From left to right: Anthony Drazan, Bavly Soliman 鈥�22, Richard Hoover, and Kosaku Horiwaki
Kosaku Horiwaki鈥檚 filmmaking journey began when he was still a child, in Japan.
It began before he came to New York City, at age 19, to study film as an undergraduate; before he decided to stay here, working for two decades in the Japanese television industry; and before he enrolled at Feirstein in 2018 to fulfill his 鈥減ersistent dream鈥� of directing his own film.
His journey began when he was 14 years old and lost his mother to suicide. The loss, he says, 鈥渋gnited a lifelong quest to capture the enigmatic complexities of the human experience on film.鈥�
Horiwaki鈥檚 M.F.A. thesis film, Daughters of Monster Magnet, is the embodiment of this project. In it, his main character, Lili Mukaejima, is left with a profound sense of abandonment and emotional turmoil after her mother鈥檚 suicide. At 47 minutes, the film is twice the length of a typical thesis project and involves laborious stop-motion animation.
The achievement is both personal and professional.
For Horiwaki M.F.A. 鈥�23 and his classmates, these films are calling cards, says Feirstein Executive Director Richard N. Gladstein. Wanting to offer students the benefit of advice from a variety of industry veterans, Gladstein instituted a thesis mentorship program when he assumed directorship of Feirstein in 2020.
As a supplement to guidance from professors in the thesis class, mentors鈥攐ne per film鈥攎eet with students a few months before shooting begins and then again in post-production, when they see a cut of the movie. Sometimes the mentoring relationships extend further, depending on the chemistry of the pairings.
Gladstein assigns mentors to films based on the help students request, anything from reworking the script to directing actors to using animation.
In his first year, Gladstein found himself choosing mentors from the filmmakers on Feirstein鈥檚 Advisory Council, people like Steven Soderbergh and cinematographer Robert Richardson. He has since expanded the pool of potential mentors so that Feirstein can fulfill students鈥� wide-ranging needs.
A Kindred Spirit
Over many months of work, Feirstein students serve as directors, screenwriters, and producers (Horiwaki took on all three roles for his film, but that is not always the case). Students also serve as directors of photography, production designers, and more. Each thesis project has a budget of $25,000 to $30,000, says Gladstein, $10,000 of which comes from the school. Such modest budgets are possible because, with its state-of-the-art facilities, Feirstein also provides equipment and logistical support.
Using live-action sequences and stop-motion animation, Horiwaki鈥檚 film rejects narrative convention and crosses genres. For shoots on a stage at Steiner Studios, a multinational team of artists created a nutshell world: a small Victorian house, intricate dolls (requiring their own on-set doll hospital), and miniature human silhouettes suspended in the air like birds.
This reliance on craft, and stagecraft, is why Horiwaki and his crew found themselves in a room last November brainstorming with distinguished production designer . Hoover has worked on many films and series鈥�Dead Man Walking, Girl Interrupted, Twin Peaks, The Plot Against America, to name a few鈥攁nd in the theater.
Hoover was a good pairing for Horiwaki鈥檚 film, says Gladstein, because the production designer could offer help in how to capture the visual nature of the story.
At Steiner, the group spent an hour talking about the visual possibilities of Horiwaki鈥檚 film. A stylistic departure from most of Hoover鈥檚 projects, the film鈥檚 surreal sensibility intrigued him. Horiwaki, he found, 鈥渨ould abstract me into wonderful discoveries of things.鈥�
One of Hoover鈥檚 suggestions that ended up in the film was the use of cartoon graphics of words to replace firework smoke. And through their discussions, Horiwaki came to see Hoover as a rare kindred spirit, who had been able to maintain that artist鈥檚 holy grail: 鈥渁 childlike sovereignty of the imagination.鈥�
Respecting Artistic Visions
M.F.A. student Bavly Soliman 鈥�22 recalls the first thesis meeting he and his director of photography, Thomas Heban M.F.A. 鈥�22, had with director Anthony Drazan, on Zoom in late 2021. Drazan, who is teaching a class at Feirstein this fall, is known for his award-winning films Zebrahead and Hurlyburly, the latter starring Sean Penn. 鈥淗e was very chill, and he started the conversation by saying, 鈥業鈥檓 not here to critique. I鈥檓 here to help,鈥欌�� says Soliman. 鈥淎nd that was a big relief.鈥�
Soliman鈥檚 film, which he produced and directed, was complicated by its sensitive subject matter. He offers its logline: 鈥淲hile visiting New York from Egypt, Mark, a 32-year-old Christian-Orthodox [man], decides to lose his virginity, confronting all the cultural and religious restrictions that shaped his character.鈥� With a screenplay by Feirstein classmate Matthew Gill 鈥�22, based on a story the two developed, Soliman describes the film as bold. But it was the one Soliman, who is originally from Egypt and relocated to New York City in 2017, felt compelled to tell.
Part of Soliman鈥檚 development as a filmmaker was gaining confidence in his own artistic vision and learning to express it effectively to others. Drazan encouraged thoughtful introspection. The better Soliman understood his own reasons for wanting to tell this story, says Drazan, the better it would serve him; not just in making his movie, but also in shaping his ambition. 鈥淏ecause you have got to have a reason, in most cases, to launch a career鈥攂eyond making a living, being famous, and pleasing your parents.鈥�
Premiere Film, an Italian distribution company, has acquired the rights to Soliman鈥檚 film, called HoLEY, and is currently submitting it to festivals. Soliman, who also works full time as a pharmacist, is now in the middle of writing a feature based on the short and developing two other shorts. He has plans to film one of those this fall, with Drazan as a producer on it. The two stayed in contact and the 鈥渕entorship evolved to a friendship,鈥� says Soliman.
Core to the mentorship program, and Feirstein鈥檚 programs in general, is respect for the idiosyncrasy of individual artistic vision. 鈥淜osaku鈥檚 and Bavly鈥檚 movies, they are a little out there in their ideas,鈥� says Gladstein, 鈥渂ut that鈥檚 all good.鈥� Summing up Feirstein鈥檚 philosophy, Gladstein says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the film we want you to make. It鈥檚 the film you want to make, and we鈥檙e just helping you make it.鈥�
