Interview with the Director - Karen Knox

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up making The Year of Staring at Noses film together.

Matt and I met when I was working at a bar many years ago. I don’t remember this but he does. Apparently the playlist was particularly banging that evening and he told me so. Thanks Matt! What I didn’t realize then is that Matt has maybe the best musical taste of anyone dead or alive in Canada. He picked all the tunes for the movie. I didn’t bat an eye at a single select! In fact, I was overwhelmed by the abundance of obscure bangers. I can be a picky tiresome wench with music supervisors so that’s sayin something! 

We became friends about a year later but our bond was cemented through our mutual hatred for the New York Times disease specialist who was a guest on their morning news podcast thrice weekly during a time none of us wish to speak about any longer. For the record the disease specialist was just doing his job. It was more an us thing than a him thing.

We’ve read that the initial seed for the film came out of “depression walks” during the pandemic. Living in lockdown Melbourne and having done about 15 ‘walking dates’ in the park, that is WAY too real. Was there anything cathartic or therapeutic about finally getting this film out of your heads and onto the big screen?

For me, it felt a bit like watching my brain rot reach apotheosis. I went mad for a year during pandy, but this came out of it. It kept bringing me back to sanity because it was something to DO. Even if robots get better at making art than us, I can still see virtue in art therapy! That’s a joke!  

Karen, you’re playing Samantha and filming very close-up, personal shots, alone. There is no one else to bounce off, the focus completely on you. How challenging was this as an actor, knowing the film hinges on your performance?

I’m going to be really honest, it’s not! When NO ONE is watching it’s like having carte blanche of cringe bestowed upon you. Dance like no one is watching, singing in the shower, etc, etc. Whatever batty ass monstrosity is cooking in your psyche you may unleash with total abandon.  

And for Matt, as you’re combing through all this footage that Karen has shot, did you know what you were looking for from “Samantha”? Or was it more an instinctual, gut feel thing?

Matt is currently prepping a pizza commercial so I’m going to answer this for him. It’s a huge Pie job so we must leave him in peace. I think Matt intuitively picked all the right clips because he (not exclusive to music) also has immaculate taste in humanity. I’m gonna say it was a GUT thing. 

The moment in the nurse’s office where your new nose is revealed is jawdropping. But I’m assuming you only got one real take to do that. Describe the emotions and pressure behind the filming that for both of you.

That was definitely one of those moments where it was do-it-or-die. I felt incredibly vulnerable, but also insane because I couldn't tell the nurses I was pretending to be someone else while they filmed my reveal. They were extremely kind in feigning not to notice that my voice changed when the iPhone rolled. I’m very grateful. I’m sure they’ve seen weirder in their line of work. 

One of our favourite things about the film was the blending of social media content, 9:16 phone footage and GoPro footage into the short. There’s a little taste of that in Karen’s film Borderline as well, and it’s something that bigger features seemingly still haven’t nailed down yet, despite us spending so much time on our phones. How did you go about creating that authentic vlogging feel?

It has to be authentic imo. I did it in my last feature WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP as well. This movie is set in the late 90’s about an indie band and I wanted to incorporate elements of band documentary into the larger narrative. So instead of shooting a bunch of stale handycam footage on set I just gave the cast a camera and begged them to shoot everything all the time forever while we were in production. 80% of the footage they shot that’s in the movie was totally unscripted. It felt true. I don’t think you should ever shoot vlog stuff on set! It’s not conducive to the tone or style of that kind of performance. If you want it to feel authentic, you gotta go extra circular mode. 

You’re both directors in your own right, and I’m hoping still friends. What is it like collaborating on a project like this, and how do you deal with differences in opinion?

HUGE FRIENDS. I think you gotta just keep saying yes until you find a way to makes your yeses mean the same thing to each other. It’s all about generosity of spirit and perseverance. 

What projects are coming up for the both of you?

You can catch my other flick a 90's sex x drugs x soft rock romance in theatres or on streaming this march. It's called WE FORGOT TO BREAK UP. Next year I'm working on a feature I wrote called Elicit Illicit. Matty is sitting on the sickest new short, shot on 16, also about music that I'm waiting for him to drop. It will be SOON.  

Any message for our fans down here in Melbourne?

I just came back from my first trip to Sydney for the Mardis Gras Queer Screen film festival and I went full Richard E Grant in awards season enthusiasm mode. Australia is UNREAL. I love your country. I can’t believe I didn’t get to visit Melbourne. I’m coming back. Congratulations on being amazing. Also please review us on Letterboxed. We read all of them.