Guillaume Campanacci is the type of person who makes the people he talks to feel like they’ve known him for a long time. His easy-going and colloquial tone makes one immediately feel comfortable. It’s almost hard to believe that inside such a pleasant man’s brain is the dark storytelling sensibility that resulted in Devils in Disguise, an independent feature film about revenge and, as Campanacci himself puts it, “characters that are willing to do anything to reach their goals”. I sat down for a Skype interview with Campanacci and met a very humble and passionate filmmaker with a genuine love for this little project of his that has taken so much time and effort. For a film major, it was quite inspiring.
As high quality filmmaking technology becomes more and more democratized, the platform for small independent auteurs is becoming larger and larger. Even as movie theaters lose money to the home entertainment market, film festivals are thriving and online streaming has made it feasible for small movies to find their niche audiences. A few weeks ago I saw Layover, a feature that was shot on a budget of $6,000 and premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival, and was encouraged by how much it was able to accomplish with so little. It struck me that while people often complain about the lack of originality in Hollywood, so much great work is being done independently that it seems silly to say that cinema is dead. In 2004, Shane Carruth’s Primer garnered a lot of positive buzz at Sundance for being such a mind-bogglingly original film that Carruth was eventually brought on as a consultant on Rian Johnson’s Looper. More and more filmmakers are carving their own unique paths into the industry and, with varying degrees of monetary success, are getting their voices heard.
After graduating from college with a master’s degree in engineering and then abandoning the field to become a model, Guillaume Campanacci was encouraged to become a filmmaker by the success of movies like Primer. He learned that Shane Carruth had, like him, been an engineer, and seeing a fellow career hopper become so successful made him think, “oh hey, maybe I can do that.” During his career as a model, Campanacci had the chance to be in a commercial directed by Emmanuel Lubezki (director of photography; Gravity, The Tree of Life) and was surprised to see that he was “very different than normal directors who would go behind the screen and yell orders.” Just like Shane Carruth, Lubezki wanted to be a part of every aspect of production. Campanacci recalls that “[Lubezki] would take the camera and if he saw something that he liked, he’d just go for it.” Seeing this, Campanacci knew how he wanted to make his first movie. “You can write something and make it cheap,” he says, and that’s exactly what he did.
Campanacci shot his first feature film, Devils in Disguise, in just eleven days with a budget of only $4,200. Now he plans to fulfill his dream of following in the footsteps of people like Shane Carruth, but he is doing so with a movie that he believes is very different from other releases. Campanacci describes his movie as “weird” and “non-linear.” He even admits that some people might not like it. His goal is just to affect his audience in some way. “Even if it’s hate or rejection,” he says, “it’s still a good thing that you made them feel something.” But he hopes to find his niche audience, which is why he has launched an IndieGogo campaign with a goal of raising $9,500 to finish the film. It certainly seems like some people are interested in what Campanacci has to offer. Two days into the campaign, 50% of the goal had already been raised.
I have no way of knowing how good of a film Devils in Disguise will turn out to be, but after talking with Campanacci, I certainly believe in the filmmaker. Whether the final product meshes with my personal tastes or not, it is clear that he is creating something that comes from an honest place within him. He has no agenda beyond telling a story that he wants to tell. What excites me is the fact that people like this have the ability to do that for a niche audience, thereby making a convincing argument that not all media has to be produced for the masses. Whether it’s by donating money or just by seeing these films, I encourage all movie buffs to support this counter-culture. The mere existence of movies like Devils in Disguise reminds me that we are living in an exciting time in film history. We have the ability to push the boundaries of the art form through means never before available to the public. It’s certainly a great time to be a film major.
The IndieGoGo campaign for Devils in Disguise runs through December 17th.
