For Jeremiah Zagar's narrative feature debut he has brought to life Justin Torres powerful and moving tale, WE THE ANIMALS. You can feel the filmmaker's heartbeat and visualize his determination with this unique movie experience. Jeremiah chatted with me about giving everything to bring this film into the world.
Us three. Us brothers. Us kings, inseparable. Three boys tear through their childhood, in the midst of their young parents’ volatile love that makes and unmakes the family many times over. While Manny and Joel grow into versions of their loving and unpredictable father, Ma seeks to shelter her youngest, Jonah, in the cocoon of home. More sensitive and conscious than his older siblings, Jonah increasingly embraces an imagined world all his own. From WE THE ANIMALS website.
Jeremiah's documentary work has given him a perfect eye for capturing important sequences in everyday moments. Working with his longtime DP Zak Mulligan the young filmmaker was able to sculpt an hour and a half of pure raw emotion. The film straddles an amazing line of being universal in the innocence and completely unique with it's visual choices. Three first time actors are given the chance to explore and their journey has the power to move most adults. Jeremiah was invited to the Sundance Director's Lab and it's there that the film really turned from a raw idea into something viable. Jeremiah and I talked about that experience at the Lab, working with those wonderful child actors, working with quality actors like Raul Castillo (Texan!) and Sheila Vand, the bold musical score by Nick Zammuto, the slight changes from Justin Torres' novel, and how Jeremiah's own son's birth made it into the film.
Interview with Director Jeremiah Zagar.
One of the year's most honest films and a movie that deserves your attention.
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