Filmmakers still at it in their eighties

By DAVID GUNTER

Staff writer

SANDPOINT – This filmmaker is, he will tell you, “officially retired.” At the age of 82, he has proven anything he had to prove as an artist. The list of awards and professional achievements is a testament to that fact, including an Academy Award, countless documentaries and most of the pioneering films that virtually gave birth to the “rockumentary” genre.

Still and all, when the phone rings and his two-time Oscar-winning director friend Terry Sanders is on the other end of the line with a project idea, Erik Daarstad is ready to step behind the camera and take up his role as cinematographer.

The latest of the pair’s collaborative ventures – which brings the tally to 30, by Daarstad’s count – is a ‘60s-era coming of age road story titled, “Liza, Liza, Skies are Grey.” The movie just premiered on the East and West coasts and will be featured as the precursor to this year’s Sandpoint Film Festival, with a showing on Nov. 3, at the Panida Theater.

The bulk of the Sanders-Daarstad catalog falls into the documentary film category, making “Liza, Liza” an outlier in their collective oeuvre. Features, in general, are vastly more expensive to make than documentaries. But inspired to finish a script he had written when the 1960s were in their convulsive prime, Sanders found a monetary work-around for his original piece.

The catch? The cast had to sign on to earning a lower scale than usual, which put the project within reach.

“The actors worked for $100-a-day – and I did, too,” said Daarstad. “You don’t get a lot of experienced actors; mostly young people just starting out.”

Had Sanders tackled “Liza, Liza” at the time of its writing, telling the story of a couple of teenagers traveling around on a Triumph motorcycle would have been a lot easier, according to Daarstad. As it stands, the tale took half a century to make it to the screen.

“In the meantime, it turned into a period piece, with all the complications that brings,” the cinematographer explained.

Try scaring up a cherry, mid-‘60s Triumph motorcycle on a low budget, for instance, not to mention the perfect clothing, furniture and other set pieces necessary to create visual authenticity. The challenges compound themselves in outdoor scenes, where things such as highway paint, road signs and buildings can ruin the dramatic illusion.

“Even simple things like the fact that, in the ‘60s, none of the lines on the highway were yellow, they were all white,” Daarstad said. “But you can shoot around a lot of it.”

Digital wizardry can mask the effects of time, he added, but there are times when a span of 50 years brings about – if not a clash – at least a humorous difference in cultures. Those of us of a certain age who have scratched our heads in confusion over the endless options that come with a smart phone might get a laugh out of the experience of the young principal actress in the film.

“There was a scene where Mikey Madison, who was 15 at the time we filmed the movie, had to make a call from a phone booth,” said Daarstad. “She had no idea how to do it.”

The decades behind the lens and the 55 years of working with Sanders and others hasn’t dulled Daarstad’s energy for filmmaking. Part of that might be due to Sanders’ own enthusiasm. At 86, the director still credits passion for the art as the thing that gets him out of bed each morning.

Does Daarstad share that passion in this stage of his life?

“Definitely,” he said. “I’m just using a different tool now, versus the old film cameras. I still get a kick out of looking through that viewfinder and seeing what happens in front of the camera.”

All talk of retirement aside, he stands ready to take the call, should Sanders propose another shared film adventure.

“Yeah, because all my other contemporaries in filmmaking either retired decades ago, or they’ve gone to that great soundstage in the sky,” the lensman said. “We’re both getting up in years, but I’d love to do another film with him if that comes about.”

“Liza, Liza, Skies Are Grey” will be shown on Fri., Nov. 3, at 7:30 p.m., on the big screen of the Panida Theater.

The film is unrated, but Daarstad said it probably falls into the PG-13 category due to some language and sexual content. Full details and a film trailer can be found online at: www.lizalizamovie.com

The Sandpoint Film Festival, which unofficially opens with the Sanders-Daarstad film, takes place on Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Panida Theater. A complete list of showing blocks and activities can be found online at: www.sandpointfilmfestival.com.