Rebecca Stern is a director and producer living in Brooklyn, NY. She is the producer of Tri Maison Dasan, a documentary exploring the lives of children affected by parental incarceration (Independent Lens 2019). She is the co-producer of Netizens, a documentary delving into the effects of online sexual harassment (Tribeca 2018). She was the associate producer of “the bomb,” an innovative installation and film which premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival and the 2017 Berlinale Film Festival. She started in documentary film making as the production coordinator of Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary Cartel Land. She previously was a staff member of Picture Motion, the leading film impact firm, managing film marketing campaigns for acclaimed documentaries including Food Chains (2016 BritDoc Impact Award) and The Yes Men Are Revolting. We caught up with her directorial debut entitled ‘Well Groomed’.
Hi Rebecca, congratulations on the making of ‘Well Groomed’. It’s an amazing documentary that opens up the competitive world of dog grooming. What inspired you to make the film?
Thank you so much! The film took about five years to make, so the inspiration to make it changed many times. It was one of the things I learned about making a documentary film (since this is my first feature) – that to complete the thing, inspiration has to shift and evolve with you as the project changes. But, throughout, one of the biggest drivers for me is that I wanted to make something that had joy at the very center of the piece.
Was your approach to making this documentary film any different from previous projects?
To start, on previous projects I was the producer, not the director/producer so my approach had to be very different. The driving goal in either position is to make the best film possible, but when I produce it’s to actualize the vision as best as possible with all the resources you can collect. As a director, it’s to do the same but come up with the vision as well (which is not easy).
But I found that throughout making Well-Groomed, the way to get the best performances out of both the people (and pets!) onscreen and off was to have a lot of fun. When everyone has enjoyed themselves the most, and experimenting, was when we got magic. For instance, Alexander Lewis, our cinematographer, had so much fun doing slow-motion shots at the beginning of production. Most of the slowmo used in the film was captured then because he was enthralled with all the hair and fur. Leaving him to play as I talked to the women or set up the next location was the best call, and when we watched dailies we ended up giddy because of all the great shots!
Determined to succeed in competition and business, the dog owners dedicate themselves to this unique subculture. Did your experience of making this film bring any surprises and uncover a higher level of competitiveness you were unaware of?
In myself or for the women? For me, 100,000% – once I started making this film, nothing was going to stop me from completing it the way I wanted. For the women, what I found was a community of people much more dedicated to each other, their pets, and their friendships than the competition. I think they all want to win, but it’s so much about impressing the other women than it is smashing them in the race.
Will you work on another documentary of this kind?
Yes, sign me up.
Far removed from the theme of dog grooming, you were the producer of Tre Maison Dasan, a feature documentary exploring the lives of children affected by parental incarceration. Please tell us more about this?
Tre Maison Dasan is a very different movie. It’s about three boys who each have a parent in prison and their lives as they grow up. It’s tender, sweet, funny, and poignant and director, Denali Tiller, did an excellent job. Having vastly different projects is also one of the perks of working in documentaries as well – you get to do deep dives into so much of what makes the world.
What other projects should we look forward to seeing you involved?
I’m currently producing three other documentary films and considering a fourth. Nothing to share yet, but lots of exciting things!
Where will our readers find out more about you?
Everyone can keep up with all things Well Groomed @wellgroomedmove
*Photographs provided, courtesy of Sicily Publicity
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