On this episode of the No Movie Faculty Podcast, GG Hawkins sits down with Carmen Emmi (director, author) and Erik Vogt-Nilsen (editor) of Plainclothes, a placing debut function that blends the aching vulnerability of past love with the sharp rigidity of queer identification below surveillance.
Set in 1997 and laced with nostalgic Hi8 footage, the movie isn’t only a interval piece — it’s a uncooked, intimate time capsule of self-discovery, repression, and resilience. This episode dives deep into the emotional and artistic course of behind the movie, from Sundance goals to strawberry farm enhancing periods and the way true collaboration can unlock one thing extraordinary.
On this episode, we talk about:
- The genesis and central themes of Plainclothes, together with past love/obsession, policing feelings, identification, nostalgia, and honesty in queer storytelling
- Why the Nineties setting — particularly 1997 — was chosen, each for private causes and as a device for emotional resonance
- How Carmen and Erik got here collectively creatively, though Erik joined after principal images, and the way they structured their collaboration (the “Modifying Intentions” doc, visits, tone setting, and many others.)
- The editorial course of: charting out passes, refining scenes, balancing construction vs. emotional fact, and sustaining rawness from the editor’s lower by means of to the ultimate model
- Take a look at screenings: what sorts of suggestions matter, determining readability vs. ambiguity within the narrative, viewers confusion round timelines, and the way these screenings formed the ultimate lower
- On‑set dynamics: director’s approaches, setting tone (no yelling except dire), utilizing music on set, capturing wordless moments, incubating belief and construction amongst solid and crew
- Filmmaking instruments & artistic decisions: use of Hi8 footage to precise inner states like nervousness; letting intuition and experimentation information sequences; integrating private reminiscence and sensory element into the cinematic model
- Recommendation for rising filmmakers: keep away from perfectionism, work with collaborators or pals you belief, give concepts an opportunity in enhancing, settle for that not every little thing must be valuable, and be taught from each venture
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This episode of The No Movie Faculty Podcast was produced by GG Hawkins.

