In the upcoming doc “Newville,” Pissie Hochheim and Tony Oswald follow 10 brothers “covering the entire American political spectrum.”
“They have different spiritual beliefs and lifestyles, and for years we have watched them ‘leave swords at the door’ when they get together,” as one aunt put it, said Hochheim, who is also part of the family.
Now, they are returning to their childhood home in Newville, New York, for the first time in 35 years. They try to repair it, but tensions arise.
“Many people in the United States feel completely at odds with their families politically, and it’s understandable that they would choose to shut down or insulate and move on. But for Tony and I, embracing our differences and trying to find common ground is a belief we desperately try to hold on to.”
“Newville” won the Ji.hlava New Visions Award for Most Promising U.S. Project and the Jacob Burns Film Center Award in partnership with AmDocs.
“Europe has the appetite to support big, bold initiatives,” Hochheim said. This award will come in handy as American filmmakers have dwindling resources and are relying on their own funds to pursue projects in two-person teams.
Oswald said: “Especially in the US recently, where government-backed funding agencies have been cut, existing grants have been cut, and some are closing down completely. Private equity and streamers are turning to familiar information like celebrity profiles and actual criminal records. Everyone else has to fight for the scraps.”
Mr. Hochheim often visited the house depicted in the document for family events and holidays. She later married Oswald on the property.
“We still visit at least once a year, but most of the year it’s empty. It’s beautiful, but it’s 250 years old. My mom is trying, but my family doesn’t have the money or time to deal with all the problems.”
“Some days I feel so connected to this house that I can’t imagine a world without it. My mother and I have nightmares about the house on fire and trees falling down, but one of my siblings talks about it emotionlessly. I remember that we didn’t choose to go back there either. We love this house, but it’s resisting us, and we’re starting to wonder what it wants as much as we want it to be.”
In “Newville,” the house becomes a “container” to showcase the vibrant siblings who grew up there.
“They are cheerful, warm, unique and have a completely different worldview. We are very interested in how these worldviews shape their approach to home and why some stay involved while others think it’s time to let go.”
This isn’t the first time the filmmaking duo has talked about their family.
“All the films that Tony and I have directed together so far have been about or featuring our families, even our narrative works,” Hochheim says. “Our goal is to see how these small stories can be expanded into more cinematic and universal stories through art and playful collaboration. We won’t live long enough to make every movie that could come out of our family, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be biographical.”
Oswald’s sister Alicia, who appeared in the short documentary “Cycles,” added: “I think that’s one of the reasons why our work is so diverse. We try to discover movies through our relationships with them. This creates a mini-cinema world where the same faces and places appear in completely different movies.”
Although personal, “Newville” has already struck a chord with Ji.hlava’s audience.
“We were very encouraged to hear how universal this story is. People came to share their experiences with us: the pain of losing their childhood home in Sudan, the sale of their home in Bosnia and the discord it caused, the uncertainty of their future in Finland. This very specific story about Newbill resonated with people across cultures,” he said, also recalling his experience with Cycles.
“This is a perfect example of how we work. Alicia[an anonymous egg donor]wanted to document her experience, and we wanted to focus just on her and tell the story about the broader context of egg donation in America,” Oswald observes. However, working with a family is “not without its challenges.”
“I can’t wait for the day when I can attend reunions without thinking about how they fit into our film, or when I can actually help fix their homes instead of just filming them.”
They’ve been filming for nearly seven years, and Hochheim says he’s gotten to know the brothers really well.
“They’re spread out all over the country, and most of them are in their 70s and 80s, so filming was honestly the first time in my adult life that I got to talk to them at length. We’re also interested in what they know about each other. We asked them, ‘What do you want your siblings to know about you?’
Nashville-based Hochheim and Oswald are co-producing and editing Kinfolk, which is directed by Nicole Crane and executive produced by Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst.
“It’s a great joy and privilege, and dinner every night is written off because we live and breathe cinema,” Hochheim says of their creative partnership. Oswald added, “Our production company is called Same Person Productions. Having someone to fill in the gaps for me, someone I can trust most of all, is the greatest gift.”
