly crazy scientific reason behind something, and believing in higher powers/ God, etc.
Q: Why must you make films? (I mean, let's be honest, only a crazy person would choose to do it)
A: It’s just the medium that’s most effective for me at getting whats inside my head outside of it. I used to want to be a visual artist, and was constantly frustrated because i could not make the thing on the paper or the canvas look like what it looked like in my head, where as I feel like I’m pretty good at making the thing on the screen look like the thing on my head. I guess it’s not making films per se that’s the critical thing, it’s expressing these things/ ideas/ worlds/ landscapes inside me to other people, and film is just the way I’ve found that allows me to do that the best. If I could do it better with paint on canvas, or ballet, or playing the tuba, I’d do that instead.
Q: If you were at a dinner party and had to pick one of these topics for the group to discuss (sex, politics, money, religion, death, food, reincarnation) -- what would it be and why?
A: Probably a combo of death and reincarnation, because I feel like those two ideas segue into lots of fascinating concepts like near death experiences, astral projection, temporality and non-locality, consciousness and what the hell it is (there are some fascinating theories in fringe physics right now that deal with the possibly quantum nature of consciousness, which, see my answer to question 1.)
Q: Make up a question for me to ask the next director I photograph. You can ask ANYTHING — just please be respectful.
A: If you could remake any movie, which one would you remake, why, and what would you do differently?
Q: Question from Lauren Iungerich: “Have you ever made a film as a love letter to a person or a time of life or to bring closure from an experience in your past? If so, explain. ”
A: I guess my AFI short MEGAFAUNA was a bit of a love letter (hate mail?) to a past shitty relationship. It was kind of a distillation, into 14 minutes, of the conclusion it took me almost 5 years to come to, in terms of moving on and leaving that person and his poison behind. Ironically, my now-husband proposed to me 6 days before I started at AFI so while I was developing this sad anti-love story, I was also the happiest and most in love I had ever been. Much to the confusion of many of my classmates.
Q: The last time you had deja vu? What does deja vu mean to you?
A: I have deja vu fairly regularly, though I can’t remember the last time specifically. But there are LOTS of really fascinating theories as to what it is. One kind of boring but likely one is that it’s just a neurological glitch where experiential data coming in through your optic nerve is accidentally routed through your memory before it goes into your conscious mind, creating the illusion of having experienced it already. Another way more fun one is that it’s somehow an intersection point between your universe and a very similar but not quite identical parallel one. And of course, being a Bostrom fangirl, I love the idea that it’s a “glitch in the matrix,” like the teenage girl 700 years from now who’s running the sim sequence that is your entire existence just spilled her Fanta on her keyboard or something.
Q: What made you laugh last? When was the last time you cried? Why?
A: Oh man, I cried this morning watching one of those videos online about the therapy dogs who help PTSD sufferers. So well done, and just drives home a) the hugely damaging effects of war and trauma on the human psyche and b) how fucking awesome animals are. In terms of laughing, I’m lucky that I get to laugh a lot. Because I am a hilarious person. Just kidding. The last time I really belly laughed was the other night when my husband showed me the tattoo he’d impulsively gotten on his pinky, of the word “class,” so from now he does everything with a touch of class. True story.
Q: Lastly, tell the people about your next project and where they can see your work. Thank you!
A: Lots of fun stuff in the works right now! Two feature scripts of mine are currently under option and are both looking to shoot later this year with companies that I am super excited to be working with. BAD SUMMER is at General Population and POSTPARTUM is at Intrepid Pictures. I also just came on board to write and direct a segment of Radio Silence’s new anthology film SOCIAL ANIMAL, which weaves together five distinct stories about social media having unexpected effects and consequences on people’s lives. Also looking to shoot later this year. Past work— short films, a handful of music videos, and lots of my video art stuff (in my other life I design multi media and projections for live theater, dance, and other spectacles) can be found at my website www.kazps.com