Nowhere Kids

Nowhere Kids

By Lily Suicide

Apr 5, 2009

Filmmakers Eric Juhola and siblings Jeremy and Randy Stulberg bonded over their fascination with the modern notion of freedom and a place called The Mesa, a strange and intriguing 25 mile stretch of land in northern New Mexico that is a safe haven to war veterans, hippies, artists, runaways, misfits and outcasts who valued their particular forms of freedom.

Most of The Mesa residents live without running water or electricity and use the barter system as currency. Over a period of two years, Jeremy and Randy captured the lives of these people on camera. The resulting documentary, Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa, directed by Jeremy and Randy, and produced by Eric, would earn praise and awards from film festivals around the country. It's is a gritty look at how the Mesa residents live and form their ideals and shows what happens when a peaceful place that has no rules is turned into anarchy by a gang of thieving runaways.

The trio's latest project, Nowhere Kids, is a fictional speculation based on the stories of these rebellious runaways who were such an integral part of Off The Grid, but who ultimately refused to be filmed. The film features a mix of professional actors and real-life street dwellers.

SG's own Lily Suicide (a.k.a. Naomi Madsen) plays ruthless survivalist Ruby in Nowhere Kids. She auditioned for the role after hearing about the film and the filmmakers from the street kids in New York's Tompkins Park. Here, she talks with Eric, Jeremy and Randy about their reasons for making the film, and their experiences filmmaking.

Lily Suicide: Can you describe in your words what exactly The Mesa is?
Eric Juhola: The Mesa is a remote area in the Northern New Mexico desert where there's a loose-knit community of veterans, runaways and dropouts. There is no rule of law. Residents live without running water or electricity in home-made houses.
LS:
Was it hard to get people to participate in the film?
Jeremy Stulberg: We first met Jeff, a gulf war veteran who introduced us to The Mesa. Because we had his acceptance...he introduced us to other members of the community and we slowly gained acceptance from them. We spent a lot of time off camera hanging out, opening up...eating, drinking and getting to know each other as people. We were able to capture some intimate and powerful moments. We became very sympathetic to who they were and tried to tell a balanced and real story.
LS:
What was it like in practice living on The Mesa for almost two years without much running water or electricity?
Randy Stulberg: After spending 15-hour days out on the Mesa filming our subjects, we definitely got down and dirty. We drove off cliffs, shot guns and hung out after hours on the Mesa. But we also felt like we needed some separation from our subjects because we were working. Logistically, we found we needed to plug in our equipment, check our email and watch our footage. So we would go back to a town thirty miles away, and stay in a little motel.
LS:
What made you guys decide to do a documentary on the Mesa and direct together?
JS:
Randy and I always wanted to collaborate but we were both doing our own things -- Randy graduated from art-school and started traveling and I was working in various capacities on a bunch of documentaries in New York. Then our dad died suddenly and tragically and it was really traumatic for both of us. We both spent a very difficult year trying to come to terms with it. It was really miserable. But something about that family tragedy at a relatively young age shocked us into being very driven about producing something of our own.

It's corny to say that it was cathartic, but it really was. We started talking about making a movie about American expatriates who lived abroad -- mostly because we had fantasies of going abroad and getting out of the miserable situation we were in at home. Randy squatted in an Anarchist church in Amsterdam and she eventually took a trip out to New Mexico and she met this guy Dreadie Jeff who lived "off the grid," and she sent me some little QuickTime movies of him over the internet. And I knew that this was what we should do.

