During the recent One World Film Festival, filmmaker Elizabeth Massie traveled from Los Angeles to Lexington for the screening of her documentary “Compa√íeras,” a behind-the-scenes look at America’s first all-female mariachi band. It was a homecoming of sorts for the acclaimed writer, producer, and director. I had the opportunity to talk to Massie about her Kentucky roots, the making of “Compa√íeras,” and her thoughts on the art and craft of making documentaries. Here are some of the highlights of our talk:
Kentucky Ties
Massie’s father, Robert K. Massie, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian (“Peter the Great,” “Nicholas and Alexandra”), was born in Versailles. Robert’s father founded the Massie School in Versailles, and his log cabin still stands on the property where the Massie School was located. Robert’s uncle, Francis Massie, was a well-known Lexington doctor. Massie’s sister Susanna (the equine/educational director at HorseDirections) and brother-in-law James Thomas (former CEO of Shaker Village) and their two children live in Harrodsburg. “So there’s this long, deep connection with Kentucky in my family,” Massie says. “I’m very proud of my Kentucky roots.”
Getting Into Film
After graduating from Yale and working for a few years on Capitol Hill, Massie returned home to New York City where she was, among other things, a paralegal, a waitress, a photographer, and, on occasion, an actor. “I first started gravitating toward film when I was asked to be in an NYU student’s film,” she recalls. “I found acting in a film for two straight weeks really dull. But I found the atmosphere of the set and the collaborative process behind the scenes incredibly interesting and exciting.”
That inspired her to enroll in a film course at NYU, and a fortunate Kentucky connection paid off for her. Her brother-in-law put her in touch with his good friend Diane Sawyer who, in turn, directed Massie to her husband and famed director Mike Nichols. What followed was a four-year stint working as an assistant in Nichol’s office and on the set of such movies as “Wolf” and “The Birdcage” (“a great deal of fun, such funny people to be around”).
Falling Into Documentaries
Massie was accepted into the master’s program at the American Film Institute and moved to Los Angeles. She began to write screenplays, but the feature work was not that dependable. “I fell into documentaries as a way to get some income and pay off my student loans. The documentary/reality boom was happening in television with Discovery Channel and TLC. They were constantly looking for new programming and needed people to run all these shoots. I just stumbled into work as a field director, interviewing people and directing crews. It was steady work, and it was so refreshing to work with real people. I liked the lack of artistic self-involvement that you usually find with actors. As I got more and more into it, I really fell away from features.”
It was truly her niche. Massie has written and produced shows for more than 35 non-fiction television series on, among others, the History Channel, MSNBC, TLC, Discovery, and Lifetime. Her feature documentaries have included “Out of the Shadow,” about a woman’s lifelong battle with schizophrenia, and “Emmanuel’s Gift,” the story of a disabled cyclist from Ghana narrated by Oprah Winfrey. More recently, she and partner Matthew Buzzell directed the award-winning “Who Cares About Girls?” about pre-teen girls and the effect of the media on their self-esteem. A follow-up, “What a Girl Wants,” was featured on “Oprah” and distributed nationally to high schools and colleges.
The Birth of “Compa√íeras”
Massie and Buzzell were on their way to shoot some footage of the Million Mom March in 2000 in preparation for a film on gun control. When they came out of the subway into L.A.’s Union Station, “We heard this incredible sound,” she remembers. “We peeked our heads around and saw this awesome mariachi band wearing electric blue suede suits, singing in Spanish. It was just amazing.”
Months later, the film about gun control had never gotten off the ground, Massie had had a baby, and she and Buzzell were looking for a project. He remembered the band, found a business card someone had given him that day, and they made contact with the founder of the band. He gave them the go-ahead to shoot a film, but questioned whether anything would ever come of it. “I said to him, ‘If we start, we’re going to finish,’” Massie recalls. “Four and a half years later, we did.” In March 2007, “Compa√íeras” premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin.
The Women’s Commune
It was only appropriate that, while editing a film about female empowerment, Massie and her editor, Lisa Molomot, took breaks from the editing process to breastfeed their babies.
Laughing about it, Massie says it was a perfect combination of art and life. “We would sit in my garage with the editing equipment, and then we would take nursing breaks. It was like a complete woman’s commune. We were working on this film about women and children and music, so it was very funny.”
Advice to Budding Filmmakers
Even though all young filmmakers may aspire to be the next Steven Spielberg, Massie advises that starting off in documentaries is much more realistic. “You can start with your camera and some interesting people you know,” she says. “Even if it’s just as a basis for something you later fictionalize. You see that a lot now in Hollywood. Documentaries get switched into films and even vice versa.
“Sure, the great feature films are so transcendent. But people are starting to see that, as crappy as most reality TV is, there is value and interest in real people and real stories in a way that never used to be true. The public has gotten used to the idea that your neighbor could potentially be as interesting as Tom Cruise. And that’s a pretty radical change.”
Review of “Compa√íeras”
Guitars, big sombreros, impassioned songs, and colorfully costumed musicians in a Mexican restaurant are perhaps our only exposure to mariachi music. But in “Compa√íeras,” filmmakers Elizabeth Massie and Matthew Buzzell take us inside that male-dominated world to focus on the first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles.
This is an enchanting movie on many levels. Even if you know nothing about the music, it’s hard not to be won over by its beauty. But the film is really a story of fascinating people. The group’s founder, who champions the cause of women mariachis, still can’t help but be sexist from time to time. The group’s leader, the only Anglo in the group, is perhaps more passionate about mariachi than any of the Hispanic women, but she clashes with the other members. And the audition of two girls to fill one spot in the band is an interesting study in group dynamics.
But soaring above it all is the emotionally compelling and soulful music. Massie and Buzzell tell the story with great skill and great concern for the folks in the film. The setting may seem foreign, but the universal issues of gender that play out still ring true.
“Compa√íeras” will air on PBS (WKET in Lexington) on April 1 at 10 p.m. Check local listings to be sure.