Sassy Mohen, a daring and revolutionary voice in female-driven storytelling, has all the time approached filmmaking with a fearless resolve. Her first characteristic movie, Pleased Holidays, was a chief instance of this dedication. Labeled “too formidable” by Chapman College in 2006, the movie turned a groundbreaking challenge that outlined her early profession and challenged the established order in indie filmmaking. With the re-release of Pleased Holidays – The Director’s Minimize, now digitally remastered and full of never-before-seen footage, Mohen displays on her journey and the way it formed her storytelling voice.
“Problem Accepted”: Pushing Previous Obstacles
For Mohen, making Pleased Holidays wasn’t only a selection—it was an pressing necessity. “In 2006, no girl had received an Oscar for Finest Director but,” she explains. “Once I informed folks I wished to be a director, the final response I obtained was, ‘Awww, that’s good.’” This dismissive angle solely fueled her ambition.
A turning level got here throughout her freshman 12 months at Chapman when a professor informed her class, “None of you’ll make it within the movie business.” Whereas this might have been demoralizing, Mohen took it as a problem. “I mentioned, ‘Problem accepted,’ as a result of I had labored too arduous to surrender,” she recollects.
Confronted with a scarcity of alternatives for ladies in movie faculty, Mohen took issues into her personal fingers. “It turned clear to me that I had no probability in hell to direct a junior or senior thesis,” she shares. “By the point Chapman College claimed making Pleased Holidays was ‘too formidable,’ we had already solid the movie, pulled collectively a crew, and began location scouting.”
Embracing the MiniDV Period
Capturing on HD MiniDV in 2006 was one other daring resolution. Whereas digital filmmaking was nonetheless in its infancy, Mohen noticed it as a sensible answer. “Will we wish to make a movie or can we simply wish to discuss making a movie?” she says. Using digital know-how allowed her to concentrate on storytelling quite than the restrictions of conventional movie inventory.
Criticism from friends and professors solely solidified her resolve. “I bear in mind folks saying we weren’t really making a ‘characteristic movie’ as a result of we weren’t capturing on movie. However all of these folks had been sitting round ‘ready’ to make their ‘large challenge.’ I believed, why would you do this? Simply make one thing.”
Crowdfunding Earlier than It Had a Title
The time period “crowdfunding” didn’t even exist in 2006, however that didn’t cease Mohen and her staff from leveraging early social media platforms like MySpace and YouTube. Co-producer Dillon Morris steered documenting their course of by means of video podcasts impressed by 4 Eyed Monsters. “Once I got here to Dillon and mentioned, ‘I wish to make a characteristic movie,’ he steered we observe the identical technique, and it labored!”
Their revolutionary strategy made essentially the most of rising tech. “Fb launched the ‘mini-feed’ the week we had auditions, so all of the sudden everybody’s feed at Chapman was speaking in regards to the auditions. MySpace already had an unlimited community of indie youngsters looking forward to content material, and I actually engaged with over 20,000 folks,” Mohen recollects.
Revisiting and Reimagining the Movie
The choice to remaster Pleased Holidays got here from a spot of each satisfaction and perfectionism. “I used to joke that if I got here again as a ghost, my unfinished enterprise can be re-mastering Pleased Holidays,” Mohen says. “Not as a result of I feel it’s some movie tour-de-force, however as a result of so many individuals labored extremely arduous on it when so many others pushed us to surrender.”
She embraced fashionable know-how to reinforce the movie, even creating new scenes practically 17 years later. “For 2 insert pictures I didn’t have the uncooked footage for, we recreated them with a stand-in actress and VFX,” she shares. The remastered model options polished audio, coloration correction, and reimagined performances that convey the story to life in a method Mohen all the time envisioned.
Balancing Numerous Tasks with a Unified Voice
From the comedy satire of The way to Hack Start Management to the dramedy of On the Hook, Mohen’s work spans a spread of genres however all the time facilities on daring, female-driven narratives. “It’s the one sort of movie I wish to make,” she says. Reflecting on her early struggles to write down sturdy feminine characters, she admits, “Once I stopped caring about whether or not or not folks would wish to watch ‘girls tales,’ the movies obtained higher and began incomes larger accolades.”
Recommendation for Bold Filmmakers
Mohen’s journey affords invaluable classes for aspiring administrators. Her recommendation? “Truth: Your first movie can be horrible, it is going to be embarrassing. Nevertheless it’s what you do with that embarrassment that may outline you as a filmmaker.”
She emphasizes the significance of persistence and studying from failure. “You may’t get obsessive about making a masterpiece. However should you’re fortunate, with sufficient expertise, failures, wins, and the proper teammates, the movies you make will end up even higher than you imagined.”
The place to Watch
Pleased Holidays – The Director’s Minimize is now streaming on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube TV, and Tubi. That includes newly added performances and never-before-seen footage, it’s a testomony to the ability of persistence and the enduring spirit of indie filmmaking.
For extra about Sassy Mohen and her initiatives, go to SassyMohen.com.
