Marcia Kimpton talks about writing and directing “An American in Amsterdam” and being a part of the digital age.
How was your experience writing and directing “An American in Amsterdam”?
My experience writing and directing “An American in Amsterdam” was a total pleasure. I wrote the first draft but when I casted my great friend, Shirley Robinson, to play my best friend in this movie, she rewrote it with me.
All we did was laugh nonstop making each line funnier. In regard to directing, it was pretty effortless because I have the best cinematographer, Justin McAleece, who always as a DP helps make everything in the film stunning.
He gives me gave me great tips on to how we could make the written page come to life in the stunning city of Amsterdam.
Shirley literally got almost every scene in one take — and we were mostly in every scene, so it was quite easy. It helps when your lead actress is a part of writing the movie because they understand and know the material so well before the camera starts rolling!
The biggest obstacle was that I scheduled way too many scenes per day in the nine days of filming. We didn’t have enough money to produce the film, but we did pull it off– which was a miracle– but making a film is miraculous every time!
What inspires you each day as a director and screenwriter?
I love movies, storytelling, and travel, so every day I try to take my passions and create something new with them. Every time I see a new place in the world it inspires me to think of a story that I can tell either by filming it or writing about it.
I think when you are an artist, you see everything every day as a new painting in your genre of art. I ask myself, as a filmmaker, what movie in my life do I want to create today?
How does it feel to be a part of the digital age? (Now with streaming, technology and social media being so prevalent)
I think the digital age has really helped my films in regards to editing them because everything is faster and easier. You can move scenes around, and ideas such as
making a non-linear film (which means not putting everything in order with a basic timeline) is possible.
I had a linear film written with “Bardo Blues” but it didn’t have enough mystery, and because of the digital editing software today, it made it so easy to make it nonlinear and create an entirely different film.
In regards to social media for me it’s a mixed feeling. I love that I can show all my travels around the world easily with Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, but often I feel I am just feeding a beast that is never satisfied… and this beast is always asking– or shall I say, demanding more food!
I hate feeling pressure to find more clips, more media, more everything but now I have a great social media woman [Nadia Taalbi]. She loves making posts creative and finding original ways to promote my filmmaking so the pressure is off me– and thus I feel relief!
What did this screenplay teach you about yourself?
I know how to write a complete film quickly and film it in nine days! The problem is my original screenplay couldn’t be finished because the COVID lockdowns kept us from returning to Amsterdam in April 2020 to finish the film.
What I learned is I must accept the film as it is, work with it to make it the best it can be, and accept the film is shorter then I wanted it to be.
I think we all learned so much during the COVID lockdowns but this film really taught me to accept the things I can change, and to also accept the things I can not change. I am proud of the film, but as an artist one can be critical of your own art.
I had to learn to accept this was a really good film with the limitations I was given.
Were there any moments in your career that have helped define you?
When I was taken off the air in San Francisco with my dream late night show that I was hosting and producing. I thought my life was doomed, but this spiritual crisis made me realize if I can’t be a late-night host, I can be a film director.
Growing up, as a woman in the Chicago area, there were so few role models as film directors but I learned the end of one career elicited the beginning of another one.
I would also say making “Bardo Blues” in Thailand with hardly any money (and only having 16 days in total to film an entire film) allowed me to believe I can do anything.
It was my first time filming in a foreign country, which has a lot of obstacles, but it was such a great choice to film in Chiang Rai. Northern Thailand felt “other worldly” which allows the audience to feel they have traveled to another place.
After “Bardo Blues,” I filmed “An American in Amsterdam” in Amsterdam, and then “An American Abroad” in Turkey, Greece, South Africa, France and Portugal. Anything is possible in this world if you believe you can do it!
What do your plans for the future include?
My next film is called “Tanzan” which is to be filmed in Tanzania, South Africa and Namibia. It’s a contemporary “Out of Africa” film, and a bi-racial love story with an overall mission to help make people aware of the elephant-human conflict.
My hope is to find a solution to this conflict that occurs in many African countries and have a portion of the profits go back to solving this problem.
I can’t give away the ending of the movie but this is based on real life stories happening with real life solutions– so both elephants and people don’t get killed, and instead thrive in the same environment.
What does the word success mean to you? (My favorite question)
Success to me is feeling happiness and peace. I know it’s elusive and it changes everyday but having suffered many years from depression, mostly because of Hollywood rejecting me as an artist over and over, and then finding yoga and meditation after plenty of years of wine and marijuana, (which is only temporary relief from the problem) I can say I rarely get depressed.
I figured out a way to make 5 films, travel to over 40 countries, and make the Kimpton Travels and Films app. I also learned to not depend on Hollywood’s definition of success which is defined as stardom and fame.
I define my own artistic success and accomplishment. When I create the films I wanted to create, I get so much joy in doing them, as well as peace in knowing success is defined inwardly and not outwardly.
What would you like to tell our readers about “An American in Amsterdam”? (What’s the one thing you want them to get out of it).
I made the movie to make you laugh and if we have more joy and laughter in this world, I have accomplished my mission.
I take two women characters and show the humor as well as the ups and downs of this friendship while having a wild time in breathtaking, beautiful Amsterdam.
“An American in Amsterdam” is based a bit on my real life, as almost every story I write is, and my love for a Dutch man and dating as an older woman. It’s also about having fun with real people on the streets of Amsterdam.
None of the film is real except I do use about three minutes of real clips from my late night show in 1998 so I fool the audience (I hope) into thinking it’s real because we mix real people into the movie. It’s definitely a mockumentary. You can catch it on May 1st exclusively on my app Kimpton Travels and Films.
To learn more about Marcia Kimpton, follow her on Instagram.
