In a moment when the photographers outnumber the models on a red carpet for a fashion show, it means something when Vanessa (Kate Pittard) locks eyes with Mack (B Norwood) behind the lens in “Fabric,” with a simple turn of Vanessa’s head seeming to become an invitation for some deeper connection amidst the chaos of everyone else trying to get her attention. It isn’t a romantic bond, but one that could lead both to get what they want when they’re both trying to get ahead in a merciless industry and a subsequent like on one of Mack’s Instagram posts leads the photographer to think this could be the start of a beautiful partnership. It turns out the two have something in common when a meeting at a diner leads both to reminisce about their time in small town Texas before ending up in the big city, and when Mack has access to a select afterparty, it is Vanessa, who’s thinking even in her twenties that she may be starting to age out of the business, who needs a little help getting in.
There’s little glamorous about what comes next in Frank Sun’s arresting short, which draws on his own time as a fashion photographer as he’s put together a career in filmmaking, seeing the party that Mack and Vanessa end up attending as a chance to see each other in different lights, whether they’re near the dance floor or not. While Mack craves a personal connection, Vanessa comes in looking for a professional boost and when the two excuse themselves into a dressing room to seemingly get away from the hustle and bustle, that’s when the real pandemonium starts when any appearance of common ground seems to disappear as their true desires start to reveal themselves during an impromptu photo shoot. Norwood and Pittard have an energy about them that suggest there really is something there, making it all the more devastating for Mack to find that every picture she takes of Vanessa may not be expressing a truth about her and the film provocatively considers how close someone in either the arts or journalism can get to capturing a subject in full or simply propagating an image.
With “Fabric” premiering earlier this week at Tribeca, Sun, Norwood and Pittard graciously took the time to talk about pulling the curtain back to look at the real people of ambition on the edges of high fashion, bringing more of themselves to the parts than expected and how the safest environment imaginable was created to explore the dangerous emotions the film brings about.
Frank, from what I understand, you spent a lot of time in fashion photography. How did you find a story in it?
Frank Sun: I moved to New York shortly after college, and I landed a gig with Interview Magazine as a fashion photographer, so I went on that tangent and started shooting New York Fashion Week and I also covered some celebrities and editorials here and there for them. It just became this thing that I was doing occasionally as I was working on my narrative projects, so it all just accumulated over the years. I started working with IMG, which owns the brand of New York Fashion Week and I shot a lot of runway shows and behind the scenes [material] and this idea came to me when I first started, feeling some kind of disconnect with the world that I was in, being an immigrant and someone that has to always assimilate to their environment. I felt this both as a participant and observer of New York Fashion Week and feeling a little bit out of place. There was this desire to find genuine connection, but it was very difficult because of the pace in which it moves, so it inspired this idea and it sat in my head for years and years and then I finally got the courage to write it.
b, what got you excited about this?
b Norwood: Honestly, the script and speaking with Frank when I auditioned, the vision was just so clear and the story was so relatable. I really identified with Mack and using my art as a way to hide a little bit or put the attention on a character or subject as opposed to myself, so I was in. I was really excited that Frank asked me to come into his world and when I got to set, Frank showed me his personal camera and how to use it. He showed me how to develop film. He uses his bathtub in Brooklyn and it’s just something that I’d never thought about doing, but it’s really cool. You can see when you have somebody in your lens their essence or something about them comes through that feels really vulnerable and intimate In a way that I don’t even think the person getting their photo taken understands. But when you are looking through the lens, you can feel it. That was really exciting, and I think it’s hard to learn about photography or get behind the camera and not want to be a filmmaker or a photographer. There was so much about the film and about Frank that excited me and made me want to tell the story well.
Frank, when you’re putting on a bootcamp to learn the camera, was that also an opportunity to talk about the character?
Frank Sun: Yeah, photography and filmmaking are very different things and there’s a debate [as to whether] it is harder to be a photographer or filmmaker. It really depends, but sometimes, being able to capture someone’s essence through one photo is is incredibly difficult. Part of my time with Interview Magazine was having to shoot very quickly at some of the press days where [I can remember] I had Miles Teller once and we had five minutes to shoot him, so I’m like, “Okay, well, how do I connect with this person in five minutes and get something genuine?” You really try and then sometimes you can get a good photo. That made me learn how to work quickly, and I think some of that translated into the part of my filmmaking —how do I connect with the characters and and how do we connect with the actors and therefore translating onto the screen.
