Melanie Wu - Superstars Only

Daniela

So you've been running Bodega Film Festival for a year now. What made you want to start your film festival?

Melanie

Yeah. So I always had an interest in film, especially around high school. I was in this fellowship program in Miami called Borscht Corp. They're kind of cancelled now, because of sexual allegations and low key misogyny. I think that's also a reason why I was driven to create and start Bodega, because I was in that environment, where it was very film "bro-ey" and all the dudes in the office space were getting more praise compared to the girls. It was just stuff like that, that just made me feel icky. And then when I came here to New York, I was like, "Oh, I really want a cool inclusive space for film." Because I feel like normally when it comes to the film community, people have the notion of just men, like white dudes running the show. And it's like no, they're a lot more cool stories than those of cis white hetero dudes. So I started Bodega, because of Borsch and I had a really bad experience of just being in a space that wasn't inclusive. And I really wanted to create an inclusive space for young emerging filmmakers of all backgrounds.

Daniela

Was there a specific experience from Borscht that triggered that?

Melanie

I don't have a specific experience in mind, but it's just the vibes. I think that's the best way to explain it. All the girls would all be together, but then the dudes would not include us in some projects. Their main priority was just the other guys in the group. It wasn't an equal hierarchy. That's what's also messed up. I hate hierarchies, too. I feel like everything should just be horizontal. Like, just people vibing in community building. I don't think power is a priority, at least with Bodega. With Bodega, I don't even consider myself a founder or anything like that. I consider myself as a facilitator or someone that organizes a space in order for people to come in and just show their work or meet people and then from there create a larger network that way. But yeah, I personally don't see myself as the head person. Yes, I see it as my baby, but it's also like the baby could also be adopted by other people in the community, if that makes sense.

Daniela

Yeah, that's super cool. Would you say there are differences between the film community in Miami and the film community in New York?

Melanie

Borsch kind of intertwines a little with the New York scene. They are known as this weird experimental space. I don't know if you know NPCC?

Daniela

I follow them on Instagram, but I don't really know much about them.

Melanie

Well, both of those spaces have the same vibes. I think Borsch is very niche in the film community. You have to be aware of the underground scene in order to know it. I can't really comment on it, but it was prevalent and important in Miami film history. You just had to know what was up in order to know of it. So I think it's similar to New York in that sense. You need to know what's up to navigate around the community.

Daniela

And with Bodega, would you say you're trying to not do that?

Melanie

Yeah, I'm trying to avoid that, because I feel like with both Borsch and NPCC or any of those other organizations—it's very clouty. I'm not interested in having X amount of followers or engagement. I think the engagement that Bodega has been receiving is the perfect amount. It's not too overwhelming, especially since I've been the one running it and it's a lot of work. So just to have it be this small DIY space is manageable for right now. But yeah, I try to avoid it being a clouty, influencer Instagram-ey thing and just more for anyone who's interested in video. That's also another thing—the idea of video and film: I think it's all the same to me. If you're having fun with video and you're making something cool and you don't have a platform for it, I want people to see Bodega as a platform for their own work.

Daniela

You gave me a platform for my work too and that was crazy. There were a lot of people that went to that Festival. I even remember seeing pictures of the very first one and it looked like it was super packed.

Melanie

Yeah, apparently there were 100 people in the first one. We weren't expecting that.

Daniela

Wow. And you basically run it all by yourself.

Melanie

Yeah. Right now I'm doing it by myself. My first collaborator was Drake Lee…never mix love and work together.

Daniela

How do you make Bodega more inclusive?

Melanie

The way that we receive our video submissions is mainly through an open call system. It's just this Google form that anyone has access to. I posted it on social media and from there people started circulating that link around and random people that I've never known, that I have no mutuals with, find the link and apply. Also, I did this one approach where I posted posters around the city with a QR code and then I got some submissions that way. I think the open call system has helped in having me meet new people. I think also people that know me share the link to people that they think are a good fit too. Also like the open call system, it is completely free to use and public, and I think that's kind of rare for most film festivals because they normally charge people to submit their work.

Daniela

What are you looking for when people submit their films? Do you ever reject any?

Melanie

We've rejected a few. For instance, for the first open call cycle, we received about 50 submissions. It was a lot and I think we only accepted about 14 or 15 of them. But I think for the most part, we want something that feels finished. There's no hate to student films, but we receive a lot of student films that just don't feel complete. It's like the beginning of that filmmaker's arc in their practice, so it's not 100% solid. For the most part we prioritize LGBTQ people and BIPOC people, mainly because they need that space and I want to give that space to those people. So we prioritize those people first, and then from there we select whoever we think is a solid fit to the programming. Then we go through the rest of the submissions. I think we're just looking for cool, fun stuff, just something that makes me feel good when I watch it. I don't think there's a specific criteria that I have right now. It's just been me going through all the submissions and I think I want to try to open it up and maybe make a jury with a voting system, like from a scale of one to five, one being bad and five being good. And then from there, we get an average of what people think is a good selection of films. Then that might be a little bit less biased. However, I think from the past two screenings that I've had for Bodega, everyone says the programming was pretty good, so it makes me feel good that I have some sensibility in terms of taste and curation.

