Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Michael Afendakis of Atta Squirrel Films Is…

Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Michael Afendakis of Atta Squirrel Films Is Helping To Change Our World

Find people you really like to work with and get better together — you’re going to spend a lot of time with the people you have in your film (partners, collaborators, etc), and it’s much nicer to work with people who like, share the same passion, with and can voice dissenting opinions without any aggression.

As a part of our series about “Filmmakers Making A Social Impact” I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Afendakis.

Michael Afendakis, director/producer of “We Rise,” began his journey in film at the age of nine, with his father’s 8mm camera. The bridge from that time to the production of films worthy of screening to audiences other than one’s Mom and Dad, materialized as the tools to tell visual stories became more widely accessible. Michael’s first short film, “The Connie Letters,” received a modest-yet-respectable reception in California’s festival circuit and was followed by other shorts that toured nationwide. Michael’s first documentary, “Delta Rising — A Blues Documentary,” told the stories of 10 blues artists, with particular focus on the small Mississippi town of Clarksdale. “Delta Rising” played widely in the US, and internationally. In 2007, Michael had the great fortune of working with talented actor/director Jonathan Leveck — a partnership that developed into the award-winning production company Atta Squirrel Films — founded by the pair in 2013.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you share your “backstory” that brought you to this career?

Absolutely, thanks for asking. As a child, my father, who was Greek but lived in Egypt in the 1930s and 1940s, loved American movies. He would go to the outdoor cinema in Alexandria, Egypt, to watch Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Greta Garbo, and the like do their magic on the screen. As such, my dad always had a camera at the ready — Roliflex, Bell and Howell 8mm cameras, projectors, you name it, he had it.

So, as a child me, and my friends would borrow that equipment from him and shoot little films, monster movies, and pirate stories, so there was always that film bug in me. As I got older, that bug drifted a bit to the background, but I was always writing stories, poems lamenting failed relationships, and tales about awkward people overcoming obstacles — awkward is niche for me, I guess.

Then, as I began a career in tech, I found my way to Apple around the time that Apple introduced i-movie, so I began to film and edit some of the stories I wrote, and I was like, “Wow” these aren’t too bad. My first short film was a reunion story called The Connie Letters, and I submitted it around to festivals, and to my surprise, it got into a few of them. So that motivated me to do the next film and then that led to the next film to where I am now.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Gosh, I’ve made so many mistakes you’d think I’d be Einstein by now. One thing that comes to mind is when I was initially pursuing acting. I took a few classes just to dabble in it, but as time went on, one of my acting instructors really encouraged me to start auditioning for roles locally. So, I took all the courage I could muster and auditioned for the play “The Madness of King George” at a local theatre company in Palo Alto, California.

I jotted down the location for where the auditions were to take place and nervously showed up at the theatre, and no one was there. The doors were locked, and no lights were on anywhere. I checked the audition date and time (this was before smartphones), found the contact number, and desperately called and left a message. After about 20 minutes, I gave up and left, defeated. The next day, I got a call from the play’s director, Barbara Cannon — and she said I got your message; you went to the wrong side of the theatre; we were in the back. So, I’m thinking, “Way to go, Michael, nice way to blow it, maybe next time,” but Barbara said, why don’t you come next week to the front door again, and we’ll have you read for a few parts.

She was giving me a second chance, and I was dumbfounded. What I learned is that there are really good and talented people in this world. Barbara is definitely one of them. That was some 30 years ago, and we’re still friends and have done a number of plays together over the years. So, I guess the lesson is — that good people do exist in the world and in this industry, and you should never give up on the things you want to do.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

Part of the reason I took on my latest project, “We Rise,” is that all the young adults in the film were so inspiring to me. I’ve watched the film some 30 times, and I’m always still floored at how earnest, passionate, driven, and filled with hope the six main subjects of the film are. I wasn’t anything like that at 17; it was very eye-opening to me and made me feel like we’re all going to be okay if this next generation is anything like these six lovely humans.

