Happy Walter

Happy Walter (narrative; mockumentary / 79 min.) was completed in Oct. 2006. Originally shot on miniDV, it is available to screen on DVD, miniDV, and DVCam.


CAST:
Happy Walter: Hal Weaver
Happy Walter Jr.: Zenovia
Violet Brown: Dev Stage
Laura Kimball: Vivienne Shaffer

CREW:
Written, Produced, Directed, Photographed & Edited by Zoje Stage
Co-Produced by Dev Stage
Original Music by Jonathan Young

TAGLINE:
Contemplate, concentrate, conceptualize... In this Andy Warhol-meets-Homer Simpson mockumentary, an artist's work is never done.

LOGLINE:
Happy Walter is a famous artist with dubious talents and thirteen estranged children who bear his name - the eldest of whom conceives of a documentary as a means of learning more about her father and his inexplicable success.

SYNOPSIS:
Happy Walter (Hal Weaver) is an artist renowned for making temporary sculptures out of toilet paper and art films featuring unmoving images. Though he is revered in the art world, the thirteen children who bear his name have barely met him. Wanting a father - and an explanation for his inexplicable success - Happy Walter Jr. (Zenovia) conceives of a documentary that gives her not only access to her father, but to his self-declared experts as well. The results: a hilarious (and poignant) look at a man who unintentionally spins straw into gold, and the eccentric array of people who don't - and do - see him as a naked emperor.

TRIVIA:
Made for just $450, the cast includes three generations of one family and four married couples. The crew includes three Ph.D. candidates - all in the sciences. The writer-producer-director is the third least-educated person in the cast & crew - following six-year old Lydia and thirteen-year old Melanie. ;)

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:
"Happy Walter" was directly inspired by two documentaries: "Tell Them Who You Are" (about cinematogrpaher Haskell Wexler); and "Bukowski: Born Into This" (about the legendary drunk-poet-womanizer). I watched them within a week of each other and while I enjoyed both of the documentaries and found their subjects to be very compelling (if not always sympathetic), I was struck by how close both films came to being parodies. "Happy Walter" was literally conceived in a moment of inspiration while part-way through the second documentary. I thought, if they can make a real person seem almost fake, I can make a fake person seem almost real.

My second area of inspiration comes from my belief that ALL things are fiction - autobiographies, photographs, the news, etc. When information has been filtered through someone else's interpretation of reality and is then presented to an audience (each of whom has their own interpretation of reality)... Well, you get the picture. And yet, we're "trained" to take this nonfiction stuff so literally. As depicted in "Happy Walter," I think we must seriously question Happy Walter Jr.'s motives in how she presents the info she has gathered about her father. She, like every author of nonfiction, may be saying more about herself.

Finally, "Happy Walter" is the tale of a dysfunctional family - 'cause that's the stuff of life.

DIRECTOR'S BIO:
Zoje Stage is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist. Her theatre experience includes acting and writing for some of Pittsburgh's most innovative theaters producing new plays: The Upstairs Theatre; Pittsburgh New Voices; Sunday Night Live; and The Pittsburgh New Works Festival, where she was awarded "Best Supporting Actress" in 1996 for her comedic work in F.J. Hartland's "Stampede!" (directed by Paula D'Alessandris). Other acting experience includes two seasons of voice-over work for FOX-TV, and roles in independent films. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said of her play "Monster": "Zoje Stage now makes her own contribution to holocaust literature with a demanding and intensely felt play... a must-see for those wanting another view of why and how the holocaust happened." She has twice been a semifinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her poetry has been featured on the Poets Against War website, and in the documentary film "Voices in Wartime." Since reinventing herself as a filmmaker in 2002, Ms. Stage has created a diverse collection of low budget films, including the installation piece "poetica.cinema./trilogy." and the documentary short "Best of Luck," for which she was featured in the New York Times. She currently lives in Rochester, NY.