Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: ON A STRING [Tribeca Film Festival 2025 - New York , NY] - Part II - video Dailymotion

Fest Track

Writer/Director/Actor Isabel Hagen talks to Fest Track about perspective, humor and "staying present" in regards to her film: "On A String" playing the US Narrative Competition section of the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, New York.

Transcript

00:00This is Tim Wassberg from FastTrack on CERF TV.

00:29I'm here in New York City for the Tribeca Films.

00:32Is the aspect of expectation, you know, the acceptance of who you are, but the expectation

00:37of what you could be.

00:38I mean, look, and I've talked to many students who have gone to Juilliard.

00:42There's a sense of like what you can be, what you want to do, but also what the education

00:47allows you.

00:49And also the idea, I went to NYU.

00:52So, you know, you do those things where you're like, well, how far will this get me?

00:56And then how much will who I am get me where to where I need to be?

01:00Can you talk about expectation?

01:02Not just as a musician and a filmmaker, but, you know, looking at expectations of your character

01:08in the film.

01:08Again, it's a parallel.

01:09But could you talk about that?

01:11Because you have a unique experience because very few people get to go to Juilliard.

01:16Yeah, I find that having expectations leads you much quicker to facing life's inevitable

01:24limitations.

01:26And that was a theme that I really was playing with in the film.

01:30There's limitations to everything.

01:32There's limitations in your relationships with certain people.

01:36There's limitations to what happens in your life.

01:38It's not all in your control.

01:39But ultimately, I hope that people come away with feeling an acceptance of certain limitations.

01:46And when you accept the limitations, actually, the possibilities are kind of endless in a

01:50way.

01:51I know that's kind of a meta roundabout foo-foo thing to say, but.

02:00Isn't this what you wanted?

02:02I just.

02:04I don't know.

02:06You don't know.

02:07Do you not like the ring?

02:12No, no, I.

02:13I love the ring.

02:21You can stop.

02:25Sorry, can you.

02:28You can go.

02:30Yeah.

02:30Okay.

02:37It's all about perspective and perception.

02:42You know, your perspective.

02:44Look, you being at the premiere last night, looking at these people, seeing what you're

02:49making, and then you actually playing music with some of the same people.

02:52It's an interesting sort of perspective because they're perceiving you a certain way.

02:57And yet you're perceiving them perceiving you, if you want to get existential about it.

03:03But can you talk about perspective and perception now putting a film like this that you've worked

03:07very hard on out to an audience in your home city?

03:12Could you talk about that?

03:13Yeah, well, watching it last night, it almost felt like a little time capsule, you know,

03:18because also there's a delay with filmmaking.

03:20You know, we shot all of this over a year ago and I wrote it even longer before.

03:24And now we're all here today watching it in my home city where I've lived my like since,

03:30you know, 30 years ago.

03:32And yeah, it was a really wild experience.

03:36And I'm so happy we got to premiere it in the city.

03:38It was shot and also the city where I'm from.

03:40It felt very, you know, organic and right to do that.

03:44But can you talk about the humor?

03:46You know, because the humor, you can write it and then performing it's a completely different

03:51thing because the only way for humor to work is for the stakes to be there as well.

03:57You know, you want running and grabbing your friend from that back room, you know,

04:02it doesn't work unless you've had that experience with her in the in the rehearsal and a little

04:09bit of humor.

04:09So the stakes reflect in the humor and vice versa.

04:13Can you talk about that?

04:14Because that's why a lot of the film works is because it understands the balance of these

04:18things.

04:20Thank you for saying that.

04:21And one of the I hope I achieved the following, which is that I wanted all the humor to come

04:27from not super contrived situations, but maybe if there was an element of a

04:32ridiculousness or heightened awkwardness still like this could happen.

04:37And I think if it feels more real, that can make it that much funnier.

04:41So that was something I was always striving to do.

04:44And yes, the state it's all in context, right?

04:47Humor is is always needing to be in context.

04:49That's why a lot of standup comedy doesn't age.

04:51Well, you watch like really old comedians and, you know, because it's totally out of context

04:56of the time that they're in.

04:57And so, yes, you have to contextualize the humor and the timing.

05:00Oh, do you need my payment info?

05:02Oh, do you take cash?

05:18And my last question, because we've touched on it sort of, you know, peripherally.

05:48But the aspect of the actor being the actor and then the lead in this, you know, but also

05:55balancing it with the musicality in there and always obviously the the the awkward musicality,

06:02because you play a lot of these things in there where it's not perfect.

06:06And that's on purpose.

06:07And we understand that.

06:08But can you talk about being the actor, being the character in front, but also bringing sort

06:15of your musicality into that?

06:19I know it's hard to separate the director from the actor in this instance, but can you

06:22talk about you as the actor and the thought process as far as your approach, because she's

06:29a musician, you're a musician, you know, she's in New York, you're in New York, obviously

06:33lots of parallels, but you have to make it your own.

06:35Right.

06:36Right.

06:37Well, there is a funny experience when you're an actor and director in the same film.

06:42You know, there's even more observation going on because I'm one trying to do my best, but

06:50also while people are performing, I'm also thinking, OK, what are the notes I would give

06:54them next time?

06:56Next time, you know, it's you have to really stay truly present.

07:00But I but I kind of took on an extra role of the observer again, which is what I do as

07:06a musician in the gigs and in real life.

07:09So, yeah, it was this combination of being sometimes an observer and sometimes the subject

07:16and then sometimes both at the same time.

07:19And it's a fun and interesting experience for sure.

07:23I did want to add a follow up just because you were talking about notes, of course, notes

07:27makes me think musicality, but it brought to mind a different word pitch, you know, because

07:34pitch is, you know, even when you're talking about the metric, but the pitch is what makes

07:39it pitch can be sort of, I think, equalized with tone in many ways.

07:44But can you talk about what for you in this reflects the right pitch?

07:49What is the pitch of this film?

07:51Not the pitch, the logline, but the pitch.

07:53Right.

07:55I don't know if I could verbalize like a pitch, but yeah, exactly.

07:59But I, you know, what's the feeling?

08:01What's the feeling that you get from the film?

08:03I want the film to feel like a song, you know, I want it to sing.

08:08And even though it's it's really uncomfortable and painful at certain times, hopefully at the

08:15end, you feel like you've just sung a song or you're witnessing someone just sing.

08:23And you, you know, what's the feeling?

08:24I don't know.

08:26I don't know.

08:30I don't know.

08:31I don't know.

08:32I don't know.

08:34We'll see you next time.

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: ON A STRING [Tribeca Film Festival 2025 - New York , NY] - Part II

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