It was like American Expatriates living abroad -- except it was even better than we could have imagined because it was American expatriates who were living within the borders of America. We had never seen anything like it...It was a post-modern, Wild West that looked like Mad Max. So we were both hooked and we picked up our little DV camera, brought a Cinematographer, and went to the Mesa to start shooting.
LS:
What's it like to have such a close creative relationship with your sibling?
RS:
It's great working together. We have the same artistic sensibility, so that helps. When you're brother and sister, it's also good because you can bicker and argue without worrying about offending the other person!
LS:
Can you sum up what the story of your recent project?
EJ:
Nowhere Kids is a short fiction film about a teen runaway searching for her biological mom. Along the way, she is derailed by a group of crust punk kids who are on their way to this crazy mysterious place where there are no societal rules. They commit a series of crimes, jeopardizing our protagonist's reunion with her mom. Although the film is fiction, it is inspired by our documentary, and was shot by the talented Reed Morano, also the DP of Off the Grid and, more recently, the academy award nominated Frozen River. Eléonore Hendricks from A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and IFC's The Pleasure of Being Robbed plays the lead. We also mixed our cast of actors with real-life kids who have lived on the streets and train-hopped across the country. The goal of the film is to raise funds for a feature version, but I think it stands well on it's own too.
LS:
Why did you want to make a piece about the nowhere kids?
EJ:
In the documentary, the "nowhere kids" came off as "the bad guys" because they made enemies of our characters and they refused to represent themselves on camera -- but there are two sides to every story. I wanted to find their humanity and explore how their circumstances may have informed their ideology. Also, frankly, they scared me. I am oddly drawn to explore what scares me or makes me uncomfortable. Maybe its the masochist in me.
LS:
What were the original nowhere kids like?
RS:
We were definitely fascinated by the nowhere kids. We were interested in what had pushed them to the point that they felt at such a young age that they had to drop out of society. They were physically intimidating. Some kids had facial tattoos and long dreadlocks, masks over their faces and hoods over their heads. Some kids would take rides in our car and accept our food but would not be willing to go on camera or really talk to us at all. They thought that we were part of "Babylon" and that we were therefore evil. Some of the kids were violent and very volatile. We had been told that they were stockpiling weapons, and that they were not afraid to use them.
LS:
In the Off the grid: Life on The Mesa you relay that you were threatened by the nowhere kids. In your whole experience of staying on the Mesa, did you ever feel like you were in danger?
JS:
Even though we did develop friendships over time, there was still a constant air of danger on the Mesa at all times. Many people were psychologically unstable...One minute they might be nice and friendly and the next minute their mood changed and their temper flared. Also, no cops or ambulances really went out there so if a gun went off or someone didn't like you that day...we were off the grid and help wasn't necessarily right around the corner
LS:
So, why did you choose to cast Nowhere Kids the way you did?
EJ:
I knew casting was going to be a challenge from the beginning because I wanted to find kids who had been hardened by a lifetime of experiences, but still had a glimmer of innocence and hope. We put ads out for red heads and had casting calls. Half the girls who came in could have played Annie on Broadway, not your average crusty street punk. So we decided to take the unconventional, but not unprecedented approach of scouting and casting real kids. We scoured the subways and parks -- Tomkins Square Park in the East Village in particular, for kids traveling through who might be interested in working with us. Finding the right kids who could take on the responsibility, and work well with an ensemble cast took months -- we saw hundreds of kids. But in the end, after a lot of trial-and-error, it was well worth it and I hope the kids who we cast got as much out of the experience as I did.
LS:
Do you think your vision was brought together the way you wanted it?
EJ:
I tried to approach this project with an open mind and I wasn't as focused on the end result as I was with the process. The reason for this is that I didn't want my preconceived notions to influence something on the screen that would come off as contrived or false, especially since I had the amazing opportunity to work with and draw from non-actors who had lived the lifestyle of the characters. So the vision developed as I got to know the actors during the rehearsal process -- it felt very collaborative to me. In the end, I am proud of final film. I feel like it captures a slice of life, something authentic that I possibly couldn't have imagined before we started.
LS:
What was your initial reason for wanting to work in this industry?
EJ:
This is hard to put into words, but I think that bringing something from my head to the screen, and then having an audience relate to it (both positively and negatively), is an incredible feeling when it works. I also feel like a big part of directing is nurturing other people's talents, from the actors to the working professionals on set. This is a very rewarding aspect of filmmaking for me.


Off the grid: Life on The Mesa is now available on DVD via indiepixfilms.com.

Nowhere Kids had it's world premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival in Florida on March 28th. The film will screen in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival during a shorts program called "Truth or Consequences." The first of four Tribeca screenings is scheduled on April 24 at 6:15 PM. Tickets will go on sale for the general public on Monday, April 20. Nowhere Kids will also be screened on April 28 at 6:15 PM as part of SoCal's Newport Beach Film Festival.
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