Carbondale's 5Point filmmakers talk celluloid

TJ Barrack and Wes Brown, directors of “Chasing Dora” (55 min., showing at Program III, 7:30 tonight)

Age: 27 (Brown) and 30 (Barrack)

They live in: Los Angeles (both originally from Santa Ynez, Calif.)

Number of films directed: three films together since 2003 (Brown has been directing since he was 18)

Favorite films: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (Barrack)

“The Shawshank Redemption” (Brown)

Favorite cinematic moment: Brown: “Any movie where John Cusack’s getting rained on.”

What’s your film about? Barrack: “It’s a surfing documentary that is based on an article written by a surfer from the 1960s.”

“His (Miki Dora’s) belief was that a great part of surfing was man and nature being together, and he was trying to bring it back to where it originated.”

In his article, which was published posthumously, Dora proposed a seemingly nutty endeavor, contrasting the commercial surfing trend. He thought that a collection of surfers should make their own boards out of all natural materials and then go ride the waves in South Africa. In their documentary, Brown and Barrack follow Robert “Wing Nut” Weaver, Mickey Muñoz and Marc Andreini doing just that.

“It was almost such a ridiculous idea that no one would ever try it — and we did.”

What are you trying to say with this? Brown: “We tried not to say anything and let the film speak for itself, because it’s such a big topic.”

“A lot of surfers claim that it’s a soulful thing. It’s like a church. We tried to take a look at it. We try to let the audience come up with their own conclusion.”

Why make films? Brown: “For me, it gives me the chance to do what I love to do. I get to travel and be creative, and we get to be our own bosses. It seems to me, it’s just the best job I could possibly have.”

Barrack: “It’s always been kind of what I wanted to do. I don’t know. It’s always kind of been a dream. It’s just the most fun I’ve ever had, and I hope we can continue to make them.”

Bill Rogers, director of “Flying Downhill: Seven Years with Bode” (49 min., showing at Program IV, 1 p.m. Saturday)

Age: 49

Lives in: South Berwick, Maine (originally from Massachusetts and New Hampshire)

Number of films directed: three “major documentaries” and “lots of little ones” (he’s been directing them since he was 10, doing it professionally since 22)

Favorite films: “The Stunt Man” (for “fun”)

“2001: A Space Odyssey” (for “craft”)

Favorite cinematic moment: (In the opening of Werner Herzog’s “The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser”) “It’s the grass blowing in the wind, and the quote ‘Don’t you hear that terrible screaming? That’s the screaming that men call silence.’ It’s that moment that gets to me now.”

What’s your film about? “It’s really about this guy who’s got an idea of how to do something that startles people. It’s also about that time in our life when everything is perfect, but also it could be that time when things don’t go so right.”

“It’s a documentary about Bode Miller, the ski racer. Will he win or will be lose? Will he stand or will he fall?”

What do you want to say with this? “I really want to say life is in those moments of time. It can be defined by winning or losing. But life is in those moments when you’re getting to those moments of triumph or loss. For me, life is in those details.”

Why chose Bode? “I had always wanted to do a film about the place and the people Bode came from.”

The connection to Miller and his family goes deep, he said, as Miller’s grandparents actually introduced Rogers’ parents to each other.

Why make films? “I just love to see what makes people tick. I love to see relationships that characters have to the places they play in. There’s something really cool about seeing people in extreme situations and how that relates to themselves and society.”