(bright music) (dramatic music) - Welcome back to "TVFilm."

I'm your host, Jermaine Wells.

"TVFilm" showcases the talents of upstate New York media makers across all genres.

We're going to kick things off with "Dissolution."

With this film, director Anthony Saxe chronicles the end of his parents' marriage after 48 years together.

It stars his parents as themselves and combines archival home video with new footage based on the events surrounding their recent divorce.

Let's take a look.

- And then let go of it.

- What do you mean?

- Is there a green light and a red light now?

- Yeah.

- Then it's filming.

- [Linda] Then how do I get it to stop?

- Push it again.

The green light on?

- Yeah.

- You pushed it twice, I saw.

- Yeah.

- The green light and the red light on?

- Yeah.

(Eddie speaks faintly) - Whoa.

(static hissing) (ambient traffic swooshing) (dog whining) (ball thumping) (paws pattering) (ambient traffic swooshing) (birds clattering) (engine humming) (dog munching) Look at this girl go.

She's swiping figs.

She's got a greedy gleam in her eyes as she's doing it.

It's all right.

She's gonna get caught up with sooner or later.

Uh-oh, here comes the guy with the gun.

- You'll be singing a different tune when you're eating these.

- I'll be suing ya.

Let me zoom in.

Hold out your hand.

Move it out.

(gentle music) - The fruits of my labor.

(bird cawing) (Eddie spits) (window whirring) (footsteps ) (cane clicking) (door clonking and squeaking) (door clonks) (footsteps clonking) (floorboards squeaking) - I'm not gonna fit in there.

- What?

- I said I'm not gonna be able to fit in there.

- How'd you get in?

- I used the spare.

- Yeah, well, please don't do that, it's not your key.

(birds chirping) I'm putting in three dogwood.

Phil said he would do it, but he was gonna charge me $100, so I'm doing it myself.

- Smart.

- Yeah.

Come on, I'll put some coffee on.

(dramatic air whooshing) (worms squishing) (static hissing) - [Linda] I have one hand on the camera.

- [Young Anthony] Now look at it, it's coming even closer to us.

- Yep.

- Eddie, give your wife a big wet one.

- Ma, turn it.

- Give a big, wet kiss.

- I can't believe (indistinct).

- He says, "Give Mom a big, wet kiss."

- [Videographer] Uh-huh, okay.

- I love you.

- Beautiful.

- The most beautiful wife, again- It comes alive with the colors like that.

- Red, green, gold, silver.

(paper crinkling) Some of 'em have a stripe down the side and a little black eye in the front so they look like a fish.

You attach a worm to these- - Can we do this now?

- Go ahead.

(plate scraping) (paper rubbing) (pen clicking) - Have you been drinking?

- What?

- You smell like alcohol.

- It's the gum surgery.

I'm supposed to use this three times a day.

(bottle clunking) (paper crinkling) (pen scratching) (glasses click) I just gotta leave for a minute.

(footsteps ) (floorboards squeaking) (gentle music) - Hey, go do his bath water, okay, please.

- Why?

- 'Cause I don't- - You're a very lovely woman.

- Don't film me anymore, I beg you.

- Look at you.

Oh, you look like a movie actress.

You look like Cleopatra.

- She a movie actress?

- [Eddie] I just, I wanna film this.

- No.

- This great unveiling here.

- No, I really- - Okay.

(somber music) (foil crinkling) (somber music continues) (bag rustles) - [Preacher] God is the giver of all life, human and divine.

May the Lord God bless the father.

- Eddie.

Are you okay?

(Eddie groans) Are you okay or do you want me to come in?

- [Eddie] Okay.

- So you're all right?

Or do you need me to come in?

- [Eddie] You can come in.

(door squeaking) - I couldn't get my belt buckle open.

- Pull your pants up.

We'll go upstairs and clean you off.

(footsteps) (cane clicking) (footsteps) (floorboards squeaking) (footsteps) (floorboards squeaking) Lift your foot.

You just need to lift the foot.

- I'm trying!

(cane clicks) (footsteps) (water splashing) (water spraying) (Eddie coughs) (water spraying continues) (dramatic air whooshing) (people laughing) (people chattering) - [Linda] I didn't forget, I just wasn't around.

- [Child] Hi.

- [Linda] Hi.

(dramatic air whooshing) (people chattering) (washcloth rubbing) (dog groans and whines) (cane clicking, footsteps) - I'm ready.

(church bell tolling) (bell tolling drowns out Eddie speaking) The other way, move it out.

(wind gusting) (door slams) - I put the bag on the back seat.

Are you gonna be able to carry it into the apartment?

- Yeah.

- Are you sure?

Because I can follow you in my car.

- I can carry it.

Can I leave him with you for a while?

- For how long?

- I don't know, maybe a week or two.

- Mm-hmm.

- Pick him up for me.

(gate clicks) (ambient traffic humming) (footsteps shuffling) (pensive music) (engine humming) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (pensive music continues) (smooth saxophone music) I forgot how to play it.

Go ahead, just keep filming.

(smooth saxophone music continues) (footsteps ) (smooth saxophone music continues) (floorboards squeaking) I had such a good life with you.

(smooth saxophone music continues) - [Distant child] Oh, Dad.

(smooth saxophone music continues) - I know.