Kate, what got you interested in this?
Kate Pittard: I’m an actor, but it was really exciting to get to play a model. I haven’t done much of that and it was exciting to learn from all the really great models who were on set – they were actual models and really encouraged me and taught me how to do everything. It was such a fun experience, and I also could relate to Vanessa in some ways and in our work as actors, wanting to find genuine connections and to meet people who can help us with our careers. It can sometimes feel confusing and against my true nature as a person and as an artist, so I could relate to Vanessa’s struggle a little bit of trying to stay relevant in the world. And then on set, so much of me actually came out, which I didn’t anticipate and had so much fun with. We did a lot of improv. I’m a big bird watcher and I talked a lot about birds, which amazingly made it into the final cut. It came out and somehow it felt right for Vanessa and it was really exciting and fun.
Frank, was there anything you could get excited about that you may not have expected when the film started to take on a life of its own?
Frank Sun: Yeah, if it wasn’t Kate and b, I don’t think the film would be what it is and their dynamic is so organic and the way they vibed was immediate. In the film, they’re very similar characters but with different perspectives and different backgrounds, but they they share an ambition and a desire and a yearning that we all share and that’s what ultimately bonded them. And Kate and B just got along and I think part of that has to do with the environment that we had created. Everybody that was on set came from many many years of collaborating with me or with Kate, our producer. I knew a lot of the crew from my commercial crew that I’ve worked with for five, ten years and we’ve been doing New York Fashion Week forever, so everybody knows each other. And we tried to create this very safe and family-like environment so that everybody can come in and just be themselves. That really genuinely made the film and their relationship come alive on screen. It felt so truthful.
b Norwood: It was really fun because everyone on set was super kind. [The environment] was great, especially because so much of on-camera acting can be like you’re acting with a tennis ball or looking at a mark, so when you go into a space and it really is what your character is supposed to be actually experiencing, it makes your job so much easier. I didn’t know a lot of the extras and Mac is going into a space where I didn’t know these people personally, but I’m asking them to get together for a shot. So it was really fun to as an actor have a clear understanding of what I’m there to do and then not have to generate and to actually have the environment there. It made my job easier.
Kate, you’re supposed to play it cool, but what was it like being thrust into that chaotic club environment?
Kate Pittard: That’s so funny you say that. I did just have to play it cool and I feel like I’m used to that in some ways, playing it cool when maybe I don’t feel so confident inside, but this really was such a safe environment and it was so easy in a way. Working with b was so fun. I feel like we really connected and it was just so easy to be present together. And like b, I also didn’t know everybody, but I think Vanessa probably doesn’t know everybody and really has to pretend like it doesn’t matter, so it was playing pretend, but it was also very real in a lot of ways. When I’m thinking back on it now, there were so many people around us, both in the modeling part and in the party part and I can just zero in in my memory on Mack — on b. And it feels like there were so many people in the room, but I just felt we felt so connected and we’re so locked together.
Frank Sun: And when we were in that space together [for the big party scene], we had three cameras roaming and Kate and b were just like, “Here you’re at a party, but you’re really you’re on your job and your mind is somewhere else.” There wasn’t even that much direction per se. We just had the cameras on them. They knew their assignment and then everybody just went and it was so organic. I’m watching the monitors and I’m like, “Okay, cool, I think we got it.” We ran it like a few times and then it was just done. And we had to because our schedule was quick, but I also don’t know how else I’d want to do it. That was part of just creating that world for the actors to be in and it worked for us.
Kate Pittard: I also want to shout out Polina [Stogova], who played Sasha, the model who was like my little minion. She’s not an actress in real life, but I felt her energy on set was also so organic and she was just wonderful and hilarious.
What’s it like getting to premiere this at Tribeca?
Kate Pittard: So excited. This is both of our first Tribecas and we were freaking out when we found out, texting each other in all caps.
b Norwood: I feel that same way right now.
Frank Sun: It feels great for me. I shot New York Fashion Week in Spring Studios for years, probably 50-plus shows there, three shows a day for years during both fall and summer, so to then show the film there as a premiere is really special. It feels very full circle. And I love Tribeca. They’ve been really good to me as a filmmaker, so I’m genuinely excited to be there again this year.
“Fabric” will screen again at Tribeca on June 12th at 5:30 pm at Shorts Theater at Spring Studios, June 13th at 3:15 pm at AMC 19th St. East 6 and June 14th at 11:30 am at AMC 19th St. East 6.