Daniela

How many hours in total do you think you've seen of films?

Melanie

Because they're short films, I will say about three hours of films.

Daniela

Have you felt inspired by the work that you've featured or even just by seeing all the submissions?

Melanie

100%. I'm really impressed by animation. We've received a lot of animations and those always blow my mind because I'm kind of familiar with that process and how time consuming that can be, so I'm always impressed by those. I am inspired by the people that kind of challenge the notions of filmmaking. For instance a day at the beach—they go by Baby Rat now—that one is a really beautiful film. It's this weird, experimental Docufiction/personal documentary about climate change and capitalism and how that affects her livelihood as being someone that just graduated college and is trying to get jobs. What I really liked about that film was how she manipulated screen recordings, beautiful landscape shots, and really kitschy imagery of home and domesticity. I had no idea all of those images could be perfectly sequenced into something that makes sense. Because I feel like all of those visuals have their own genre and she warped all those genres into a 15 minute film. It was really beautiful.

Daniela

This is kind of separate from the festival, but you studied fine art as well. We're talking a lot about images within film. Do you like, feel like you approach film like a painting?

Melanie

Honestly, I've never painted in my life.

Daniela

Well not even like painting but just art making in general.

Melanie

I feel you. Honestly, whenever people ask about my fine arts practice I always say I do video work because sometimes I feel like my filmmaking practice enters the realm of like, experimentation and Fine Arts. Because it's not 100% narrative. It's just this weird blob of stuff that's going on. I think, for me, with my fine art/filmmaking practice I really want to branch into this space of creating a video that also creates space for the narrative to encapsulate an environment, not necessarily through installation work, but just with the screen itself.

Daniela

Like the aura.

Melanie

Exactly. It's so weird, because now I'm in my studio for fine arts and since I have an actual physical space, I'm trying to make physical work and sculptures. I'm in this rut, because I'm not used to this practice at all. However, it's nice to get off the screen for a little bit. But yeah, it's funny, because I had a critique, like, earlier this week, for my midterms and the people that are seeing my sculptures, say that they feel like props and there's something theatrical about them. And I was like, Okay, I guess that kind of goes with my filmmaking practice, because the theatrics are also in the film itself. So I don't know. I guess my objects are kind of art films in a way.

Daniela

Each practice informs each other. Again, you can't define or box one thing, and that's kind of what Bodega does too. Bodega has screened at the East River amphitheater and, more recently, it's also shown at the Village East Theater, which was so epic. What's the process like when finding a venue?

Melanie

Well, for the first one, we automatically knew that we wanted to do it at the amphitheater because it was the summertime and it was still during the COVID-ish era. I would always go to the East River Park and I always thought the amphitheater was super cool. So I was like, "Why don't we just try to get a permit and do something there?" The permit process was hell and I didn't get a permit. I was like, "You know what? Fuck it, let's just put a screen up there and just get our PA systems in and have the screening really DIY." We were scared because police officers were there and we thought we were going to get shut down, but what the heck are you gonna do? I think the screen looked really official and they thought it was an actual event that was happening. So that was good. I'm glad we didn't get shut down and I think that was why we chose the amphitheater. And for East Village cinema, we really wanted Theater Number One, which is this huge theater stage. We really wanted that space, but we were also scared about how many people would come for the screening because it's really big. But the theater was not available and we just got a normal theater. We really loved the marquee at the front.

Daniela

Oh, yeah, that was gorgeous.

Melanie

And the fact that they could put Bodega Film Festival on the front of it, too.

Daniela

It was so cool. I was freaking out. It's like you made my little dreams come true, seeing my film in a space like that.

Melanie

Yeah! That's also a thing I really like about Bodega. I want to give people the opportunity to see their film in a theater space or on a really big screen, because normally we just see it on laptops or on our phones. It's definitely a different experience seeing your film on a big screen. I remember back in high school, I saw one of my first films in a proper theater space and it motivated me more to make cooler things and make more stuff because I wanted to see my work on a big screen again. I hope that Bodega helped people do that too, for themselves.

Daniela

Definitely. It made me feel that way too. I spent so much intimate time with that film that the whole process became so personal. Even more so by watching it on my laptop the whole time. And I had spent so much money on film and being able to see it in the same theater where I saw Uncut Gems felt so magical. I also didn't have a proper show for my thesis either. So being a part of Bodega made everything feel like it was all worth it. That being said, What's your dream venue?

Melanie

It's definitely the first theater that I mentioned, the one that's really big in East Village Cinema because it's such a really beautiful theater space.

Daniela

How do you see bodega 10 years from now?

