Tribeca 2019 Shorts: Interview With SWEATER & 99 Writer/Director/Star Nick Borenstein

At this years Tribeca Film Festival, in the N.O.W section, Nick Borenstein had two shorts premiere. One, 99, takes place in a ninety-nine cent store as an adult man (played by Nick) shops with his mother for a gift for a bar mitzvah. The other is Sweater, in which he also stars, about a man not having a great day, yearning to make an impression with his attire on a date. There’s a dance scene that breaks out, in which he also partakes. Both are very fun and also terrific snippets of real life experiences that personify comedy in rare and unique moments. Nick has an abundance of charisma, which makes it tough not to be engaged and hard to tear your eyes away. I look forward to his future projects.

I was able to sit down with Nick while I was in NY and chat about his experience making the films, at the festival, and what he’s hoping to do in the future.

Kristy Strouse for Film Inquiry: Congratulations on your shorts premiering at Tribeca! So, tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience with film.

Nick Borenstein: I’m a writer, director and performer, and I also dance. I’ve always loved telling stories. I’ve always loved being able to create a narrative and have people reflect and engage in that narrative. I often write really personal stories and really enjoy the experience of putting myself out into the world, hoping other people can connect and relate to that. My journey is that I’ve been a producer for many years and so I was in the business of producing and developing other people’s work. And I loved that, I loved being creative and helping other people sort of shepherd their stories and their ideas, but I always had this sneaking suspicion that I wanted to tell my own stories and that I had my own point of view.

So, as I was producing other people’s work, I would occasionally make a short film of my own, but it wasn’t until I made Trip, which was a digital series that IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) chose as an official selection in their Screen Forward lab. Which is a really great program that supports emerging filmmakers. I realized this was a voice that I really wanted to pursue, and this was a road that I wanted to pursue.

Prior to Trip, I had made a digital series for Elite Daily, which was a comedy series that I had made with a good friend and that was such a joy to make. That was really the first sort of taste of filmmaking that I got, and I was hooked. I loved the ability to make people laugh and to make people think. I come from a performance background, I did theatre when I was younger, and I just knew that it was something that I wanted to pursue. I’m so grateful because every sort of film I’ve been able to make has helped me get better, and further explore who I am as a maker and what stories I care about telling.

Did you have any specific film influences?

Nick Borenstein: That’s a great question. I have always loved comedy and sort of the ability that comedy has to also make you think, cry, and reflect. I think there’s a lot of darkness and emotions that we all experience and comedy has such an ability to get us to think about those sort of things and access those darker moments. So, filmmakers who have blended the lens of both, like Paul Thomas Anderson is someone who I think is very talented.

He’s very good at that.

Nick Borenstein: And Spike Jonze. My film, Sweater, which is my dance film, one that is here, was very much inspired by what Spike Jonze does in some of his advertising work. He did this incredible ad with FKA twigs for Apple and one for Kenzo, which really sort of utilized dance and narrative. So, that was a big inspiration for me integrating dance in a narrative way. I think filmmakers and artists who are daft at bringing you in with comedy and keeping you there, but then being able to sort of reflect on some darker tones, is great. I’m obsessed with Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, I think she’s wonderful. That’s sort of a newer project that’s really stuck with me.

I enjoyed both short films a lot, can you talk a bit about where those stories came from?

Nick Borenstein: 99 came from a really personal place. 99 is a short film about a mother and her adult son who are shopping for a barmiztvah gift at a .99 cent store. My mother, who is sort of an inspiration for this film because it’s loosely based on her, is incredibly eccentric, wonderful, and loves .99 cent stores. My entire life I’ve been going to those with her.

Same here! Apparently, it’s a thing.

Nick Borenstein: It is a thing! Especially with mothers. I mean, who doesn’t love a cheap… anything, a trinket? I think I’ve always found those stores to be a really interesting setting. Actually, in Punch Drunk Love Paul Thomas Anderson sets a small moment in a dollar store and that was really inspirational for me in terms of look and feel. I knew this film was going to tackle some darker themes and I wanted the setting of the .99 store to be really bright and really colorful and be a sort of interesting contrast to the darker themes of the film. And that’s really where that idea stemmed from.

Kathryn Markey who is the woman who played the mother, actually played my mother in Trip, my other series, and she’s just such a dynamic, talented actress that I knew that I wanted to work with her again, So, this idea sort of just organically came from that relationship.

With Sweater, I’ve been dancing my whole life and I’ve always wanted to dance in one of my films or utilize dance in some way, and that was really sort of the entry point in making the film. How can I make a dance film? And that sort of evolved into… what’s the emotional hook that’s influencing the dancing? I had been really sort of interested in rejection and just thinking about the themes of rejection and how sometimes we can hold that so deeply into making us feel like everything in our life is rejecting us. And, I wanted to look at humanity and the small moments of kindness in humanity.

Like that moment in Sweater.

Nick Borenstein: Exactly, even small moments, spoiler alert- when this barista in the film does something really small and really kind for this character, knowing that he’s having such a hard day, his whole day changes.

Both are part of the N.O.W series?

Yes, each are part of the Tribeca N.O.W series, which stands for New Online Works. It’s a relatively new one.

Yes, I believe I remember it last year too. I haven’t seen a full line up, just your films.

