When Zoë Kennison took home several awards at this summer’s St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase for her debut film, “Easy-Bake,” she was surprised – and thrilled.
She is still somewhat amazed that she is a filmmaker, considering that was not in her original plans when she attended Webster University, though she had always enjoyed writing, and discovered she was good at it.
But the seed for filmmaking was planted when roommates and fellow students who were involved in the school’s filmmaking program piqued her interest. She acted in a couple of films when they needed it. She helped a friend with her senior thesis. She was able to see the whole process in action, so in the end, the idea began to rub off on her.
And “Easy-Bake” was born.
Well it didn’t happen quite that fast.
After graduating from Webster, where she majored in religious studies with an emphasis in social sciences, Kennison realized she wanted to pursue script writing. As a long-time feminist, she wanted to write about something that effects women.
“I wanted to write about what I knew, I wanted it to look natural, and I felt my real story was compelling enough,” she said. “I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome my junior year of high school, and was told it would make it difficult to have children.”
When she was in her early 20s, she went to a clinic for a routine visit, and the doctor walked in, looked her over and told her because she had PCOS, she should be on birth control to help regulate hormones so she could have children. What bothered her is that the male doctor assumed she wanted to have children, and even though that is not what she was there to see him about, he voiced his opinion and made an assumption about her.
“I just thought it was strange that this man would say that to me,” she said. “Women are pushed to believe that they should have children by the time they’re 30, and told that their fertility has an expiration date.”
In all, the movie took four years to complete – 2-1/2 years for the filming because she asked Kristin Rolla, that same student she helped with her thesis (and the two had worked on a few short films since then), to be the cinematographer. Rolla had since graduated and was working in the industry, and was only able to work with Kennison once a month.
“Easy-Bake,” the resulting autobiographical feature film, explores the societal pressure on women to have children, Kennison herself portrays a 22-year-old college student Ivan (pronounced eye-vun), who is informed by her doctor that she is on a sudden and unexpected biological clock. Because of a medical issue, she has only one year to conceive a child. Ivan is a nanny and loves the children she cares for, but she hasn’t thought about having children of her own. But influenced by societal pressure assuming that all women want children, and support of a well-meaning roommate, who only wants her to be happy, Ivan begins to explore the possibility of motherhood.
At first, she said it was difficult to direct and act, especially since it was a low-budget film, where she was basically responsible for and in charge of everything else, too.
But she eventually figured it out, and relaxed into the many hats she wore in the making of the movie.
“I wanted it to seem totally natural, as if the audience was a fly on the wall, and I wanted them to feel for her and understand. I wanted to show personal moments,” she said.
Kennison chose the name Ivan for her protagonist because it was different and reminded her of her own name (Zoë) and the difficulty that she always has with others being able to spell and pronounce it (and it also gives a nod to Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”).
The majority of the characters in the film are female, because Kennison feels women generally have poor representation in film. She also wanted as many women as possible behind the camera.
“And I wanted to make sure everyone had a good time, because I couldn’t pay much,” she added.
She had an online Indiegogo campaign that raised $8,000 of her original $10,000 goal.
She loved all aspects of the process, but particularly likes the creative problem solving aspect. And she feels her education in religious studies and social sciences made her a better writer and opened her thinking to many perspectives. According to Kennison, this is definitely not her last film. She hopes to continue making movies that tackle women’s issues.
And as if her life as a filmmaker isn’t interesting enough, Kennison has grown up involved in the circus with her family, working with Circus Harmony and the City Museum. She is now program coordinator for the Midnight Circus in Chicago, where she recently moved.
Her award-winning film will be available as part of the Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival, which runs Nov. 5 through 22, and is once again, up for several awards. THe film is followed with a Q&A with Kennison, moderated by Andrea Sporcic Klund, film commissioner of the Missouri Film Office.
This summer’s St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase’s debut of the film garnered her seven awards, including Best Narrative Feature and People’s Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature. Kennison also won Best Actress, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Screenplay and Best Drama, and she was crowned Queen of the 2020 Royal Court.
The 29th annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival will be presented virtually this year, due to the pandemic. The festival kicks off with a free opening-night special event featuring the documentary short “8:46” — which records a performance by comedian Dave Chappelle and a livestreamed conversation with Chappelle and the film’s Oscar-winning directors, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert.
The majority of SLIFF’s lineup of features and shorts programs will be available to view on demand anytime Nov. 5 through 22. A few films will have a more limited window of availability and have a defined date range for access.
Special events, like opening-night event and closing-night awards presentation, new filmmakers forum roundtable and master classes will be offered as livestreams at specific times and dates.
Though guests cannot attend the festival, recorded Q&As with filmmakers and/or documentary subjects will accompany many of the programs.
The fest schedule, ticket and pass information, and a complete list of films (with descriptions) are available at the Cinema St. Louis website at cinemastlouis.org.
