How did you get started making films?
Well, I have been making films since I was 16 and I am 30 now so it has been awhile. The rise of You Tube really gave an audience to a lot of what I was doing. From there I started working more frequently, making more shorts, working with actors, getting better while I was doing it. That led to making my first feature, which was called “Paper Heart.” I would like to think I was given the opportunity to make that feature because I had been making these shorts for so long and I had been getting pretty good at that.
So did you start in documentaries and then move to scripted material?
I came from a comedy background; I started in scripted — or loosely-scripted. My first feature was a hybrid documentary of loosely-scripted material and documentary material blended together. After that film I signed with Non Fiction for advertising work. They are primarily a documentary production company and that ultimately led to “Para Fuera.” That was my first pure documentary.
What is the significance of the title, “Para Fuera?”
The title comes from a phrase that Dr. Bing likes to use, which comes from his caregivers. A lot of them are bilingual; they speak Spanish and the phrase means, essentially, “to throw something away.” Dr Bing would use it in the sense of wanting something to disappear: “I want this to go away.” He used that phrase for the title of his autobiography to suggest that things are sort of fleeting, that the images, the memories that you retain throughout your life ultimately disappear. It isn’t a direct translation but that is what Dr. Bing uses it for.
How did this project come to you?
It came to me through the ad agency at CCA. They work really closely with Microsoft in non-traditional advertising. The head of marketing at Microsoft had received a faxed letter from Dr. Bing, detailing his life and his situation, making the connection between his last name and their search engine, and suggesting that they might work together. After receiving this fax, Microsoft sent some representatives to meet him. They were quite captivated with him and his story but weren’t sure how to work with him. So they went to CCA, and CCA came to me through Non Fiction, and I suggested doing the documentary, and it all came together from there.
I am fascinated by that part of the story and the image of the path of a fax about a search engine from a 100-year-old man to one of the leading technology companies in the world.
It is pretty interesting and was a part of the film until really the final phase of editing.
What was the most striking thing about Dr. Bing and his story?
It is hard to say; there are so many elements. I think the thing that was most impressive to me is just how much he had experienced and accomplished in his life. Not many people will have the opportunity to do as much as he did — not just in terms of the amount of time he has lived, but the number of things he did, the variety of interests and pursuits he had. All these different accomplishments he had, certainly in terms of medicine and music. You know, it is a pretty extraordinary life. So, for me, I am 30 now, and I found it very inspiring in terms of trying to do the most I can with the time that I am given, to really make the most of things.
That struck me, too, while watching the film. I am sure that all he packed into his life contributed to him having such a long life. I don’t think you can separate the length of his life with the quality of his life. It seems to me they go hand in hand, that one feeds the other.
Yes, he is a very special person. Everyone who came in contact with him was so moved by him and his life. It is a great goal for a young person to aspire to, to live a life as full as Dr. Bing’s.
I really felt that admiration and connection between you and Dr. Bing. I think you did a beautiful job of capturing that in the film.
Thank you. The connection is instantaneous with him. Since we made the film, I have taken a few friends to meet him and, well, everyone who sees the film wants to meet him and he gets a lot of joy out of interacting with people. He is still so sharp! It is a real joy to talk to him.
You said that meeting him and making the film made you reflect on your own life. Did he give any specific pearls of wisdom or was it really the whole experience of his100 years?
We did a series of four interviews while working on the film, and different things stood out to different people. I think a big one for me that is touched on a bit in the film is Dr. Bing’s idea about facing problems in your life — how important and monumental they feel at the time and how little they end up meaning in the grand scheme of things. That really stuck with me and I think it’s a really important lesson. The other thing was his description of his pursuit of creative expression. This idea of trying to make something that isn’t visible, visible. I found that pretty inspiring.
Do you think his life philosophy was deliberate and thought out as a young man, or do you think it was just who he was and that was how he lived his life and it came together as a philosophy only upon reflection?
I think it evolved over time. I feel like even this “para fuera” idea, that everything disappears — he betrays that theory with the presence of his whole family and the way he talks about them. That those bonds and relationships will always exist. And I remember him telling me, not on camera, but that this idea of “para fuera” really came to him over the last five or ten years or so, as his life was winding down and as things were deteriorating physically. I don’t think that necessarily encompasses his view of existence over his entire life.
What is your favorite moment of the film?
Personally, my favorite part of the film is the ending, having him sum up his life in one word: “Thanks.” I found that really fitting and touching coming from him.
Can you share your favorite experience with Dr. Bing that isn’t in the film but is forever inside of you?
The conversations I got to have with him off camera were extremely important and rewarding for me personally. On camera, we had a story to tell, but shortly after we were done filming, I got to go to London for the first time and just talking to him about his travels through Europe 80 years removed from when I was going was so fascinating. So, for me, those small and intimate moments with him are the ones that I will continue to cherish.
How did your experience making the film and getting to know Dr. Bing change the way you feel about yourself as a young man and your thoughts on growing older?
On the most basic level, and not to discount any experience I have had with my own family members, I was a person who wasn’t necessarily sure I wanted to have children or create a family and I think seeing what that meant to him, especially at that time of his life, definitely made me reevaluate my own situation and think about the future a little bit more. I guess I am not the kind of person who thinks about the future all that much. So that was definitely a big effect he had on me.
I personally have one grandparent — my grandfather — and I have always enjoyed talking to him, hearing his stories and learning his perspective on things. I never got to meet my grandfather on my father’s side. There is something about Dr. Bing that makes me feel it is really important to have a relationship or some kind of conversation and connection with people of prior generations for a number of reasons: for that different perspective but also for the experience, the knowledge of someone who has lived my life three times over, what ultimately mattered to them at that stage of life, what they valued the most. I think those are pretty universal concepts and are important for someone my age to think about.
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