327: Interview With Alison McAlpine of Perfectly A Strangeness

·19 min·1 clip

Jeff Ballmer interviews Alison McAlpine, director of the Oscar-nominated experimental documentary short 'Perfectly a Strangeness'.

The episode begins with hosts Dakota Arsenault and Jeff Ballmer introducing a video interview with Alison McAlpine, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary short 'Perfectly a Strangeness'. Ballmer expresses excitement about interviewing McAlpine due to the film's experimental nature within the documentary short category. The interview starts with Ballmer asking McAlpine about the inspiration for the film, which she says came from seeing donkeys among observatory domes in the Atacama Desert while shooting a previous feature. McAlpine describes wanting to explore how donkeys perceive that world, leading to research on donkey vision and the use of anamorphic lenses. Ballmer notes the film's lack of narration and wordless, interpretive style, questioning its classification as documentary. McAlpine responds that she doesn't think in rigid categories, calling it a hybrid film that uses whatever tools best tell the story. She shares anecdotes about directing donkeys, including challenges with a rebel donkey that led others into the desert. Ballmer asks about a striking shot of a cloud shadow resembling a donkey, which McAlpine says was a happy coincidence during a time-lapse sequence. The conversation touches on potential religious interpretations of the shadow, with McAlpine humorously declining to speculate on donkeys' spiritual beliefs. After the interview, the hosts discuss the film's uniqueness within the Oscar documentary short category, with Ballmer calling it a risky pick. They note the strong overall slate of nominees this year. The episode concludes with light banter about missed questions on donkey movies and promotions for Ballmer's other work.

As heard by us

Alison McAlpine connects donkeys, an observatory and a coincidental cloud shadow with the freedom of hybrid documentary.

Oscar-nominated documentary short Perfectly A Strangeness gives director Alison McAlpine room to consider the hazy border between nonfiction and experimentation.

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Why you'd press play

Follow rebellious donkeys into an Oscar-nominated short where documentary, fiction, and experiment share the same desert landscape.

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