(floorboards squeaking) (feet shuffling) (smooth saxophone music continues) (floorboards crunching) (static hissing) (clapperboard clicks) - My name is Anthony Saxe.

I'm the director of "Dissolution."

The film stars my actual parents and the film is about my actual parents and it really is moments taken directly from their lives.

The dialogue is taken directly from their lives.

I had all these old tapes that I was looking through that spanned over really four decades and I saw a different version of them in the tapes that I had seen in my real life when I was growing up and that was interesting to me and that was something I wanted to explore.

In terms of getting my parents involved in the film, I had written a version of the film just as an exercise when I didn't really have any relationship with my father, and neither did my mother.

We were pretty much completely estranged from him.

He ended up in the hospital in ICU and we were sort of brought back into his life at that point.

I told him that I had this idea.

I had written this exercise of a short film a few years earlier and I said, "Is that something you would be interested in doing?"

I wanted to give him something to do that would be valuable when and if he was able to get out of the hospital, and he said he would do it and my mother said she would do it, and there was really very little convincing that I had to do.

My parents are not actors, and in terms of the performance, we really wanted to simplify what we were doing.

Things like eyelines and dealing with camera movement and blocking and hitting a mark, those things were really difficult for them and so we really sort of simplified the present-day footage and we sort of designed the whole film around being on a little longer lens, being a little further away from them and just letting them be in that space and interact with each other as naturally as possible.

In that final scene, I had this footage of my father playing the saxophone and he loves jazz and music was like a big part of my parents' lives and their relationship and I really liked the idea of using that sort of, him playing the saxophone and that turning into score.

When my father tells my mother, "I had such a good life with you," and she says, "I know," I think there is a sort of acceptance of what their relationship was that she may have not been able to express with him sort of in person or during their life together, but it's sort of a private acknowledgement in the privacy of her mind that even though their lives were difficult and their relationship was difficult and ultimately failed, that it was worthwhile and meaningful.

The family dynamic has changed a lot.

My parents have a pretty good relationship now.

It's not entirely due to the film, but I think having the experience of working on something that was interesting and different and challenging for them, I think, I hope that it brought them closer together and they seemed to enjoy the process and take a lot of joy and pride in the film now.

- Up next we have "Mama," an animation by Jennie Thwing.

This film was created during the first year of her second son's life.

Now I'm a parent myself, and I know that the needs of a new baby can be all-consuming.

For Jennie, she felt an overpowering love for her new baby, but she also worried about having less time for her first child, her husband, and making art.

More than anything, she wanted to protect her child from the dangers of the world.

This film was made while experiencing those thoughts and emotions.

Let's watch.

(baby laughing) (dramatic air rumbling) (thunder crashing) (dramatic air whooshing) (baby crying) (pensive music) (rocking chair creaking) (eerie music) (wind whistling) (thunder crashing) (fearful music) (pensive music) (water splashing) (ethereal chimes music) (ethereal chimes music continues) (water sloshing) (air whooshing) (baby vocalizing) (water gurgling) (baby crying) (children vocalizing) (mysterious music) (water sloshing) (pensive music) (pensive music continues) (water gurgling) (baby crying) (baby crying) (children vocalizing) (dramatic music) (woman yells) (bells tolling) (pensive music) (light switch clicks) (pensive music continues) (dramatic music) (baby crying) (wind gusting) (thunder crackling) (pensive music) (hands clattering) (pensive music continues) (wind gusting) (hands clattering) (wind gusting continues) (dramatic music) (wind gusting continues) (mysterious music) (wind gusting continues) (water splashing) (mysterious music continues) - [Child] Mama.

Mama.

(water roaring) (mysterious music continues) - Mommy!

- Mama.

Mama.

- [Child] Mommy!

(wind gusting) (mysterious music continues) (wind gusting) (dramatic music) (baby babbling) (chime music) (baby babbling continues) (chime music continues) (chime music continues) - Hi, my name is Jennie Thwing and the name of my film is "Mama."

So this film is about my experience as a new mother.

It's kind of an abstract narrative.

My second child, when he was born, every night starting at eight, he would cry for four hours straight.

I would animate with him crying, so we had these big headset, we had this big pair of protective earmuffs and he would just cry and we'd hold him, and so I started to create animations, these kinda short animations that I ended up using in this film of this sort of mother experiencing this world.

I wanted it to be clear that the experience that this character was having was more internal, and so that was kind of the idea behind it was, well, what are all the things that someone who's a new mother is thinking about?

You have this baby that you feel this huge desire to protect, but you also don't know who they are yet and you're also not getting a whole lot of sleep, and so I think when you have a new child, it's very dreamlike, and meanwhile, you're also like just completely in love with this little baby.

I guess I'm an artist because I love the process.

Actually, to me, it's really clear that it's really about the process.

It's a way to escape into your mind, right?

And it's also a way to process the things that you're thinking about.

I don't think I would be nearly as happy in my own life if I didn't have an avenue to, you know, something artistic.

I think it's a really huge benefit to anybody's life.

It doesn't matter what you're making.

I think it's a huge benefit to have something that you're creatively inspired by.

- To learn more about this season's films and filmmakers, visit WMHT.org/TVFilm.

Don't forget to connect with WMHT on social media, and while you're at it, why not subscribe to our YouTube channel?

Thanks for tuning in.

I'm Jermaine Wells.

See you next week.

(dramatic music) - [Announcer] "TVFilm" is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.