Karina on SpoutBlog

John Maringouin’s first documentary feature, Running Stumbled, was praised by Michael Tully as “a startling achievement” and “one of the stronger anti-drug pieces of cinema that has ever been made”; when it screened at the CineVegas Film Festival in 2006, Variety’s Robert Koehler favorably compared Stumbled to Tarnation. Now Maringouin is back with a second non-fiction feature, Big River Man, which premieres on Friday in the World Documentary competition at Sundance. Answering the 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Maringouin talked about Bela Tarr, shooting straight to hard drive in the Amazon jungle, and being the beneficiary of Olivia Newton-John.

Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.

Big River Man was almost entirely shot using the HVX-200.  We were the first production to use straight to hardrive camera in the Amazon jungle. The film had a tiny crew.  Post-production was incredibly laborious (over 200 hours of footage).

[Co-director Molly Lynch] discovered Martin [Strel, the Slovenian marathon swimmer] on TV after he swam the Mississippi.  After actually meeting him and getting to know his larger-than-life persona, the inspiration to make a film really clicked into high gear.

If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker.

After months of struggle and with time running out before the historic swim on the Amazon we were blessed with some real angels who came through with the financing.  My friend and publicist Mickey Cottrell connected us to Maria Florio who connected us to Olivia Newton-John.  All of a sudden we were on a boat going down the river.

Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival?

This is our first film at Sundance but we have a few on the film who have either been there before or have worked there for several years so our expectations have been fettered by their experiences.  I’m always wary of unchecked enthusiasm (ie: hype).

Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?

Bela Tarr’s Satantango and John Carpenter’s They Live.