“Place,” which screened at the Sundance Film Festival, is now streaming on Vimeo. (Photo by Ryan Thomas)
The journey of Ashland natives and filmmakers Jason Gudasz and actress Emily Green to the 2020 Sundance Film Festival was far from a quick one. The two met in elementary school and put on talent shows in Gudasz’s backyard. They stayed friends but drifted apart and went to separate colleges. About six years ago, when Gudasz was moving to Los Angeles, his mother suggested he look up his old friend from Hanover, who was already living there. He reconnected with Green, and the friends started working together again, putting together a web series called “Natasha” in 2015. A few years and a few short films later, their latest project, “Place,” was chosen for Sundance. The 11-minute film was also scheduled for a screening in their hometown before the pandemic canceled plans. Gudasz and Green chat about “Place,” Sundance and the role of horror movies in scary times.
Emily Green and Jason Gudasz (Photo courtesy Jason Gudasz)
Richmond magazine: So, you were at Sundance, the epicenter for independent film in the world. What did that mean to you?
Emily Green: Well, over time, because “Place” kept getting into places and people kept wanting it, we were like “Oh, well, maybe it is good!” [Laughs] I really wanted to submit [the film] and to go so I was not surprised.
RM: What can audiences expect from “Place?”
Green: They can expect to laugh, and expect to think they’ll get scared. [Laughs]
RM: How does a film like “Place” resonate in a time when people are shut in with their families?
Jason Gudasz: I hope people are holding it together better than the characters in the short. I guess “Place” is partially about a shut-in family who doesn’t communicate with each other effectively. When individuals within an enclosed group stop voicing their issues with each other, those negative thoughts feed into an internal echo chamber and coalesce into a general resentment, and the longer all that is bottled up, the harder it is to diffuse and the more explosive it becomes. People stuck in their houses with families or roommates are hopefully talking and listening and learning a lot about each other right now. Or they’re just closing themselves off in their separate rooms, staring into their phones, talking to the mirror, settling into their respective brands of insanity.
RM: What role do you believe horror plays in times like these?
Gudasz: It goes without saying that the world, even without COVID-19, is a terrifying place. As someone who scares easy, I partially watch horror movies as a way to build tolerance to fear. I can’t say if it works, but I like pretending it does.
