Talking With William Cusick of WELCOME TO NOWHERE

There is some mystic magic in independent cinema. Having the freedom to express raw emotion without the framework of a studio-approved “story” gives one the freedom to experiment in new mediums. With Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road), director William Cusick has captured something raw, something grimy, and something disgusting. While perhaps not for the casual viewer, his film expresses hallucinatory emotional turmoil in shifting visual splashes, stark against the hallmarks of American peace and prosperity.

Check out conversation and find a link to the film below:
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Your aesthetic palette in the film shifts between gritty realism and over-exposed comic book textures. What made you approach the film in that stylish regard and how do you think it plays into the overall tone of the film?

William Cusick: The inspiration for Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road) originally came from the gritty 60’s and 70’s classic road movies – those original desert road films that had an edge, a sense of danger – outlaws and searchers exploring the vast expanse of America and finding only death, despair and loneliness. Deconstructing those ideas and retiling them inside a surrealist framework lays emphasis on the non-narrative aspects of our film and brings the audience’s comprehension into play while they view it. This film isn’t about story, it’s about shifting moods, yearning, wandering and drifting – states of mind that are more interesting than one single narrative plot. The push and pull between the in-camera real world and various constructed dream worlds layers the film with visual interest and creates a dialogue between what might be perceived as real within the world of the characters, and what might be perceived as the hyper-real manifestations of the characters’ themselves.

I’ve been working with animator and visual effects designer Jonathan Weiss for years creating videos and we’ve been incredibly interested in creating independent films that are driven by visual effects and animation – largely because we really want to see them, but also because of the possibilities for creating genuinely dreamlike experiences. Welcome to Nowhere was really our first attempt at creating something long form in this style.

There’s no doubt that a lot of material is grim. Was it emotionally tough doing a shoot that involved suicide, drug overdoses, murder, and prostitution?

WC: We were working with great actors that made it possible to approach the material with the right level of trust and gravity. Nick Bixby, Brian Greer, Cara Francis, Lorraine Mattox, Ryan Holsopple, Stephanie Silver and Tina Balthazar all brought great ideas to the set day after day, and made it comfortable for everyone to investigate these situations and ideas in a safe environment.

What is the overall message you want people to take away from the film?

WC: Films can be anything. There is a huge gap between independent cinema and video art, and this is the space that I’m exploring. American Art House cinema has drifted further and further into homogeny, most of the films maintain neatly arranged storylines with predictable plot points and easily summed up narratives that seem to be based on Save The Cat or other screenplay formulas. If Eraserhead were released in 2013 it would possibly disappear under the glut of the dozens of “art house” films that are flooding the market.

In a lot of way, the medium is the message with Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road) – it’s the first long form experimentation I’ve created for the screen, and I hope that it turns viewers onto the idea that films can be anything and that it’s worth spending time musing over them, as we would a book of poems, or a novel or an album of music. One of the greatest compliments I received on the film came from Don Simpson, the editor at Smells Like Screen Spirit when he thanked me for creating “such an intriguing and challenging film.” What are you planning on doing next?

WC: My next film is called Pop Meets the Void, a surrealist dark comedy about a musician who’s struggling to write and record his first album in obscurity. The film is split into seven parallel narratives that overlap, crisscross, intertwine and seemingly never end. We’ll be using a similar stylistic combination of live-action and motion graphics animation that we developed on Welcome to Nowhere.

We’re currently raising funds on Kickstarter for Pop Meets the Void, and we need to reach $35,000 by October 17th. We’re looking for smart and adventurous film lovers to support our film by pre-ordering it this fall. Please become a backer now –

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/williamcusick/pop-meets-the-void-feature

Pop Meets the Void will start shooting this fall in NYC and Allentown, PA, and we’ll be announcing the cast on Kickstarter in the coming weeks. TaraFawn Marek is producing the film, she also produced Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road). And I’ve written the entire soundtrack to Pop Meets the Void with co-composers Jeffrey Doto & Kyle Rothermel.

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William would like to say to all interested in giving it a peek: “I would only ask that viewers watch and enjoy the film with an open mind – with no expectations, only a willingness to be taken on a strange journey for an hour. “

Welcome to Nowhere (Bullet Hole Road) is streaming for free online until Oct 17, on NoBudge.

http://nobudge.com/main/9/16/online-premiere-welcome-to-nowhere-bullet-hole-road

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