Melanie

10 years from now? Oh, okay. This is my goal, my dream for Bodega: right now I'm trying to build my network of filmmakers, and from there, with the filmmakers that I really love, I want Bodega to become a production company and those filmmakers can make their own movies under us, kind of like A24. This is something that I'm kinda gonna steal from Borsch Corp—they would have an open call for grants and give filmmakers grants to make movies with them. So I want to do that and have this grant system where we fund filmmakers to make their proposed projects and we would help facilitate all of that. Then from there we would have a festival of all the films that we funded with the grants.

Daniela

I want that to happen like tomorrow.

Melanie

It's a lot of money though.

Daniela

Yeah…

Melanie

But that's my goal with Bodega. It's this quasi, nonprofit community as well as a film production company.

Daniela

I think it can happen. I think it will happen.

Melanie

Yeah. And you're always on the team. Also, I want it to not just be a New York thing, too. I had this crazy thought while I was sleeping the other night: because I'll be in Miami for a month around December, I thought I should do a pop up screening.

Daniela

Oh yeah! I was going to ask, do you ever see Bodega in Miami?

Melanie

Yeah, I see it in Miami. And then I have friends that are in LA that can try to post that too.

Daniela

Wow. Miami, NYC and LA.

Melanie

Exactly. Wow. Illuminati.

Daniela

That's pretty crazy. On Saturday, you're hosting the first ever open screening for Bodega. What were your ideas behind that?

Melanie

I'v had a few people from the New School that I took film classes with who've graduated and they're starting to make new stuff. They would come to me like, "I'm so bummed that I don't have a class setting where I can show my works in progress or anything and receive feedback from not just the professor, but also the students in the class." And to me that made a lot of sense. Those spaces don't exist unless you email someone to receive feedback, but that's not an intimate, casual space. So I thought that we could do something like an open mic thing but with videos. People can bring their USBs or, if they have a link, just pull up, watch it, and if they want feedback, they let us know. I think it's also very hard to talk about your work and I struggle with that myself. I really want the open screening to help people learn how to talk about their work and practice in an environment that isn't judgmental.

Daniela

I struggle with that a lot. It's just been a few months out of school, and it's been hard making work because part of the motivation was that I knew I would be showing it to people in class. So the fact that you're doing that is pretty epic. How often do you think you're going to have the open screenings?

Melanie

Probably once every two months.

Daniela

That's chill. Breathing room.

Melanie

Yeah, because I need breathing room too. It's a lot of work.

Daniela

So you're a student and you have jobs and on top of that you're also managing a whole festival.

Melanie

And I also have a social life, I guess.

Daniela

Yeah. And then you have to make your own films!

Melanie

That's kind of fun. I like being in that hustler mentality. I like hustling. I guess a part of it is like, just being from an immigrant family. You have that mindset which is like, Okay, I just have to work all the time. But also, I feel like working all the time makes me feel good. I need to be doing something.

Daniela

It's that rush. Having a lot of things to do helps me do more things for myself creatively too. To get yourself to do something when nothing's happening is always the hardest for me. If I'm not doing anything then I get a little too used to the feeling and then I get overwhelmed with the feeling of having to do something or wanting to do something. What's your favorite part of the whole Bodega experience?

Melanie

I think it's the end. I remember for the last screening, I really wanted to host an after party, but it was a lot of work doing it by myself and going through a breakup and stuff. But when the screening ended it was so nice to see everyone just stay on the sidewalk talking with one another and mingling. It made me feel like I am community building and things were actually happening. We stayed out there for half an hour at least just talking. It felt so nice. And hearing from the filmmakers that they were happy seeing their work is what makes me feel good, too.

Daniela

Would you ever show your own films at Bodega?

Melanie

I showed one at the first screening and I think for this third one, I might show one of my films. I have this one dilemma though: I thought to myself, is it okay for me to show my films if I'm the one programming it?

Daniela

I think you should. You're creating a whole community and you're able to give everyone the opportunity to show their work on the screen. I feel like you should be able to give that back to yourself as well.

Melanie

Yeah, I remember one of the filmmakers, Danny. I was talking to him about it. He's like, "Well, it just shows people that you are in the scene, too. It's a lot more compelling that way." I'm like, okay, cool.

Daniela

Why is it called Bodega?

Melanie

I think it's the idea of "for the people." Bodegas, especially here in New York, are this space that anybody goes to no matter their class, race, anything. So yeah, that's where the name came from.

Daniela

Do you have a favorite bodega?

Melanie

Honestly, I have this really fond memory of one in Miami. It was the corner store from where I lived in Little Havana. It was called Mambo King. That's my favorite bodega. It will always have a special place in my heart because I would sneak in there all the time to get food as a little kid. I grew up next to it.

Daniela

What do you think makes someone a superstar?

Melanie

I think superstars are people who support other people. People that want to see other people winning. Just being around, helping empower people, and being happy when you see others win. I think that's a superstar.

Superstars Only

Interview with Melanie Wu