Blue sky Consider for a moment the plight of the independent filmmaker: underbudgeted, underpaid, underappreciated, overworked, overwrought, mostly ignored by mainstream media and usually disregarded by their more commercial -- meaning successful -- peers.
for ‘Clouds’
'Christmas in the Clouds,'
a picture by Kate Montgomery,
left people breathless at
the Maui Film FestivalBy Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.comAnd still, they just know someone out there will distribute their film if they could just see it.
Kate Montgomery has written and directed a remarkable comedy of mistaken identity, "Christmas in the Clouds," which in its screenings at Sundance this year not only drew unanimous applause, but standing ovations for the San Francisco filmmaker. The 200 people who watched the 90-minute screening at the recent Maui Film Festival were also left breathless by the film's simplicity and beauty.
But the most remarkable aspect of the film about this comedy of tribal enterprise, bingo, mistaken identity and would-be love is its original take on native America with all its comedy, mishap, romance and cuisine.
The film was shot on location at the Sundance Resort in Utah for "well under $5 million," but just a few years ago, Montgomery, a mother of two, was struggling to get studio financing for her directorial debut.
"No one was interested because the cast mostly was native Americans," she said. "I was also told that native American actors and crew would be trouble. They'd be late or show up drunk, which, of course, was never the case.
"They said native people aren't marketable because they only make up 1 percent of the population. They'd say, 'My God, only native people will want to see this.'
"It's nonsense. (The film's stars) Graham Greene and Rita Coolidge don't only have a native following."
The mostly native cast also stars Sheila Tousey, Wes Studi, M. Emmet Walsh and Rosalind Ayres.
Montgomery's last desperate plea for money would be to a female studio executive who arrived late in her new Jaguar, wearing "a $5,000 suit." Her staff frantically prepared her cappuccino."She barked orders to the staff and motioned for me to after follow her," Montgomery said.
While the exec was "multitasking," she told Montgomery the "Christmas in the Clouds" script "isn't edgy."
Montgomery, like the line from "Network," was "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore."
"No, what is edge?" she asked the executive. "Show me. Tell me. And how would you know edge in your $1,000 shoes and big car when all your elfs are running around worried about your coffee?
"But I'll tell you what edge is. Edge is people in Cleveland trying to figure out how they're going to pay the rent. Or people in Cincinnati wondering how they're going to send their kids to college.
"So when you think about edge thing, think about that!"
The stunned executive looked at Montgomery and stammered, "I think this meeting is over."
"It was over before I came in."
Financing eventually came from two dot-com companies and the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin.
Studios have become so celebrity-driven, they overlook other markets, Montgomery said.
"If Kevin Costner is the reason why 'Dances with Wolves' was a success, then why has he failed repeatedly in his most recent films?" she said.
"After we saw his bare butt, most people couldn't wait to get back to the Indian village. He was a boring goody-two-shoes writing his diary on the prairie."
That sort of Montgomery-style shoot-from-the-hip statement pretty much eliminates any chances of working with Costner, not that the East Coast-born, Scotland-educated history and studio art major cares.
"I didn't go to film school," she says like an anthem, "but I always wanted to make films. I've always loved storytelling and the magic of being transported, which is why I'm also attracted to writing."After graduating from college, Montgomery worked in Philadelphia. Then, to pay off her college loans, she worked at the Wall Street Journal for 10 years. Love brought her to San Francisco in 1984. Since then she's written about a half-dozen scripts.
"Christmas" is very close to my heart," Montgomery said. "I'm not native or an indigenous person, but I have a strong association and feeling with the native community."
With her close ties to the community, she was able to observe reality vs. the myth and to understand what non-natives felt about native people.
"This project is very much a Trojan horse," she said. "It's a romantic comedy made to be entertaining, lighthearted and fun.
"This is not a movie you'll leave saying, 'I learned a lot about native people.'"
Getting the film made was an accomplishment, but the immediate goal is a theatrical release, even on a limited basis. Chances are iffy because the market is packed with major studio films.
"There are only few number of release slots, and studios have already invested large amounts of money for films," she said. "You can't fight gravity."
The next stop, hopefully, is more festivals, including Toronto, Austin and New York.
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