Nick Frangione

November Filmmaker of the Month

PROFESSIONAL BIO

NICK FRANGIONE - FILMMAKER

In 2018, Nick Frangione directed BUCK RUN, an atmospheric drama set in his hometown of rural Pennsylvania, starring James Le Gros, Kevin J. O'Connor, Amy Hargreaves, Alicia Goranson, and Nolan Lyons. The film premiered Opening Weekend at Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2019. Critics have called the film “Evocative...timelessly melancholy” (Variety) and “A masterly done meditation on America’s working-class dilemma, broken fatherhood, abandonment and acceptance” (Roger Costa).

Since its premiere, the film garnered Best Feature at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival, Nordic International Film Festival, Fayetteville Film Festival, and Santorini Film Festival in Greece, the Orson Welles Award in Directing at Tiburon International, and Best Actor for Nolan Lyons at Breckenridge Film Festival.

Frangione's first feature, ROXIE, premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014. Tommy Cook of Collider said of the film, “Roxie, at its heart, is a tragedy about lives spent reliving the past...on the need for a real connection and how any false one inherently corrupts and leaves you bare. It’s a testament to zero-budget filmmaking...it was, by far, the best film I saw during my stay at Sonoma.”

Buck Run (2019), Frangione’s latest feature film. It won Best Actor for Nolan Lyons at Breckenridge Film Festival.

Filmmaker Interview with Nick Frangione

Filmmaker Interview

How do you know when your story’s finished, when to walk away?

It's a feel thing, something you discover in the moment. With BUCK RUN, I distinctly remember, right before the final DCP screening, I was really uncomfortable and totally convinced the film wasn't done yet and had more work to be done. Throughout the entire screening, I was nitpicking every tiny detail I felt was off, things that no one in their right mind would ever notice, but I was positive were blaring issues.

Then, it got to the end, and I felt it. I felt what the film was all about -- this message to my father. At that moment, I was positive the film was done.

Of course, I knew it wasn't perfect, but that's one of the joys of art -- having to admit it's greater than you. It's a mountain with no top.

So, I think that to walk away you've got to be open your story, open enough to allow it to touch your heart.

Why did you choose to submit to the Breckenridge Film Festival? What do you look for in a festival where you hope to show your film?

I knew of the prestige of Breckenridge and wanted BUCK RUN to be a part of that lineup. It was an honor. Plus, how can you resist a trip to beautiful Breckenridge, Colorado?

I look for festivals that choose the kind of films I strive to make and continue making. I look for festivals that care about filmmakers and their experience, and that care about their local audience. Breck Fest was all of those things and more. We had a lovely screening with a caring audience and a fantastic time.

What is your favorite aspect of film production?

I've come to love the whole process, though there's something particularly electric about being on set and watching actors bring a script to life. In BUCK RUN, there's a scene with James Le Gros and our young star Nolan Lyons where they're talking on the porch, just father and son. It's the first time in the film you see them truly look at one another, the first time they fully bond. Watching Nolan and James work that night was splendid. I love actors. I love what they do. They take something two-dimensional and bring it into life. It's magic, and I'm grateful to be in the presence of it every time it occurs.

What’s harder? Getting started or being able to keep going? And what drives you to continue making films?

You know, both have their trials and tribulations. During post-production on BUCK RUN, our editor and a great friend and mentor of mine told me I should start writing, start focusing on what's next. His advice didn't hit me for another year or so. At the time, my heart's investment was in BUCK RUN. I would have died for the film. I think that kind of single focus is important, that madness that's required to make a piece of art.

But it's also important to find your drive solely inside of you being the artist you are. That's something that lives beyond one individual piece.

If there are one or more things you think would make the film industry better, what would it be?

Expansion. Story isn't only applicable to certain groups of people. Story is universal, yet incredibly versatile. Imagine all of the perspectives we've yet to see. Imagine the wild and ever-expanding world of film and story-telling available to all of us. I think we're in the beginnings of a kind of artistic revolution, perhaps similar to the 1960s and the films that came after, particularly in the '70s. I'm proud to currently be a part of a company that's dedicated to this kind of expansion. We’ll be rolling out a lot of work in the next few years in line with that mission, and I’m excited for audiences to see it. Keep an eye out for Autotelic Pictures.

What films have been the most inspiring or influential to you and why?

The film THE RIDER is a masterpiece. I was moved by that film for days and humbled by it. You can't escape the reality and authenticity Chloé Zhao so intimately and perfectly portrayed. I was in awe, like standing amongst the beauty of the South Dakota Badlands at sunrise.

I love Louise Archambault's GABRIELLE. That film is like a piece of music, telling us a pitch-perfect and sometimes heartbreaking love story. I loved the truth, the innocence, the excitement for love in that film. It told us what's possible from love -- not just companionship and passion, but partnership and growth.

SNOW ANGELS is a film I went to see again and again in theaters. Sam Rockwell's haunting performance has stuck with me. The emotional lengths he went to, and all the nuance on his way there, it goes to show what actors give for us to experience our pain and reflect upon it. His work in that film inspired me to go deeper. It inspired me as a young out-of-work filmmaker to keep going.

What are the specific qualities that, in your opinion, make a film great?

Honesty and authenticity, I feel, are most important. Entertainment is great and serves a purpose, but if it lacks that self-reflection from its creator, it tends to be forgettable. We look to experience a transformation when we see a film, a new way of looking at some universal and personal struggle. No matter the method, fantasy, drama, comedy, if our main character doesn't experience this shift, neither will we. I prefer a film to move me, challenge me, open me up to a deeper understanding of myself and others.

In the day-to-day of life, we can forget how fragile it is. A great film reminds us of our beating hearts.

What are the next project or projects you are beginning work on?

My next film will be about my mother, Danna Frangione. She was an internationally renowned dance choreographer whom I had the pleasure of traveling with to Taiwan and China as a teen. Even though I grew up in a college town, home to Bucknell University, where my mother was the Director of Theatre and Dance, it was a smalltown. I couldn't see the world beyond the one highway that cut through Lewisburg, PA. My mother showed it to me.