In a few weeks, families will stuff their faces with turkey and mashed potatoes before settling down to a long winter’s tryptophan-induced nap, and Santa Claus will make his grand entrance during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Wallets will open, Tickle Me Elmos will be snatched off store shelves in a riotous frenzy, and commercialism will roar its mighty, terrible roar. The Christmas season will begin.
Unless, that is, the events of “Be My Oswald,” an independent movie from University alumni Don and Katha Cato, come to fruition. Don, who has made more than 35 indie films, wrote, produced and directed “Oswald,” while Katha produced and stars as “B,” a militant vegetarian determined to assassinate Santa and save the world from the commercialized Christmas it has created. To do this, B recruits “A” (played by Jeannie Noth), a clueless socialite activist who wants to take a stand that defies her family status. As Santa’s grand entrance approaches, the stakes are raised, and A and B find themselves pitted against each other.
“It’s a very dark comedy,” Katha said. “It’s a story of what happens when you take on this myth, and what happens when two people come against each other and someone has to win and someone has to lose.”
It is fitting that the premise of the film – taking on an icon as big and jolly as Kris Kringle – is slightly off-kilter because the movie’s production is anything but a bowl full of jelly. Where most independent movies are filmed in a number of weeks or even days, Katha said, “Be My Oswald” took nine years.
The Catos, who live in New York City, saw a play in the mid-90s that inspired them. Don, already an award-winning filmmaker, stripped the play down until it was bare: two women from different worlds first united in a common cause and then pitted against each other. From there, he rebuilt the story around the idea of taking on the most sacred of America’s corporate holidays, and, six months later, the script for the film was completed.
Because the Catos did not have much backing from outside sources, they produced the movie “paycheck to paycheck.” Don works for Institutional Investor, a financial publishing company, and he teaches directing at the New York Digital Film Academy, while Katha is the 21st Century Community Learning Center program director for Henry Street Settlement, a social service organization in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
The couple would save their money, Katha said, and when they reached certain goals, “We would shoot like crazy for as long and as late as we could.” In addition to pulling together the almost $250,000 it cost them to make the movie, the Catos put two daughters, Victoria and Jessica, through college.
At times, the movie became a family affair. In one instance, the Catos didn’t have a permit to reserve a public phone on the street that they needed for a scene, so Jessica talked on it all day to save it for when it was needed.
Another time, one of Jessica’s friends asked her what she was doing later that day. “We’re going to shoot my mom,” she said. It was a pivotal day of filming, indeed.
Filming took about four years, Don said. “‘Anything that gets it made,’ is what’s typical of indie film production.”
Taking long breaks between shooting was difficult, Katha said, and the loyalty of the cast was atypical for a film. “Anytime we had to shoot,” Katha said, “‘A’ had to get her hair cut and dyed like she had it two years before when we’d last filmed.”
After principal photography ended in 2002, the Catos saved for a year to cover post-production costs, which included
subtle special effects, quality sound work (which many films lack), and a paycheck to everyone involved.
“We own this film,” Katha said. “In many indie films, nobody is paid.”
Audience response from the various festivals the Catos have screened “Be My Oswald” has been overwhelmingly positive. “Ninety-seven percent of people would recommend it to their friends,” Katha said. “One or two people have passionately hated it, which I love, because they’re so, ‘You can’t take on Santa; you just can’t do it.’” That’s the point, Katha said.
And despite the somewhat unorthodox, drawn-out filmmaking process, the Catos produced a movie that “has all the attributes of a regular, actual motion picture, except it’s modest,” Don said. “As a filmmaker, as a director, I say, ‘It works.’ The rest of it is left up to the judgment of the audience.”
The strength of the Catos’ relationship – “We didn’t fight once during filming,” Katha said – is another driving force behind their success. Early on, Katha knew she had to let Don pursue his goal of being a filmmaker. “It became clear to me that he would go insane if we didn’t create the situation for him to make film,” she said.
“If you’re an artist, you should be an artist. You can do it and pay your bills, and write your thank-you notes and work on your garden and your laundry. It doesn’t matter if anyone ever sees it, you have to do it,” Katha said. “If you start with a compelling idea, then that’s all you need.”
The University played no small part in the Cato’s development as filmmakers. Don obtained his master’s in landscape architecture here, while Katha got her MFA in theater arts. While the smooth transition from landscape architect to filmmaker may seem odd, Don insists it’s not. A large portion of his filmmaking belief is the film’s relationship to its setting. “When your story meshes with the environment, you’re closer to having something that works,” he said.
Visiting artists, filmmakers and directors are a regular part of the University’s effort to bring professionals to campus to share their experiences and lessons, said Ken O’Connell, a professor emeritus in the Department of Art, in an e-mail interview.
“We are excited not only because (Don and Katha Cato) are successful and interesting people, but, because they are alumni, we celebrate their connection to the UO as part of their development process,” O’Connell said.
“Students … benefit greatly when a person who was once a student like them ventured off into the complex and very difficult world of movies and film and found a path that worked for them,” O’Connell said. The students learn that they too can have ideas and, with determination, explore them and carry them through into finished work, he said.
The Catos will screen their film Friday at 8 p.m. in 110 Willamette Hall. Additionally, the departments of art, landscape architecture and theatre arts will co-sponsor a lecture in 100 Willamette Hall tonight. Don and Katha will discuss “Independent Film Directing,” show excerpts from their films, and share their experiences in creating, acting, producing and distributing films, according to a news release. A Q&A session will follow Friday’s screening.
[email protected]