Q&A with Nick Borenstein
A conversation with Nick Borenstein, the NYC-based filmmaker behind ‘Sweater’.
When you decided to make this short film, where did you start?
I have danced my whole life and always wanted to dance in a film. It felt like the right evolution of my work, especially as we live in a scary, intense and often, overwhelming, world. I wanted Sweater to bring joy to audiences and to showcase the good of humanity.
I absolutely loved making this film. It was terrifying but it also amplified my desire to continue making films that involve dance and blur the lines of music video, musical and narrative.
What kind of hurdles do you face as a filmmaker working in short film?
I made this film as genre mix between a narrative film and a music video. A short film felt like the perfect place to attempt that experimentation. Dancing evokes a vast range of emotions and I always felt that there was an opportunity to capture movement on film in a grounded way to represent these emotions.
While this film was a short film, I am also developing a few longer-form concepts that integrate movement into the storytelling.
What projects are you working on next, and how can people who are interested best support or share that work?
I just finished another short film which I’ll be releasing next year after its festival run. While it’s quite different than 99 and Sweater, you’ll find all three films have a similar darkly comedic yet joyful tone.
Additionally, I’m writing my first feature film which I hope to direct and star in 2020. For those interested in supporting and sharing my work, I love you, and please do! I make films for others to enjoy and engage with - it’d be a dream for folks to share these films.
Also, follow my IG for updates on upcoming projects. If nothing else, you can follow my never-ending search for the best Spice Girls merchandise.
