Artist Feature: ISAAC GOODWIINE
Isaac GoodwIIne is more than just a filmmaker; he is an artistic revolutionary. His goal is to inspire, influence and inform his audience with novel and alternative cinema. GoodwIIne visually takes his audience members to a new world and he shares with them his inner thoughts on society and mankind.
At times these visions can be dark, but either way, he will take you on a journey, opening your mind and emotional senses.
GoodwIIne comes all the way from Geneva, Switzerland and he is determined to win!
Williman - Kurt Cobain, Directed by Isaac GoodwIIne
hey hey chanté: When did you know you wanted to be a filmmaker?
Isaac GoodwIIne: I knew I loved film since a very young age. Me and my mother, we always looked at films, but crazy films... My mother was in the theater, so I always went with her. She would be in rehearsal, and I would be with the actors playing around because they liked me, because I was funny... But for me theater was really boring... The best part of theater is when you go home. You go home, you go to the bed and you're like "I went to the theater, but now I'm in the bed". It's the best sensation in the world!
When did you begin filming?
When I was 11 or 10, my mother bought me a camera... It was a little camera; really bad, but then I would film all my friends stealing bikes, throwing rocks at cars, and doing stupid little boy things. It was like my diary... I knew I wanted to do [filmmaking] because it was my passion since I was little... When [you're] watching a movie, you're in another space, you're in the movie. If the movie is good, you're in the movie, when it ends you're like "uh, I want more".
Still from "Kurt Cobain"
What was the first film you ever made?
It was me and my cousin, and I think he was trying his rollerblades, and he didn't know how to skate. So we went outside to film, and it was a little bit like Jackass, but Jackass was too much... But we were young, and we would ask old people in the street what they liked, or why they liked salad and something like this, and they were like "Why you talking about salad?" and we'd say "Cause there's a problem in the salad." and they'd say "Oh, really? I'm not going to eat salad anymore."
Tell me more about filming as a child...
A lot of times I filmed myself making jokes or dancing and after I did the editing. Sometimes I was bored... I moved from where I use to live, like at 13 or 14 [years old] to Geneva. I didn't know no one in Geneva, so for one year I was just with my camera and it was my best friend.
Still from "Attitude"
So why did you want to come to America?
To increase myself, to improve my talent of filmmaking.
What is the current project you're working on?
It's called Attitude... even the name Attitude, it's like powerful; "You got your attitude" and everybody has an attitude. Sometimes with your attitude you become another person... When I was in Switzerland I had the idea to do it, but it was more about immigration and all these things. [It was] about what concerned Europe. And then I came here and I said "I don't want to talk about Europe because I'm too far away"... So I decided to [focus on minorities] in the United States, because they're different in Europe.
Attitude, Directed by Isaac GoodwIIne
How did you want to focus on minorities?
I wanted them to express themselves by dancing. [With] hip-hop and krump, you can't even talk. They can dance and you understand them... I wanted to do that because it's easy for me. I don't need to record someone speaking, and I don't need to pay someone to record it... [Plus] I really like body movement, and I want to do something different. I always try to do something different than other people... I think if you're a filmmaker, you should talk about new things, talk about what you think. I don't want to just entertain people.
What inspired you to create Attitude?
I've been growing up, since I was young with Black people, so I know the difference between White and Black... I feel Blacks and Whites are always scared of each other, that's how the world was built, so I want to describe this, and how me, I feel about it... I want to tell what I think about the society, and maybe I'm too ignorant, so I want to learn too.
What is your next Attitude film about?
I know here in New York there are a lot of problems with the police. A lot has changed in New York [over the years], and a lot has changed with the police. There is a lot of pressure on police to get to a higher level, with quotas and things. So I wanted to mix [that with] the relationship between policemen and young people, and race. Because a lot of the time policemen are minorities and I wanted to show how they feel superior after becoming a cop.
Random question: What's your favorite movie?
Do The Right Thing, by Spike Lee.
Do you have a favorite actor?
Ever since I was young I have always been in love with Will Smith. Every movie he made, I'm like "Aww, I wanna see this movie. I gotta see this movie." I've seen every one of his movies.
Did you try to act like him?
No, no, but where I'm living in Geneva, it's called Bel Air, so that's very funny.
I was very grateful to interview Isaac GoodwIIne. He is not just a one sided filmmaker, but a funny and genuine person as well. I expect a lot of amazing things to come from this man.
Below is his lastest short film entitled Attitude 2:
To find out more about Isaac GoodwIIne, like his facebook page here.
Later peeps!