Interview by Bob Ignizio
You
never know where a movie is going to come from. For Gillian K.
Willman, the inspiration was
a magazine someone left behind on a pharmacy counter in the summer of
2004. Gillian says, “Ben, my boyfriend at the time (now husband)
was at a CVS in DC and came across an article from Bicycling
Magazine called “Chasing
Annie” written by Peter Zheutlin. It was about Annie Kopchovsky,
the first woman to cycle around the world in 1894. Ben called to tell
me about the article, I googled Annie and found that, aside from
Peter’s article, mention of her on the web was nowhere to be found.
So I looked deeper into women’s history, cycling history, and her
achievements were entirely unrecognized. She seemed to have been
forgotten by history. I wanted to learn more about her, so I got in
touch with Peter Zheutlin and ended up optioning his manuscript,
which granted me the usage of all his research…and from that point
on I was hooked.”
The
end result of this unexpected discovery is Gillian's short
documentary film The New Woman: Annie “Londonderry”
Kopchovsky. The film will be
screening at the 37 th Cleveland International Film Festival on April
7th at 9:15 am and Monday April 8th at 5:15 pm, but before then I had
the chance to ask Gillian a few questions about her film and its
fascinating subject.
CLEVELAND
MOVIE BLOG: What got
you interested in making movies, and who were some of your
influences?
GILLIAN
K. WILLMAN:
My first job in
film was during my junior year in college, when doing a semester in
Washington, DC. I landed an internship at a small documentary company
and was told the project I’d be working on was about the chemical
industry. My first thought was: “The chemical industry? This
sounds so boring. Why didn’t I take the internship at the American
History Museum?” Of course, it was far from boring—it was
thrilling. The film, hosted by Bill Moyers, was an exposé of the
chemical industry—a documentary version of Erin Brokovich. I
quickly realized that there are few boring topics—only boring
storytellers.
In
terms of style, the documentarian I most admire is Errol Morris. I
love how he approaches history, and how he turns conventions upside
down. His use of graphics and animation were very much an
inspiration for The New Woman.
CMB:
Aside from the sort of casual sexism of the time that might have
held other women back from embarking on such a journey, didn't Annie
worry about the potential dangers (robbery, assault, bad weather,
etc.) that would face not just a woman, but any person embarking on
such a task?
GKW:
Annie Kopchovsky was probably scared to the core—worried about her
safety and wondering if she’d return safely to take care of her
young family. “Annie Londonderry,” however, the fearless world
traveler, laughed in the face of danger and welcomed adversity as a
chance to make even juicier headlines.
Of
course, this is conjecture. It’s impossible to know what Annie
genuinely thought because virtually everything that we know about her
is from newspaper reporting. Even though she repeatedly mentioned
that she kept a diary, it was ever found; nor were there letters
written to friends and family.
So
based on her remarks in the news, one would conclude that, NO, she
wasn’t worried about the many dangers that one faced on a solo
journey around the world—in fact, she welcomed them! This, I
assume, was just part of her bravado and the façade she wore during
her ride.
CMB:
Although the film is based on the book Around
the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry's Extraordinary Ride by
Peter Zheutlin, I imagine you had to do additional research. How hard
was it to find information on Annie?
GKW:
My first order of business, when I began working on the film in 2004,
was to option Peter’s manuscript. Doing so granted me access to all
of his research, which included hundreds of newspaper articles about
Annie’s journey form around the world. Peter had spent years
painstakingly piecing Annie’s trip together, contacting libraries
along what he imagined her route was, in order to find newspaper
coverage. He also spent a great deal of time researching her family
history (which is also his family, because he is her
great-grand-nephew.)
Because
Peter’s research was so thorough—and I had access to all of it—I
did not do a great deal of additional research on Annie’s journey
itself. I spent dozens of hours pouring through the hundreds of
newspaper articles to select the quotes that work best in the film,
and aren’t necessary in his final book. Not having to research
Annie’s journey allowed me to spend my time researching thematic
aspects of the story (women’s movement, bicycle craze, etc), as
well as to conduct all of the archival footage and stills research.
CMB:
Like many American folk heroes, Annie is somewhat larger than life,
and there's some reason to doubt the veracity of some parts of her
story. She also did what some would call “selling out” by
literally selling ad space on herself. Do you think that diminishes
her accomplishments and place in history?
GKW:
When I first reached out to Peter to learn more about Annie, one of
the first things he said to me was, “You should know…she’s
somewhat of a flawed heroine. I hope you’re not disappointed.” He
proceeded to tell me his conclusion on what really happened with the
wager. Peter believes that Annie may have concocted it as a dramatic
media stunt—one that allowed her to trade the drudgery of
domesticity and of the Boston tenements for a ‘round the world
adventure. However, I was far from disappointed—the possibility
that Annie’s “high stakes wager” was nothing more than a
brilliant ruse made me even more intrigued in her story.
In
my opinion, Annie’s accomplishment wasn’t just an athletic one.
To me, whether she went around the world “on” a bicycle or “with”
a bicycle was immaterial. Her greatest achievement is that, through
grit and ingenuity, she was able to turn herself from an anonymous
Jewish, working mother into a global celebrity. And the bicycle was
the weapon that enabled this transformation. The fact that she told
tall tales along the way and sold ad space on her body and bicycle
only enhanced my interest in her story.
Today,
any b-list celebrity can be paid to advertise various products and be
viewed as a “sell out,” but it’s important to remember that
when Annie sold ad space on her bike and body, she had no precedent.
There was no PEOPLE magazine to show her how celebrities behave. She
was simply a marketing genius, and she knew how to use product
placement to get her both money and publicity. When she began her
ride, she was neither a women’s rights activist nor a cycling
advocate. However, through the course of her journey, she deftly
manipulated these social trends to gain publicity and public
interest.
CMB:
I personally like short films a lot, but unfortunately there aren't
as many opportunities to have short films seen, and by extension for
those films to make back their production costs. Given those
circumstances, why do a short film, and what sort of things can you
do to overcome the aforementioned problems?
GKW:
When I first began work on the film, I assumed that it would be a
one-hour program, and my earliest rough cut was 57 minutes. However,
it quickly became apparent that while the story itself may have been
compelling enough to warrant the feature-length, the visuals simply
weren’t there. I have only a limited number of photographs and
sketches of Annie—and zero footage—and I realized that even with
original interviews and re-enactments, there just wasn’t enough
imagery to cover an hour.
Furthermore,I
often think to myself when watching feature-length docs, “This
would be great if it were about 30% shorter.” So I didn’t want to
make the film longer just for the sake of it. However, I was
concerned at first about people saying, “Short films are so hard to
program in festivals” and “what will you do with it when you’re
finished?”
However,
now that the film is complete, I think the shorter length (the run
time is 27 minutes) is going work very well for my purposes. Over the
next few years, I hope to recoup most of my out-of-pocket production
costs through screening fees and educational DVD distribution. The
film will be an incredibly useful tool for educators in the fields of
women’s studies, American history, American cultural history, as it
provides a unique window through which to view these topics. And the
shorter length allows for both a screening and discussion in a
regular classroom period.
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