Episode 32 - A Life of Storytelling with Mary Trunk

Mary Trunk has many titles to her name including painter, dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker and has been making documentary films for over 20 years. Her first feature length film, The Watershed, screened at over 30 film festivals worldwide and has won numerous awards. She then spent seven years filming her latest documentary Lost in Living. Another short documentary, The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller, co-produced with her husband Paul Sanchez, is also touring the festival circuit around the U.S., and she is currently working on a new hybrid documentary project, which will be a reflection on her past dance career and how that has influenced everything she does. Mary has a new interactive website that she is working on and also teaches film and video at three different colleges in California. In addition to all of that, she is also a mother to one daughter and living in Los Angeles, California.

 

Key Takeaways:

02:14 – How Mary got started doing the work that she does.

04:16 – The bridge of Mary’s dancing to making documentaries.

08:50 – The relationship between choreography and filmmaking.

13:36 – How Mary stuck with making a documentary that ended up being a seven-year project.

18:11 – What Mary learned from the process of making Lost in Living.

20:49 – Transitioning from Lost in Living to The Past is in the Present.

24:51 – What Mary calls herself with all the different things that she does – businesswoman, filmmaker, etc.

30:48 – How Mary balances all of her work and family priorities.

37:38 – New projects Mary is working on.

40:26 – The most unanticipated challenge Mary is currently facing.

43:20 – We’re all struggling. Everybody has their story. Everybody has their issues.

 

Mentioned In This Episode:

The Watershed

Lost in Living

The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller

This Woman’s Life

Art Center College of Design

Loyola Marymount University

Mount St. Mary’s University

UC Santa Cruz

My Mother Calls Me

San Francisco Art Institute

Marjorie Schlossman

Slamdance Film Festival

 

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