BIO
Max Weissberg shot his first film in Chicago on a 16mm Bolex camera. It was about a guy who takes a vow of silence and then becomes famous after people confuse what he writes. The experience convinced him to become a filmmaker. His first serious experience came at LenFilm Studios in St. Petersburg, Russia. As a translator for German and Russian actors and production people, Max assisted many Russian films - including SNOW and KOLUMBINA. When he returned to the US he made a documentary film about his family called HOTEL GRAMERCY PARK, along with the director, Douglas Keeve (UNZIPPED) and producer Wendy Ettinger (THE WAR ROOM). The film was co-produced by Max through Luftmensch Films. HOTEL GRAMERCY PARK premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April of 2008 and earned a jury citation. The film had its broadcast premiere on the Sundance Channel in December of 2009. Please use the arrow keys to scroll down this page.

 

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
It all started with a Charlie Parker song, which, as you might have already guessed, was Summertime. The first few times I heard it I imagined a lot of young people out on the streets making vague excuses to go to bed with one another. I wanted to make a film about that, about going to bed with lots of different people, because that's what you do in the summer - or that's at least what you try to do.

 

The screenplay for Summertime was the fastest piece of writing I have ever done, and I wrote so fast because I knew I had to finish it before Fall began, not because I was under a deadline but because I knew my mood would change and that it would affect the story. The biggest influencers on my writing style were the director Jean Luc Godard and the playwright Arthur Schnitzler. I have always felt that Godard's films bring you into a world where people are unafraid to put their sexual desires into blunt phrases. Schnitzler's plays can be similar, though they aim more at a humorous contrast between the Victorian morals of turn-of-the-century Austria and its underbelly.

 

For Summertime, I wanted to see the summer through the eyes of someone who is abused by it. That person is an actress, Julia, played by Lethia Nall, who, instead of enjoying the sunshine and a trip to the beach, is in the fight of her life. Julia is desperate to free herself financially from her boyfriend and to get the lead role of a feature film - and she won't meander like a bebop song to succeed. For me, Julia's story says a lot about the culture we live in today, a time when most people's desire for fame exceeds their desire for money or sex. Whether this is a good or bad thing I leave as an open question.

 

When I started to tell people that I wanted to a make a film that captured the feeling of summer they said I was crazy. Ok, so they said I was crazy only after I explained how little money I thought I needed. They said the production would collapse, that I had made a mistake not budgeting anything for grips or an art department, or that no one would care about a film without any big name talent. There were 2 people, however, who only thought I was a little bit crazy: Xiaosu Han and Andreas Thalhammer. They liked the script, they had a RED camera package, and, most importantly, they knew how to shoot a film Luftmensch style.

 

We filmed Summertime in 36 days.

 

Max Weissberg