Festival film shot in Idyllwild

Filmmaker Jennifer Kramer’s entry in this year’s Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema (IIFC) has a connection to Idyllwild, having been filmed here. Nominated in eight categories, the film showcases Kramer’s versatility as auteur: writing, directing, acting, composing and performing the score.

Although passed over by this year’s judges, Kramer said, “just being nominated in eight categories including directing, acting, writing, producing and others, was an honor I never could have imagined.” She also just received word that she and her film have been nominated for next week’s Malibu International Film Festival from March 20 to 27.

The film’s title, “Nakusa,” is a girl’s name used in parts of India, and means “unwanted,” signifying that her parents had desired a boy. Research has been conducted on the effects of going through life with such a name, a very public shaming. The character in the film is disabled and rejected by her mother, as Kramer said, “trauma personified.”

On another level, the film is inspired by a pivotal event in the life of Russian composer Serge Rachmaninoff. The public rejection of his first symphony led him to a breakdown, leaving him unable to compose for several years.

Kramer is the youngest daughter of late producer/director Stanley Kramer (“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “High Noon”) but has had to find her own path. Although she began working as a child in television and film, sibling rivalry cooled her enthusiasm. As she told Authority Magazine, “… when I got a part over my sister it caused friction so I ended up rejecting … it and focused on my love for horses… My dream was to go to the Olympics and I was asked to train on the East Coast but my father said ‘no’ because I was only 14.” She did eventually decide to return to acting, but her ambitions were again derailed.

“I always wanted to have my own identity. I decided to do serious training… at Carnegie Mellon in NY. Unfortunately, just as my career was getting underway, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma; that was kind of a shock. My acting was put on hold. I started to study music as I was recovering. I always loved the piano.”

As a child, she had been entranced by a friend’s Suzuki method piano lessons, copying her by ear, taking her discarded lesson books, and composing her own little pieces she recorded on cassettes as gifts for friends and family. Now recovering from cancer treatments, she returned to music with an adult’s focus and determination. She was fortunate to meet a concert pianist who tutored her, filling in the knowledge she had missed as a self-taught musician, including technique and music reading. It was only later that she found out she was his first “non-reading” pupil.

“I had all this experience in all these areas and I finally found my true voice as a film maker, which is clearer than it’s ever been. I’ve had a lot of struggles along the way. Those struggles have led to where I am now, where I am not afraid to express it.”

TC: “This is the first in an envisioned series of films that will become a feature, all based on composers and music?”

JK: “Nakusa is the first of six, all allegories. I take elements out of the composers’ lives. For Rachamninoff it was this traumatic event. My next composer is Haydn. The theme of that one is duality; Haydn’s music in general encompasses perfectionism and discipline on one hand, and also humor.”

TC: “Tell us more about ‘Nakusa’ and Rachmaninoff.”

JK: “All things in the film are symbolic of Rachmaninoff’s trauma. The crippling writers block, feeling he’s a ghost wandering in the world. Trauma makes you feel you are disintegrating, Nakusa is disintegrating in the film. She really is a personification of trauma.”

TC: “You have said that you lost your father before he was able to guide you as a filmmaker?”

JK: “I often get asked how my father inspired me. My father, unfortunately, passed away before I had any goals as a filmmaker; he only could inspire me by example. The main way he inspired me was he taught me to be fearless; that’s how he lived his life, never afraid to tackle a creative endeavor.”

Kramer had this to add about the film’s co-producer/director: “I want to mention Linda Palmer. She is a prolific socially conscious filmmaker; she mentors and helps many people, is very generous… I feel like the role that I wish my father had been able to play for me in my life, she has stepped into that. As a friend, mentor and teacher, as a guide, she has really taught me all about film making. Made it possible for me to take the reins and move forward with knowledge and the ability to realize my vision. I am so grateful to her for what she has done in my like, what she has given me.

“I hope maybe with one of my other films to visit the Idyllwild festival. I’m disappointed that we’re not doing it in person but honored to be a part of it.”

Almost as an afterthought Kramer let slip the most important part of all: “By the way, my film was shot in Idyllwild. ‘Nakusa’ was entirely shot in the burn areas from the Cranston Fire. The Riverside County Film Commission and the Open Space District, as well as the county rangers, were so helpful and kind to the crew and team during the process of shooting.”

TC: “Where did you end up shooting?”

JK: “McCall Park.”

TC: “How did you choose our mountain as a location?”

JK: “Linda and her husband Mark [Cardone], when I was preparing to get ‘Nakusa’ going, it was Mark who thought of the burn areas in Idyllwild. Linda has participated in the festival many times, with her own films, and is very familiar with the area. So, Linda and I went location scouting and found this one spot that was ideal. When traumatized you feel alone and disconnected, alienated from humanity, It was barren, desolated, like another planet.”

Due to the unpredictable nature of COVID protocols, organizers were again unable to schedule public screenings. The jury viewed the films privately, with the virtual awards ceremony posted online at: https://idyllwildcinemafest.com. This will be the third year the festival has been “virtual” but next year promises to make up for the absence. Palm Springs Life reported festival founder Steve Savage saying the festival will “look for bigger venues for 2023 and that will likely mean presenting some parts of their event off the Hill.” Organizers “hope to have as many as 200 films next year.”