CINE: 2009 Educational Advisory Board

Joe Steiff, Senior Associate Chair, Film & Video, Columbia College Chicago

Josef Steiff is a writer and independent filmmaker as well as the Film & Video Senior Associate Chair at Columbia College Chicago, responsible for overseeing the Directing, Producing and Screenwriting Curricula. As a former licensed social worker, Joe creates films, installations, performance and written work that reflect his interest in the ways that people struggle to make personal sense out of random, impersonal events, and his work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe and Asia. His films include the award-winning short experimental narratives Catching Fire and Borders as well as the documentary, How Will I Tell? Surviving Sexual Assault. He line produced More Beautiful Than A Flower, for MBC Television, the first Korean feature-length film to deal openly with disabilities, and he has served as general crew on Michael Moore’s Roger & Me and Wendy Weinberg’s Academy Award nominated documentary, Beyond Imagining. Joe has also created work as part of the Split Pillow experiments in collaborative filmmaking, contributed a sound installation to the first major art exhibition regarding HIV in the United States, "AIDS: The Artists' Response," and is the writer/performer of the critically acclaimed one-man show Golden Corral that reflects on his experience of growing up and working in rural Appalachia. Joe regularly contributes reviews to FilmMonthly.com and his books include The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Independent Filmmaking, Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? and Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder.

If you could give one piece of advice to beginning filmmakers, what would it be?
One of my colleagues, Margie Barrett, always says that loving films is not the same thing as loving filmmaking. Filmmaking is hard work, but most of us don’t realize just how hard because we can’t imagine doing anything else. If there was one piece of advice I could give, it’s that no matter how much you love filmmaking, don’t forget to live your life. Because I firmly believe that it’s in participating in a life that’s broader than film that you’ll find the stories that will reach and move audiences, that will be original and fresh, and that you will love telling.

At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a filmmaker, and why did you? How long have you been making films?
My parents took me to movies before I can even remember, so I think in some ways, I always wanted to be a filmmaker. It just took me awhile to figure out how to make that happen. When I was growing up, there was no such thing as home video cameras, and though I shot a few things on Super8, “real” filmmaking seemed to be one of those things you could only do if you were a part of Hollywood. And living in rural Appalachia, I had no idea how to become a part of Hollywood. After several years of working as a social worker, I decided to go back for my graduate degree at Ohio University, and while I was there, I discovered they had a film school. My faculty and classmates were amazing, and they inspired my enthusiasm and creativity. For the first time, filmmaking was within my grasp. And I haven’t stopped since, making my own and working on other’s films since the mid 1980s.

Who or what are your major influences, stylistically or substantively?
If there’s anything I love as much as film, it’s books, and so I’m sure a lot of my influences have been the books and authors I read. Film school turned me on to experimental filmmakers like Maya Deren and Kenneth Anger, who definitely had an influence on my early short films. In terms of feature filmmakers, Krzysztof Kieslowski is one of my favorites, particularly Trois couleurs: Bleu, Bialy, Rouge and The Decalogue TV series. Peter Weir’s earlier films. Vince Ward’s The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey. Often what drew me to these films were the ways in which they created associational connections as well as narrative connections within their material, though in recent years, I’ve become more interested in watching, writing and making more traditional narratives. In particular, I’ve become intrigued with the ways that genre screenwriting/filmmaking can reflect personal storytelling, so my influences and interests are constantly evolving.

How long have you been teaching? Why do you like teaching filmmaking? What knowledge and ideals to you try to instill in your students?
Growing up, I never thought I would be a teacher – it was just about the farthest thing from my mind. My first teaching experiences were as a Teacher’s Aid in an elementary school to help pay for college and later as a college instructor in a maximum security prison. Needless to say, I wasn’t teaching film or filmmaking in either of those settings. But they, along with my work as a community educator on mental health issues like adolescent depression and suicide definitely shaped a lot of my thinking about and approaches to teaching. The first time I taught a film class was as a graduate assistant in the mid 1980s, and I immediately loved it as much as filmmaking. My fate was sealed.

For me, the important qualities and ideals of a filmmaker include curiosity, empathy, respect, integrity and the ability to work collaboratively. For me, the best experiences in making films are when they’re not just a job but a passion.

Has the changing nature of filmmaking—the advent of new media, the changes in distribution, etc.—had an effect on either the way you make films or the way you teach filmmaking?
Definitely. I love the fact that people can now access equipment and methods for making films in high school or even earlier. When I first started teaching, a lot of my production classes was spent on teaching mechanical and technical information, like how to use equipment (like a camera or a flatbed). But with the advent of new media and the experience many students now bring with them into class, we can spend more time talking about how to work most effectively together, how the study of films can inspire us, how to make the most of our understanding of aesthetics and film history and how to find stories that will make memorable films.

Has it become more important for film students to understand the business component of filmmaking, for example, the need to understand legal concepts such as fair use, rights clearance, etc.?
Absolutely. More than ever, there is the need for students to understand the legal and business aspects of filmmaking, whether as savvy producers or as filmmakers who understand the importance of having a good producer and a good business sense.

Do you find your students are more interested in new media outlets, television or traditional release, or does this simply vary?
I think students are exposed to a wider range of possible exhibition and distribution strategies than ever before. The key for us as instructors I think is to help our students develop the skills necessary to assess those various opportunities and to make wise decisions about which ones will make the most business sense for their projects.

Full Board