About 15 years ago, I produced and directed a documentary about the blues titled “Delta Rising” and had the great fortune to work with Morgan Freeman, Willie Nelson, and 10 amazing blues musicians in the Mississippi Delta. Had you told me 30 years ago that I’d get to work with Morgan Freeman at some point in my life, I would have laughed so hard that a tooth or two would have popped out. It was a fantastic experience, and I learned so much about the Delta, the blues, and this fabulous gem of a town called Clarksdale, MS.

Meeting Morgan also led me to this unbelievable Renaissance Man, who was Morgan’s business partner and co-founder of the Ground Zero Blues Club in Mississippi — Bill Lucket — Bill changed my life — he showed me how to keep moving forward, how to never give up and would always give me a boost of confidence or help with our cause in any way he could — sadly he recently passed away, but the lessons he taught me will be there for my entire lifetime.

In a more recent experience recently, Jonathan Leveck (my amazing production partner in Atta Squirrel Films) and I had the chance to chat with Judy Greer, an actor I absolutely adore, and it was so fun to get to spend an hour with her discussing her work, theatre experiences, pet adoptions, expensive candles, and a very in-depth analysis of various John Hughes films. It felt like we were old buddies from long ago; she is just completely awesome. I love meeting people like that and having those experiences — and just a side note, Judy, Jonathan, and I came to the consensus that the film She’s Having a Baby is the most underrated film of the Hughes bunch.

You know, on this journey, I’ve been lucky to work and meet a lot of talented folks, and many of them are good friends now. The best audition and life coach on planet Earth is Margie Haber. She is just a force of nature, so alive, real, clear, and deeply invested in the success of her students. I was also fortunate to meet the wonderfully talented Adria Tennor (Madmen, Pie, One Moment) at the Woods Hole Film Festival a few years back, and I was completely taken by not only her talent but her attention to the craft of acting, her drive, her curiosity, and just plain amazingness. I’ve also had the great luck of working with another documentary filmmaker, Andrea Wozny, who is out of New York. We collaborated on a lovely film she directed and produced titled Bagpipes Calling, which can be found on PBS. Lastly, I’m thankful for my delightfully lovely wife, Buffy, and my son Cooper, who are always an inspiration to me — they’re my family, of course, but they are also truly lovely people.

Which people in history inspire you the most? Why?

The first person that always comes to mind is Bobby Kennedy. Even as a 9-year-old, I was drawn to him, and my admiration for him has grown year after year. How different might the country be now had he been president in 1968 with his fight against the Vietnam War, compassionate work, social justice, and civil rights? One can only wonder. The other person that comes to mind is Charlie Chaplin — as mentioned earlier, my father was a big admirer of Chaplin, and so was I. He was not only a writer/actor, he was also a composer and wrote the song “Smile.” He had such a great talent and was such a warrior for fairness and peace — his concluding monologue in the film “The Great Dictator” is just so inspiring and bold.

Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview: how are you using your success to bring goodness to the world? Can you share with us the meaningful or exciting social impact causes you are working on right now?

Justice and fairness have always been a thing for me. Looking out for the small guy and giving people a chance and a fair shake at the American dream has always been important to me. And now, one of the biggest threats to social justice is the impact climate change has on the planet’s ecosystems that basically provide us life — you know — food, water, and clean air those things. That impact will continue to accelerate unless we make considerable strides in reducing carbon in the atmosphere.

Those with significant financial resources will do just fine, but those with little or nothing will struggle even more than they are today. But I think we’re beginning to awaken to this threat, and there are so many organizations that are working hard to find solutions in order to mitigate the impact of climate change and find ways to reduce emissions. I tend to focus on those warriors in organizations that work to enforce the environmental laws that are already on the books and strive to create new legislation that will help reduce our carbon emissions.

Many of us have ideas, dreams, and passions, but never manifest it. But you did. Was there an “Aha Moment” that made you decide that you were actually going to step up and take action for this cause? What was that final trigger?

