Jamie Dack is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, NY. Her short film “Palm Trees and Power Lines” premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival as a Cinéfondation selection. Her debut feature film by the same name, co-written with Audrey Findlay, will be released in 2022. She was a 2020 Film Independent Fast Track Fellow and was selected for Panavision’s New Filmmaker Program.

“Palm Trees and Power Lines” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.

W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.

JD: The film is a coming-of-age drama about a teenage girl named Lea, and the adolescent vulnerabilities that lead her into a relationship with a man twice her age, and ultimately, into a situation she never could have imagined.

W&H: What drew you to this story?

JD: The story is personal for me in some ways. A few years ago, I began looking back on some of the relationships I had when I was younger, and my perspective on them began to change. At the time, I thought these relationships were something I was in control of and was consciously choosing for myself, but as an adult, I began to see ways in which that wasn’t exactly the case.

In reflecting on that, I decided to write this character Lea, who serves as a proxy for my younger self as I explored my experiences and what could have happened.

W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?

JD: I want people to think about the journey of Lea and Tom’s relationship and understand how she got to where she ends up in the third act of the film and at the end of the film. Even if this is outside of an audience member’s experience, I hope that they come away with the understanding that any type of vulnerability can cause girls and women to fall prey to this type of manipulation.

I want women to think about their own experiences that may have been similar to Lea’s, whether in small ways or in more concrete ways. I hope that they feel validated by having seen a story they relate to portrayed in a film.

W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?

JD: Financing this film was challenging given that it is my first feature, but also because of the subject matter. It was ultimately considered too risky for some financiers to come on board before production, because they felt that it was execution dependent, and I think many people wanted to see how the material was going to be handled.

W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.

JD: The film was funded through a number of private investors and supported by Panavision. Their New Filmmaker Program provided us with our camera package which helped us immensely.

W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

JD: I’ve been taking photographs and writing from a young age, both of which have always been therapeutic for me. I felt that these two passions blended perfectly into filmmaking and so in college I took an experimental filmmaking class. This was a perfect way for me to start, and allowed me to learn the basics of shooting and editing without having to focus on story.

W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?

JD: Another filmmaker once told me, “We have to be kind of naïve, in a good way, to think that we can actually be filmmakers.” I think this is true and I’ve never forgotten this since it was said to me. I had to suspend disbelief and just put all of the self-doubt, as well as constant reminders of how hard this is, aside, and just fully believe that I was going to make this film.

The worst advice is anyone telling you to change your idea to something where it no longer reflects your core vision. I think you have to be selective about taking notes, and decide whether someone else’s advice resonates with you.

W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?

JD: My biggest advice is probably to never give up if you really want to make a film. The amount of rejections and passes on your project from labs, grants, financiers, production companies, etc. is likely going to be substantial. But getting your film made doesn’t require every single person who reads it to understand it or want to support it.

You have to just keep going and continue looking for the people who do believe in you and the film. And mentally, you can’t let the rejection get to you. You can feel bummed out for a few minutes but then put it aside and use it to motivate yourself.

W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.

JD: I don’t have one favorite, so I’ll just name a few women-directed films that influenced me in the early days of wanting to be a filmmaker: “Ratcatcher” by Lynne Ramsay, “Vagabond” by Agnès Varda, and “Somewhere” by Sofia Coppola. All three of these films, while different from one another, have a photographic quality that is not only beautiful to look at, but conveys so much emotion and story with little dialogue.

W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?

JD: I’ve actually been working on this film continuously since we began pre-production about 10 months ago, and am just finishing up post-production. Earlier on though, during development for this film, I found that writing my other scripts kept me grounded and distracted, as much as possible, from the stress of the pandemic.

W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make it more inclusive?

JD: This question is one that I wouldn’t be able to fully answer in just a few sentences, nor do I feel I know the solution for the massive inequalities and systemic racism throughout Hollywood. That said, I can share just a few of my thoughts. While I have noticed that some companies express a desire to address these issues, they haven’t always followed through financially by giving projects the green light. I also think that for decision-makers in the financing space, simply funding films made by diverse voices isn’t enough. There needs to be diversity among those making decisions about what to fund in the first place.