Nick Borenstein: And thank you for that, and for the kind words. That’s the dream, that others see them and enjoy them, and I love that you connect to them with your mom. But Tribeca N.O.W is a really great program because it supports various mediums of work all with the intent of premiering and living digitally online.

Can you speak a bit about the importance of film festivals – their ability to provide voices for diverse programs like this?

Nick Borenstein: I’m thrilled. I’m truly over the moon to have these two films here. It’s an honor to have one, it’s insane to have two. I feel so grateful. I have a very sort of loving relationship with Tribeca, because when I was a freshman at NYU I took a class about Tribeca film festival where they sent us here and it was the first time I had ever gone to a film festival. I just remember being in awe of the entire festival experience, of like press and filmmakers and stars, and sponsors.

There’s a whole vibe.

Nick Borenstein: Total vibe, and I love that Tribeca’s in NY, which is where I live and where I make my films. But, for me, to have had that first experience when I was like 18 years old at Tribeca, and then having my first two films premiering here is a dream.

Are you originally from NY?

Nick Borenstein: No, I’m not. I am originally from LA, but I’ve been here for eleven years and I feel like NY is such a big part of my N.O.W. storytelling experience, having made all of my work here for the most part. Being here, is a dream, and it’s been really exciting to show people these films. Someone came up to me and just started dancing, and I was like… that’s the dream. Please come up to me and dance, that’s the perfect introduction.

So, you’ve had a great reaction from viewers.

Nick Borenstein: Yes, it’s been thrilling. As a writer/director/performer you put so much of yourself into your work, and you sometimes forget that you’re also the person in it. So, it’s been really thrilling to have people come up and say wonderful things and connect. Whether it’s in 99 about their mothers, or addiction, or eccentricities of family members to Sweater and someone being like “I had a really, really, shitty experience on Tinder or was rejected by my boss in a work context.”

Someone actually came up to me and said that Sweater reminded them of Climax, the Gaspar Noé film. Which is an incredible film, but very different. Totally different tonally. I think – what I hope- they walked away from was this ability to sort of telling a story through dance. The initial scene in Climax when all the dancers are on the dance floor dancing is so powerful. And I would love to continue to make work that includes dance (also narratives that don’t) but mostly I want to make people feel things, and I think the reactions have been really positive.

Since you did do so much, writing/directing/starring/dancing- what would you say was the most difficult part of it?

Nick Borenstein: I think they had different challenges. We shot both films in one day and both films were one shoot. Which can be challenging itself because you have to get everything in a short amount of time. For 99 we shot overnight, and we were cold and tired in this grocery store, but everyone was wonderful. Kathryn and I have worked together before, so we have this great rapport and we naturally felt into it. But it’s a very personal piece and it comes from a very real place, so I think it was challenging to sort of live in that space.

I also think art has such an ability to be sort of cathartic and it was really wonderful to have that experience. In terms of Sweater, I’ve written/directed and performed in everything I’ve made so I’m pretty comfortable wearing all those hats, but this was the first time I was dancing in one. It was challenging to direct my dancing. We had two rehearsals prior.

Did you choreograph the dance?

Nick Borenstein: I conceived the idea and the formations and movements. But I worked with a really talented performer and friend, whose name is Tiana Hester and we worked together to sort of actualize the movements. Luckily I did have a collaborator on the physical choreography, but then again, having one day to shoot multiple dance sequences proved to be exciting, like it was thrilling- I had the best time just blasting the music in this massive café, but it was challenging.

As a director I want to get everything, and so I work with people that I really trust so that I don’t watch playback on everything. Cecilia Delgado, who is our producer and A.D was fantastic and my DP Marc Katz had a similar experience as well. So, I think it’s important to have collaborators that you really trust because that made the challenges challenging, but not something we couldn’t work through.

What did you see going forward- do you have anything in particular you are doing or aspire to do?

Nick Borenstein: I’m currently writing a feature film, which I’m really excited about that I think really tackles the humor and darkness that I’ve been working on prior. I’m really excited about it, and hopefully that’s something that we make in the next year or so. I’m also developing a couple digital series, I love digital work because you can make the thing instead of talking about the thing. It seems like a lot of filmmakers are waiting for financing or something, some gatekeeper to let them enter. And with digital, you are the gatekeeper. You are allowed to make the work that you care about.

Of course, budget is a consideration and you have to figure out how to make that work for you. But I’m really excited about these. One is sort of a continuation of Sweater, another series that’ll tackle different characters who are experiencing everyday life and having emotional reactions in the things that are thrown at you. But, movement will sort of find its way in telling that story.

In terms of my work, I look forward to exploring all the sides of all those aspects whether it be in longer form work, be it film or TV, which is very much the aspiration and where I look to be making work. But also continuing to create, explore and experiment in some of these experimental spaces.

I also hope to integrate dance more into my career, in film or live. I just participated in a really amazing artist residency in Mexico City, it’s called Casa Lu, and I conceived a dance performance that was set in the narrative and that was also really exciting to think of storytelling as well outside of just film-making. So, hopefully there’s a lot of exciting things coming up!

I’m sure there will be. Thanks and congratulations again!

We want to thank Nick Borenstein for taking the time to speak with us.