BRATTLEBORO — Here's something to consider.
How did an American film maker, who mostly makes films that take place in Southern Vermont, end up writing and directing an award-winning film in Stockholm, completely spoken in Swedish by Swedish actors, even though he himself did not speak the language?
Robert Fritz, a filmmaker from Newfane, who directed and co-wrote AKT 2 with the film's lead actor Michel Riddez, explains.
“AKT 2 came about because while I live in Vermont I have some actor friends in Sweden who often suggested to me that we should do a film together.”
When he realized he would be in Sweden soon, he proposed that they do a film then.
“Michael and I co-plotted the script, which he translated into Swedish, and we shot AKT 2 in four days. Pretty amazing.”
Starring Kirsti Torhaug and Michel Riddez in a tour-de-force duet performance, AKT 2 is a unique love story in which two people accidentally meet after years apart, an event which leads to moments of truth in each of their lives.
Running little over a half an hour, this dramatic short has won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Woods Hole Film Festival, The Audience Choice Award at Artisan Festival International Cannes World Cinema Initiative for 2013, was nominated for Best Short at the International Film Awards Berlin, and picked up several other laurels and awards.
Yet Robert Fritz is no stranger to awards. He may be the most award-winning filmmaker in Vermont with more than 90 awards from film festivals worldwide.
Even so, few of his films have been screened in Brattleboro.
That is until now.
From March 17 to 19, the Latchis Theatre will present the Robert Fritz Film Festival. In the Main Theatre at the Latchis, six of Fritz's award-winning motion pictures will be screened, one short and one feature film each night.
Along with many of the people who were instrumental in the creation of these films, Fritz will be on hand each night, as part of post-film conversations in which they will share with the audience their insights and memories.
The festival is a benefit for the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), with which Fritz has had a long association. Fritz served on BMAC's board for many years, and he also created “She Was A Dancer,” a multi–media work commissioned for the museum.
The festival begins on Thursday March 17, at 7 p.m. with a screening of AKT 2. Shot in Stockholm, the film is in Swedish with English subtitles.
The feature film for that evening will be Twice.... In this film a mystery girl arrives in Brattleboro where she gets a job at Twice Upon a Time, and creates a new life for herself while her past remains unknown. The film stars local actors Natalie Neilson, Indra Tracy, and the town of Brattleboro whose various locales are featured in the film.
Fritz considers Twice... to be a breakthrough film for him. “I was comfortable here with working small,” he says. Through such a limited focus, Fritz found himself able to probe deeper into his characters and narrative.
On Friday at 7 p.m, the Fritz short will be The Spirit of the Vessel-The Art of Stephen Procter, a documentary that reveals the deeper creative process as it follows the master potter Stephen Procter as he works in his studio.
The feature film, Past Tense, concerns a young woman trapped in the past who must to learn to live in the present, and what she must overcome to do so.
Written and directed by Fritz, this film also stars Natalie Neilson and Indra Tracy, as well as James Argiro and Damion Omar Lee. Past Tense, too, was shot mostly in Brattleboro as well as Newfane, with some sections shot in Sweden.
On Saturday at 7 p.m., the documentary short The Town Clerk of Newfane follows Gloria Cristelli, Newfane's town clerk, in what Fritz calls “a love letter to small Vermont town government.”
It will be followed by the feature, Chasing Rainbows, a dramatic musical in the tradition of West Side Story. “But its deeper influence comes from L'Orfeo (Orpheus) by Claudio Monteverdi, which is considered to be the first opera in music history,” writes Fritz.
If in the opera, Orpheus descends into Hades to save his wife and bring her back to life, in Chasing Rainbows a young woman discovers that she was adopted and goes on a search for her parents, which brings her to the darker side of Boston, where her real mother is a well-known nightclub singer.
With Kirsti Torhaug and Michel Riddez (the Swedish stars of AKT 2), as well as Natalie Neilson, Shawn Parr, Rachael McOwen, and Joe Pike, most of Chasing Rainbows was shot in the Brattleboro area, with some scenes shot in Boston and Sweden.
All of the vocal and club arrangements in Chasing Rainbows were written by James Argiro, who worked on several hit television series including “Tony Orlando & Dawn,” “Sonny and Cher,” and other shows, and also was conductor/music director for Carol Channing, Bernadette Peters, and many other singing stars. Argiro and several of the actors are scheduled to appear at the festival.
Robert Fritz has written and directed six feature films and one dramatic short. He also has made documentaries for government, industry, and television.
Originally Fritz did not intend to be a filmmaker.
He has studied composition and theater at The Boston Conservatory of Music, where he earned a B.M. and M.M. in composition. He has composed music for film, TV, and theater, as well as CDs. He composed the scores for all of his films.
Fritz is also a best-selling author. He is known for his development of “Structural Dynamics,” the study of how structural relationships impact behavior from individuals to organizations. His books, starting with The Path of Least Resistance, develop the theory and application of Structural Dynamics and the creative process.
He began his directing career in the theater.
“After some time being a stage director, I became a filmmaker when someone said, 'Hey, let's do this little film,” he explains. “Someone then sent it to a producer who got back with me, asking 'How would you like to do this for real?'”
Once he seriously decided to become a filmmaker, Fritz studied cinematography at the Rockport Workshops, and directing with Jim Pasternak. Fritz directed and co-hosted Creating (a TV series made for a Canadian network). Fritz also wrote and directed the TV series, Vermont Stories.
As a filmmaker, he cites many influences, from Orson Welles to John Cassavetes and Martin Scorsese, among many other classic directors.
“I consider myself to be a structuralist in my films,” he says. “That means I am compelled to make a film's parts have just the right proportions. I also like to use a lot of contrasts. For instance, in AKT 2, one character is a success and the other a failure, the one has given up on life, the other is now embracing it.
“While I have no interest in symbolism, I do like exploring structural relationships between parts of my film, which I see interacting like motifs do in music.”
Much as did Alfred Hitchcock (another of his influences), Fritz works out most of the details in his head before he begins to film. This help him to work fast, which he likes. So perhaps it is not too strange that AKT 2 was made in four days.
“I do not like actors to cool off, so while I keep things moving, I also keep the set relaxed and everyone focused,” he explains.
Fritz is a director who clearly loves actors and is enthusiastic in praising the people he works with.
“Kirsti Torhaug and Michel Riddez are highly acclaimed actors in their native Sweden,” he says. “Kirsti is one of Europe's most gifted actresses in theater and film, she is so accomplished that I could write anything for her. However, I did not know she could sing. When I found out she did I was blown away.”
Her singing becomes a central feature of Chasing Rainbows.
“Natalie Neilson is a remarkable young actress who I used in all three features being shown at the festival, and she is a local girl,” says Fritz.
Neilson has won several awards for her acting including an Award of Excellence from the Accolade Competition, an Award of Excellence from The Indie Fest, and a Gold Award from the International Independent Film Festival. Fritz contends that her performance in Past Tense, a film that deals with mental illness, rivals Natalie Portman's Oscar-winning turn in Black Swan.
“I also want to single out Indra Tracy, who played the second lead in Twice... and had a major role in Past Tense,” adds Fritz. “She also plays a small role in Chasing Rainbows. Indra is an extraordinary actress, and, too, is local. She and Natalie played so well together, sparks flying. She was so natural with enormous personality that comes through as truthful and real.”
Speaking of another local connection, in his latest film, Fritz has used two actors who are graduates of New England Youth Theatre and went on to pursue acting careers in New York.