It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction, but for Nicholls State University English instructor Melissa Remark, truth can also be found in fiction.
It is Remark’s lifelong love for cinema that fuels her passion to inspire students in her film classes.
The Canadian-born cinephile and filmmaker became enamored with movies during a viewing of the “Dances with Wolves” DVD when she was a teenager.
“I was one of those kids who always wanted to work in film and television,” said Remark, who’s taught at Nicholls for four years. “I grew up in a very movie-centered family. When DVDs started coming out, I started watching the special features and it was the first time I realized there were hundreds of film jobs working behind the scenes. When I saw people holding boom mics and putting costumes on actors, something just clicked. I wanted to do that.”
Remark studied film in Canada and cut her teeth in the television industry in Los Angeles, working behind the scenes of popular shows like “CSI.”
The unrelenting pace of television work eventually took its toll, and Remark became burned out.
“You can go to school for screenwriting, but to pay the bills that doesn’t happen right away,” she said. “Everyone has to go out and do different things.”
It was then she decided to pursue a different path and started studying English. Remark found many parallels between literature and film.
“I naturally gravitate toward story,” she said. “It’s narrative that interests me.”
While studying creative writing Remark wrote a short story that became the basis for a 2014 film called “Call Me Cappy.” The 17-minute short features the acting talents of Ritchie Montgomery, who appeared in “True Detective,” “American Horror Story,” “Treme,” “The Help” and “Django Unchained.”
Directed by Maja Holzinger and co-produced and written by Remark, “Call Me Cappy” was screened at several film festivals around the globe, including Cannes, and won the award for Best Cinematography at the New Orleans Film Festival.
When teaching film, Remark said it’s gratifying to see her love for film-making become contagious with her students.
Remark is organizing a film production class in the fall that will give students a crash course of what it’s like to be a filmmaker. She hopes students will feel the same burst of inspiration she felt while watching the “Dances with Wolves” DVD all those years ago.
“The students will be writing the scripts, studying short films, shooting their scripts and editing them,” Remark said. “It’s kind of like studying film from the inside out.”
The budding filmmakers Remark inspires today could be the Steven Spielbergs, Cohen Brothers or Sofia Coppolas of tomorrow.
“With film I get really excited because it’s not just story it’s visuals and sound as well,” Remark said. “It’s really fun to watch all the students get excited about it. You see all these light bulbs coming on. At the end of the day it’s all about communication. This is how humans communicate ideas.”
--Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 857-2202 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter@DanVCopp.