-Who is Kate Ryan?

A Midwesterner by birth and temperament but an internationalist at heart. My primary discipline is theatre which I have a master’s degree in from University of Illinois at Chicago. Acting and directing since youth, I trained with Chicago’s Steppenwolf ensemble and Moscow Art Theatre when they were in residence at my university. I also performed several one-person shows and live storytelling gigs in Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. All this led to trying my hand at moviemaking from home. Today, I repurpose commercially available film footage in small-scale montages.

-What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

During the year of quarantine, I decided to transfer my narrative skills to desktop moviemaking. I didn’t agonize over buying an expensive camera and hiring actors. I just exploited the software and creative tools that came with my computer. My micro films allow me to do a lot with a little. I gravitate to themes of social alienation and can see my “mini takes” becoming useful for classroom discourse.

-Do you think the cinema can bring a change in the society?

From day one the cinema changed society. Battleship Potemkin to Barbie, movies have always challenged society to progress. I especially like international indie films because I can count on them to let me know what’s really going on.

-What would you change in the world?

The quackery. The crass dismissal of scholarly science in favor of personal beliefs; e.g., public health and climate threats among other things. Along with that, the arbitrariness of what’s considered legal depending on wealth status.

-Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?

I assume humans will be linked up neurologically to the point where filmmaking will be done mind to mind.