An Awkward Start Led to Moments of Genius: An Interview With Sara St. Onge

By Jesse Ship

“I’m not interested in making depressing films. I’m interested in making upbeat films about dark stuff.”

Sara came to film as a bit of a latecomer. As an undergrad she studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and practically lived in the dark room. During these years, she sought to merge her love for writing and photography but was never really satisfied with the results. Like many with artistic aspirations, it took some time for her mind to lay fallow and let its creative juices ferment. Eventually a friend suggested film. “Making films was just more satisfying for me. When I was younger I wrote a lot of short stories but what I realized is that making movies isn’t the same. It’s more like you’re drawing a blueprint for what you want to make. It’s more work to get the visual from the page to screen.”

Sara’s most recent work, the critically acclaimed The Funeral came to her in a dream. “It was one of those dreams where I wasn’t sure if I was dead or alive, where I was directing my own funeral. It was a very surreal set up.” What brings on such dreams? Sara explains that during her early years shooting her labour of love, music videos, she would often crash from the post project depression. “We would shoot for one day and then it would be over. There was always this surreal anti-climactic feeling.” The Funeral is a hilarious dark comedy about a young woman who plans out her own funeral procession, complete with visits to the embalming studio, a eulogy, and a priceless pre-teen, suburban white girl acapella rendition of The Crossroads by Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony.

Amazingly, Sara has barely scratched the surface in terms of film festivals but was welcomed into the wacky world of the Sundance Film Festival this past January, where she shared screenings with the likes of the legendary, Isabella Rossellini. “It’s such a strange environment because there are all these people, mostly from Hollywood, and they take you to these parties where everyone is so weird, shmoozy, and extroverted, and I’m not, at least not in that kind of environment. I’m usually the person in the corner that’s drinking too much, making sarcastic comments!” It’s this kind of shy, eccentric wonder that makes up the magic of Sara’s work. Her other showcase piece, Lobotomobile is a dark and slightly disturbing comedic short musical. The short takes place in a suburban neighborhood that is invaded by an insane doctor on a lobotomizing spree, slinging catchy-as-hell show tunes and cheese-ball lyrics to boot. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

The film had two inspirations. The first was Sara’s obsession with the eccentric charismatic, Walter J. Freedman, who brought the lobotomy to the US in the ‘30s. Apparently, evidence wasn’t showing that it was the miracle cure that he believed it to be so he had to bring it to popularity on his own by taking it to the streets in his very own, lobotomobile. “He was a real barnstormer for the procedure and managed to give it mass appeal in the ‘40s. I was totally obsessed with him. I couldn’t believe that people thought it was a good idea to stick ice picks through people’s eyes in order to cure them!” Aside from exploring her dark obsessions, Sara also wanted to make her own music video, with her very own musical score.

As you may have guessed, Sara was a bit reclusive in her teenage years growing up in Seattle. Music and photography became a big part of her identity. “When it came to doing music videos, it just made sense. I had always related to musicians. I never felt that they were in a different world to me. I always knew them, so it wasn’t hard to approach them.” Ironically, Sara had never really watched music videos, but she soon realized that they are great projects to start with. Sara is currently enjoying a buzz with her recent work for Canadian indie bands like Final Fantasy, Gentlemen Reg, The Diableros, indie rapper WordBurglar and others. “I don’t just try to make music videos, I try to make a piece of myself.”

When it comes to making your own films, Sara has this advice to offer: “Keep them short and simple, and within the budget you have available to you. Shorts are weird little beasts. I find they have to have something ephemeral to them, but also something genuine. […] I like them short and concise and well crafted. I definitely get distracted by a film with great concepts, but one that isn’t trying to be crafted in a well made film way.” As much of a fan of the recent trend in ‘quirky films’ of the likes of Juno or The Darjeeling Limited, Sara thinks that good films shouldn’t necessarily have the viewer wondering things like, “why is that guy wearing that track suit every day? You should be in the story and in the environment so that you can lose yourself a little bit.”

>Expect more cute, strange and awkward from Sara in the future. She is currently focused on finishing a feature script she wrote with local comedienne Rebecca Adelman, an as of yet named coming of age story.