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Page 10 Flagpole Magazine March 20 f 1991
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The Dope on Jim McKay: Part One
Athens is well known for it's music/
band scene, with good reason. Just about
anyone can name at least one band that
calls this town home. But ask them to
name someone or something else that
Athens is famous for and you'll probably
get some fairly baffled looks, (unless of
course you're talking to Ort). Well, it's my
belief that Athens is becoming a growing
center for filmmakers. I know that sounds
unfounded, but I said it, so it must be so.
Back it up? There are a few of them in
town, Carey Parker and James Herbert to
name a couple, and in addition there's
Jim McKay. (I know we can't really claim
him as a native, but by-God, he's here
now and that's good enough forme )Mr.
McKay has directed music videos for
groups like the Rollins Band, Flat Duo
Jets, Chickasaw Mudd Puppies (his
former band), and Pylon. He has a docu
mentary to his credit, Lighthearted
Nation, (made up of interviews of five older
men who live in a Boston nursing home),
and he co-directed R.E.M.'s Tourfilm
along with Michael Stipe. McKay and
Stipe have just recently moved the op
erations of C-00 Film Corp. from Wash
ington, D.C. to Athens. C-00 is respon
sible for the production and distribution
of Direct Effect, a series of striking, alter
native, (and a little arty), public service
announcements (PSA s). Direct Effect is
a project designed to let artists
filmmakers, singers and other interesting
folk pick a subject and create their own
message. Filmmakers Jim Herbert, Jem
Cohen, singer Natalie Merchant of 10,000
Maniacs, and Kris "KRS-1" Parker of
Boogie Down Productions have contrib
uted spots covering topics from safe sex
to world peace McKay's own PSA's
address the subjects of historic preser
vation and the value of the condom. Well.
Jim was nice enough to let me speak with him not too
long ago about his films, and the conversation went
a bit like this
Flagpole: fell me how your interest in film began.
Was there a particular film or director that made you
say, "This is what I want to do?”
McKay: I don’t know if there was one film, but I must
We started the PSA's, because
we're filmmakers and we’re
also socially motivated
say Koyaamsqatsi really, really blew my doors of f . I
think it made me think about film a whole different
way. It was an accessible film that wasn’t made in an
accessible way I guess as f a r as the entertainment
stuff goes, I was invoived in music before I was
involved in film.
FP: You were a DJ
McKay: In college, and I played in a couple bands
The way [Koyaamsqatsi] used music and just nut
images to it with nothing else, was something that
was needed and I really admired [it]. Now
that I think about it, it points to one of the
great failures of music videos. That music
videos have the potential to be as that,
but never are. You start off with two
mediums, film and music, and treated
equally the music video can really be an
amazing, powerful thing.
FP: Basically, music videos noware just
commercials for the song.
McKay: Yeah, they’re ads. So, the ad
vertising aspect has taken over and [the
song has] become simply a way of get
ting the ad there. But, it’s too bad, be
cause that’s why I wanted to do music
videos in the first place, because I liked
both things, but anyway, I just saw a lot of
movies. I lived in San Francisco for a
couple of years when I got out of school,
and I’d taken a oasic filmmaking course
in college.
FP: Have you always had an interest in
film?
McKay: Not really. I went to movies
when I was a kid, but I never was fanatical
about it. I went to see the same things
everybody else has seen, I guess. When
I was in college I did the typical college
repertory film/ theatre thing. I saw a lot of
Bergman and a little Fellini, you know the
core group of foreign filmmakers and [I]
saw a lot of Martin Scorsese stuff. So, I
moved to California They've got amaz
ing theatres in San Francisco, they’ve got
two rep houses that are great. They're
always showing either old stuff or new
independent. I waited tables for a couple
years, and I would go to like six movies a
week, and just watch. That's really how I
learned what I wanted to do, I guess. It
was a couple of years later that I actually
started making [films]. You know, I never
watched a movie with the intention of
copying it or making notes, and I didn’t
ii
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