Christopher Bickel and the Mission of Underground Filmmaking
Social media has a lot of problems: too much doxing, not enough killer vox-ing; anti-disinformation campaigns becoming anti-anti-disinformation campaigns; the propagation of everyone’s uneducated opinions on every single thing ever; J.K. Rowling. But one thing it’s good for is finding underground filmmakers. I’ve met a bunch of new friends thanks to these silly sites, from places like Brazil and Germany and even as far away as Florida! So when I started hearing the “buzz” about this new filmmaker, Christopher Bickel, of course I started following him.
But did I already know this guy, or at least know of him? We’d never met in person, and I’ve never spent any notable amount of time in South Carolina, where he’s from. Then one day, I’m listening to some punk records, like you do, and it hits me. This was the singer of In/Humanity, and now he’s making underground movies. Small world, eh?
Anyway, Chris has a new movie in the works, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (you should definitely check out and donate to the crowdfunding campaign, because I guarantee you this will be a great movie just like his previous work), and he was kind enough to talk to me a bit about punk rock, movies, and doing it yourself.
Christopher Bickel is an underground filmmaker from West Columbia, South Carolina. His influences include George Romero, Gregg Araki, John Waters, HG Lewis, Russ Meyer, David Lynch, Kenneth Anger, and Jack Hill (all very much Nervousmaker-approved filmmakers). He’s been making movies since 2017. Before that, he wrote for Dangerous Minds and MaximumRockNRoll. He also played in the punk bands In/Humanity and Guyana Punch Line, and has been recording avant-garde music under the name Anakrid for 33 years. During the day, he works in a record store, which is, in his words, “the one thing I'm good at. “
Nervousmaker: Tell me a little bit about this new movie, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light. What’s it about and how did it come to be?
Christopher Bickel: Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is my third feature film after The Theta Girl and Bad Girls. It's a horror movie about a girl who works in a record store whose obsession with an album recorded by a 70s hippie commune leads her down a dark path to a dangerous cult. As with most no-budget movies, you are writing for the resources you have. In this case, I had access to a record store and a school bus which the owner said we could paint in psychedelic colors. So I wrote a movie around a record store and a bus.
Nervousmaker: I love the line from the press release: "The movies we make are punk rock demo tapes." You've been involved in DIY underground music, and now you're making DIY underground movies. How would you compare the two worlds? Do you find a lot of similarities, or have they been vastly different experiences?
Christopher Bickel: A lot of it is exactly the same — just trying to figure out ways to do creative things with no money. The major difference is how much more difficult filmmaking is than doing music. If you're poor, you have to wear a lot of hats. I liken the process of making a film to trying to record ten different albums at once, and if you fuck up one of the albums, it fucks up all the others along with it. Doing music is a million times easier than making a movie.
Nervousmaker: Along the same lines, how did you decide to transition from music to filmmaking? Was the idea already forming in your mind while you were doing In/Humanity and Guyana Punch Line, or was it something that came to you more recently?
Christopher Bickel: I had wanted to be a filmmaker since I was a kid. But money was always the barrier to entry. I'm of the age where trying to be a filmmaker in college would have meant raising at least $50,000 just to buy the film to put into the camera. So I pursued my other great love, which was records. As time went on, technology and digital cameras made filmmaking affordable. Once it got to the point where you could make a reasonably "cinematic" looking movie for around $10,000 or less, I knew I had to get to work.
Nervousmaker: Pater Noster and the Mission of Light already feels like a huge "next step" in your filmmaking progression, and it's not even finished. The cast and crew are bigger, the production seems bigger, and the entire campaign along with it, from the soundtrack to the art and effects work, is bigger. How are you handling all this? Is it feeling good to keep moving forward, or is it more stressful than you expected? Any unexpected snags come along with the bigger production?
Christopher Bickel: It's been absolute stress for going on two years. I'm just having to wear so many hats. I want every movie to be an improvement on the last. And so this one has a lot more going on. Ideally, I'll be able to get to a point where I can pay other people to do some of the multi-tasks I'm doing. Money is always the major headache. Right now I'm having to crowdfund to pay everything off and I really don't enjoy asking people for money. I'm really blessed to have a lot of friends that pitch in on my projects, and I'm so appreciative. But, ideally, I'd like to be able to concentrate more on the art stuff and less on the money stuff. Coming from punk rock, I see money as a great ruiner of art and ideals.
Nervousmaker: Tell me a little about the cast and crew. I know you've brought back a number of familiar faces from your past couple movies. Any notable newcomers on this film, whether in front of the camera or behind the scenes? Any cast/crew you were especially happy to have back?
Christopher Bickel: All three of my leads from Bad Girls are back in Pater Noster. Morgan, Sanethia, and Shelby. I love working with them. I've worked with Mike Amason in every movie I've done. A couple of newcomers are my leads played by Adara Starr and Josh Outzen. They did such a great job in this, I hope I can work with them again. Behind the camera, I was blessed to work with Crystal Colligan and Laura Caskey again, returning from Bad Girls. There's a whole slew of folks in smaller roles or involved in the production that I've worked with before. When you make tiny movies in a small town, you just kind of find your people — and if they don't suck, you keep them close.
Nervousmaker: Looking ahead (which I'm sure seems so far away right now), what are your plans for the movie once it's ready to go? Film festivals? Fancy premiers? Any plans on bringing it on the road, whether that's hosting viewings or hitting the horror/genre conventions, or is that an aspect you're burned out on from the music days?
Christopher Bickel: It's a little early to say, but, yeah, I wanna do a big premier. And I wanna do festivals and I'd love to take it on tour of indie theaters doing a talkback, if I can. Touring is something I really miss from being in bands. I'd love to do a tour that didn't involve 4 smelly dudes in a van packed with heavy gear.
Nervousmaker: I assume you get the obligatory “Any advice…” question all the time, so… Do you have any advice for filmmakers out there?
Christopher Bickel: My advice is always, "Follow your own artistic instincts and make the thing you want to see — but never forget that there's a pair of eyes on the other end that expects to be entertained." That's pretty much it. Also, "Work below your monetary means but try to work beyond your experience level."
As of right this moment (11/30/2023), there are 30 days left to get in on the Pater Noster Indiegogo campaign. There are all kinds of great perks: 2-disc blu rays, buttons, screen-used props, vinyl soundtracks, and even absolution of your torrenting/pirating sins! I can’t stress enough how important supporting underground movies and filmmakers is. These are the movies we actually want to see, the ones with original ideas and good stories and, most importantly, HEART! Please consider donating even a couple bucks, help these guys out.
In the meantime, enjoy In/Humanity!!!