JETHICA is about a woman with a stalker that she can’t get rid of but it’s really weird and oddly funny and has supernatural elements. Everything takes place on this beautiful, isolated ranch in New Mexico in the middle of nowhere. For fans of the Coen Brothers and early Jarmusch. ” Filmmaker Pete Ohs on JETHICA which screens at SxSW 2022.
I hear you are back at SxSW this year! Talk to us about what you have had here in the past.
Jethica is the first film I directed that will screen at SXSW. I was at the SXSW Film Festival in 2019 with a feature I edited called OLYMPIC DREAMS directed by Jeremy Teicher. A decade ago, I was doing music videos for indie bands and came to SXSW for the music festival. I filmed shows at the Mohawk and various dive bars around town. This will be my fifth or sixth time to the festival.
How did this whole project come together? Give me a rundown from the preparation to execution to now!
I found the location on AirBNB and came up with an idea only requiring a few actors. I pitched the idea to some actor/friends who agreed to collaborate and we all went to New Mexico in January of 2021 for two and a half weeks. I streamed the editing process live on Twitch in March of 2021 and a year later, we are premiering at SXSW!
While working on a project, what’s your creative process?
My creative process is a table of bubbles; that’s the metaphor I came up with. It means I don’t put any pressure on it. The table can’t support anything. Just try to appreciate it. So, there’s a general idea for the story with a loose outline of the first half of the movie that we start shooting with but we figure things out as we go, writing dialogue together often the night before. The absence of pressure gives us the freedom to take risks, be weird, and most importantly, enjoy the experience.
What was your biggest challenge with creating this feature, and what was the moment where you realized “Yes, this is IT!”?
There were two snowstorms during our two and a half week shoot. That was tricky in regards to continuity and scheduling. When we wrapped, I wasn’t sure what we had made because there wasn’t a script. It was only after finishing the first assembly that I realized it was a movie.
I am a tech person, so I would love to know about the visual design of the movie from the cameras to the formats used and how it was made from a technical standpoint!
I shot the movie on a Canon 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern RAW. It’s a decade old DSLR but the RAW hack unlocks images with a very nice quality and 16-bit color depth so it has plenty of information for the grade.
What are you looking forward to the most about showing your movie at SxSW?
I feel like SXSW audiences are open minded. The festival has an established history of programming films that challenge the status quo so I’m looking forward to any and all in-person reactions to the film.
Where is this title going next? More festivals or a theatrical or streaming release?
JETHICA will be the Closing Night film of FILMFORT at the Treefort Music Festival in Boise, Idaho on March 26th. To be determined on what’s next after that!
What is the one thing that you would say to someone who is wishing to get into making movies, especially now as the world is changing at such a fast pace?
Try to be honest with yourself about why you want to make movies and let that guide ALL of your decisions.
And final question: what is the greatest movie you have ever seen at a film festival?
FOR SAMA wrecked me. I saw that at SXSW in 2019 and felt strongly that everyone should see it. The documentary deservedly won the Grand Jury Award.
This film and many others like it will be showing at South By Southwest taking place March 11-20. For more information point your browser to www.sxsw.com!