Interview with Jonathan Caouette, Director of Tarnation

I was privileged to interview Jonathan Caouette while he was doing his publicity junket in October of 2004, in conjunction with the release of his documentary, Tarnation. There had been a lot of advance notice about the film because it was a done on a ridiculously small budget using a variety of mediums (home movies, audio tapes, slides, videos, photographs, answering machines, TV and movie clips) successfully. It was my first and (so far) only interview. I was very nervous and brought my cigarettes to provide some stimulation and finesse. Turned out he was a smoker, too. He'd just come from the airport, so his rhythms were a bit skewed. We sat down outside and smoked, while he drank triple sugar, triple espressos. He was sweet, charming, endearing, and surprisingly modest, considering the fact that he was knocking them out of the ballpark at film festivals everywhere he went (including, I believe, Cannes and Sundance).

Among the many things that impressed me was the variety of images, how distinct they were, stylistically, and yet how seamlessly they fit together. Can you talk about how Tarnation evolved as you edited it, and how closely you worked with [producers] Winter, Mitchell and Kates? Did you feel most of your choices were intellectual or intuitive?

It was all pure instinct. I had absolutely no pre-conceived notion of this film becoming anything except something that I was working on every night and would end up showing to my boyfriend and buddies. I didn't think, "Oh, I'm making a documentary," or "I'm making this experimental film about my life," or "Look out, Sundance. Here I come!" I was just utilizing this footage that I had right under my nose, to tell the story that was sort of burning inside me.

I edited for three weeks without sleep and came up with this two-hour epic, Tarnation, that had everything I could put into it. Then John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Winter came into my life and signed on as Executive Producer and Producer, respectively, and together with Brian A. Kates, we started seeing exactly what the film was telling us it was, a portrait of my mother and me. It certainly was an unorthodox way to make a movie. And what has happened since has exceeded all my dreams.

Article Author: Christopher Soden

Christopher Soden holds Vermont College’s MFA in Poetry. He writes film & literary critique, essay, performance pieces and dramaturgy. Honors and positions: Poetry Editor: Espejo. President Emeritus: The Dallas Poets Community, The Poetry Society of …

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