Jesse Moss Interview

With the forthcoming release of The Overnighters on DVD from Dogwoof, I had the pleasure to interview the director Jesse Moss and ask him some questions about the film and its production. To read my review of the film, please click here.

 

What was the genesis of The Overnighters?
The genesis came from a clergy column written by Pastor Jay Reinke, that appeared in his local newspaper, the Williston Herald.  I read the column and called Jay, and he told me he was helping and housing some of these men and women who were flocking to North Dakota and had nowhere to sleep. I found Jay, but it took me while to come to understand what an extraordinary documentary subject he was.  He revealed himself slowly, and I found myself drawn in to his passion and his mystery. The overall filming took about 18 months to complete.

 

What is your background and have you always wanted to pursue a documentary film career?
I worked briefly in politics, but left in my mid 20s to pursue filmmaking and never looked back.  I had the good fortune to work with some exceptional filmmakers when I was young which was my film education.

What filmmakers influence you and does any particular documentary resonate?

The direct cinema tradition has strongly influenced me, including the work of Albert & David Maysles, DA Pennabaker & Barbara Kopple.  Salesman is one of my favorite films as is Harlan County USA.  

So why do these stories never get covered until the story turns sour in America's mass media market?

I think the mainstream media has a big blind-spot, and they're impatient.  The luxury I had was time to let this story develop.  I felt there will little serious long-form reporting about the ground-level experience of people coming to Williston and trying to survive.

 

Did you watch any films during the production?

I watched very little while I was making the film.  I read - or I should say re-read - some George Orwell, specifically Down and Out in Paris and London, and The Road to Wigan Pier, both moving, compassionate chronicles of the working poor.

Was a lot of the story start to develop in the cutting room or did you edit as you progressed?

I started editing while I was still shooting, and there was a constant dialogue between the field and the cutting room - which was very important.

Reason I asked earlier about watching films was because I sensed a similarity to American westerns, the lone crusader in a town and so on

I did come to see The Overnighters as a western.  The parallels were strong: a story set in a boomtown, a struggle between hope and fear, a flawed hero, who ultimately is cast out by the community.

Have you been surprised by the critical response to the film?

I have been grateful for the critical support the film has received, and how willing audiences and critics have been to embrace the complexities and ambiguities of Jay's character and the story.

What are you working on now? Will you follow in the footsteps of Kevin MacDonald and James Marsh into feature films?

I'd love to follow in the footsteps of James and Kevin, filmmakers I greatly admire.  In fact, I'm developing a scripted feature that is based on factual material.  And I've begun a new documentary on 1970s icon Burt Reynolds - which couldn't be more different than The Overnighters.

The Overnighters is out on DVD from Dogwoof on Monday 9th February

The Overnighters Will Stay With You

A compelling documentary about 21st century life in North Dakota, The Overnighters follows desperate and broken men flee their homes in search of money and to chase their dreams to the oil fields of North Dakota either to chase a rainbow or to flee demons.

The film follows the efforts of a local Pastor who offers sanctuary to men by letting them stay in his church firstly and/or live in their cars in the parking lot; causing much consternation amongst the local community who look unfavourably upon out of towners.

While this could be considered a social document for the modern age, you could say this is like the Gold Rush during the Old West with men leaving their family and homes in search of a quick buck and to make a new life for themselves. When they get to the location they are greeted by locales with cynicism and scorn with only a welcome coming from the house of the God.

Directed and filmed by Jesse Moss and produced by Amanda McBaine (The Investigators), The Overnighters won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2013 and was nominated for Best Feature Documentary in 2014.

Moss has a keen eye for mise-en-scene from a small child with dirt under their finger nails that have not been scrubbed for days to a man laying on a bed behind a chain link fence but shot to look like a prison. Not only is it a document of a man trying to do the best he can, but it is also the disintegration of a marriage in front of our very eyes which makes the film all the more raw and powerful in its message.  And much like a western, one man ends up alone in the wilderness searching again for a place to sleep at night.

At times hard hitting and totally engrossing in portraying both the need of people to help others and the resentment that help may lead to, the film is a societal document about the schism in American society between those that have jobs and those that do not.

The Overnighters is out on DVD from Dogwoof on 9th February.

For an exclusive interview with the director, Jesse Moss, please click here