That’s a great question. I just love movies that make people laugh but also move and touch the heart. As discussed previously, I think the a-ha moment was when I picked up a Canon GL-1 camera, shot some footage, put it to music, edited it on i-movie, and played it for my wife. She watched and said,” That’s so pretty; you did that?

There was this moment in the ’90s when technology met the creative at a certain price point, making it possible to make a film that looked and sounded pretty good without breaking the bank. That was the point where I could shoot, cast, and film stories I or others wrote. And now, you can create an awesome film on an iPhone. Telling stories via “film” has never been so widely available as it is now.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?

Well, I believe that one of the core aspects of our film We Rise is to demonstrate and encourage students to participate in this thing called “Mock Trial.” Out of that comes the potential to improve the way the world works by enacting social change through the laws we pass and the politics that need to occur to make that happen. Encourage engagement and participation in town halls and communities to help influence a more just and fair society.

One of the Superior Court judges who participated in the final rounds of the High School Mock Trial competition in the documentary has this fantastic quote as he’s speaking to the student at the beginning of a round — he says, “The world is going to be more safe when we grow up because we’ll have so many terrific lawyers like you in our future.” So, I think the impact that I may have had is more forward-looking; maybe someone watching the film will be motivated to enter the legal profession and help enact the type of change that makes society more fair and just; at least, I can hope that will be one of the outcomes of the film.

Are there three things that individuals, society or the government can do to support you in this effort?

Absolutely.

1. If you’re a parent of a high schooler, encourage them to look into joining a mock trial team as an extracurricular activity. It builds confidence, community, and an understanding of how the law works and justice is executed — both the good and the bad.

2. Vote. The health of our society happens through a whole host of things, but two of the main ones are via politics and the law. Politicians make laws, judges rule on the law, and all of those people are in place based on how the citizens of the country vote. The more we get people out to vote, the more the law represents the desires of a wider swath of our country’s voices.

3. I would love it if High School graduates had the option of doing civic duty for a year prior to college or whatever their next step is, and in exchange for that year, the government would aid that young adult in paying for college, trade school, or their career/life aspirations.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1. If you’re going to use music in your film — make sure to get the music rights in order early on in your production — Licensing music can be pretty difficult and expensive; talk to people who have made films where they licensed music and get some lessons from them prior to your final cut.

2. Buying the latest equipment is fun, but the story is more important than the equipment — I love looking into the latest cameras and gadgets, but it’s much better to spend time perfecting your story and script than gawk at YouTube videos over the latest 12k camera.

3. People will forgive a lousy shot or two, but they won’t forgive bad audio — it’s just true, trust me.

4. Early in your filmmaking journey, say Yes more than No — I almost said no to an offer from someone during the shoot of my documentary “Delta Rising” because I was hungry and wanted to get lunch instead of having this person share a location he thought would be good for the film. Luckily, I did go to that location instead of getting lunch, and during the drive there, that person shared how he could get Willie Nelson to grant an interview for the film probably, and that actually happened.

5. Find people you really like to work with and get better together — you’re going to spend a lot of time with the people you have in your film (partners, collaborators, etc), and it’s much nicer to work with people who like, share the same passion, with and can voice dissenting opinions without any aggression.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society like you, what would you tell them?

Get out of the stands and onto the field, participate, engage, and be actively involved in making the world a better place.

We are very blessed that many other Social Impact Heroes read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would like to collaborate, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂

There are so many, but I’d say it’s Paul McCartney. He’s a social justice and animal welfare warrior and has seen so much over his lifetime that I would love to collaborate on a project together regarding either of those two or other subjects. I’d also love to work with Mark Elias, of the Elias group who works on ensuring that our election laws are fair and fights against extreme gerrymandering.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance — Bobby Kennedy.

How can our readers follow you online?

You can learn more about our film WE RISE at http://attasquirrel.com/werise

Follow me on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/michael.afendakis/

Follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/afendakis/

This was great, thank you so much for sharing your story and doing this with us. We wish you continued success!

Filmmakers Making A Social Impact: Why & How Filmmaker Michael Afendakis of Atta Squirrel Films Is… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.