I met Tim Koehl in film school. We both were taking the same 16mm experimental film class, and we were both broke. Tim was very creative and he and I both received the highest grades in that class for the semester.
He insisted that I take this new class in 1987 curriculum: video editing. All of the equipment was 1/2 inch VHS video. Cameras, editing stations and sound equipment was made available to us for FREE. We both knew we had to make a movie together utilizing this technology. The result was the film Distraction And Interest, a story derrived from a 16mm project that was too big for me to pull off with my small budgets.
The story was about a guy who finds a mirror that he can go in and out of; a doorway into another world. This other world was completely dark except for windows everywhere. The hero discovers that the windows are actually the other sides of every mirror in the world.
Tim and I improvised some scenes out together and collaborated on the whole project. Besides renting a clown costume, the project cost us almost nothing. It was a big hit for both of us and went on to win the spring film festival as best student film.
The quality has greatly degraded over the years, but I was able to salvage a copy and have it transferred to digital in 2010.
With all of it’s original audio (music used without permission), and in glorious VHS video, please enjoy Distraction and Interest!
