Ley Lines, a new film by Patricia Gruben is a fascinating and complex gem which uses as a beginning premise her own search for the roots of her family. Quickly though, the interrogation goes to a much deeper level of understanding of what it means to be a part of a family, or to. live in a community, or to be connected to people that we never knew existed and who live in an absolutely different culture under completely different circumstances from our own. The film-maker’s curious gaze moves from matters of sociological and political import to questions of etymology and linguistics to DNA structure, crystal formation, and the genetic encoding of clay. As tangengential as these diverse threads may seem, they all relate back to the notion of family. Why is it important that we know these people? What is their connection to us? Why do we bother? Ultimately, the film is engaging due to its relentless curiosity and its willing- ness to follow any and all uncovered paths. This may BY] seem unrewarding to those who prefer their truisms ia served hot and instant before them, ready to consume. But surely any art worth its weight doesn’t answer any questions, it only raises them. What follows are some portions of an interview conducted with Patricia Gruben on October 5, 1993. Planet of the Arts: Who are you? Patricia Gruben: |’m three things. First, |’m a film-maker. I’m also a teacher at Simon Fraser University. I’ve taught all levels of film production but now I’m teaching screen-writing and directing actors. And | also run Praxis which is a work- shop primarily for screenwriters but also for film-makers in general that is set up to assist people who are writing feature film scripts to help them improve their scripts and to help them find producers and to have seminars and it sort of functions in the Vancouver community but also nationally. POTA: Let’s talk about your film. There are a lot of layers to the film. Like something that obviously started out from some starting point which would be potentially unclear to somebody without some previous information but, uh, did you have any trouble keeping a focus on the project? Well, A) What was the inception? What was the starting point? B) Were you just pretty much open to going with any questions and branching out and following these various threads that crept up on you? PG: This is a film that | wanted to make partly because my previous work had all been narrative. There had always been a kind of dramatic element, even to my early, experimental films. Yes, the last film had been a sort of mainstream, | guess, semi-mainstream, feature film. And the work before that had been more experimental in nature but there was by Terry Dawes always a story. There were always characters. There was always a.kind of writing. There was a script. It was always very carefully worked out before we started shooting. | felt I’d reached a point where | wanted to cut loose from that and try to let the images lead me. In the end, it’s ironic because the film is full of talking. That was my intention and part of the reason | wanted to do that is because at the time, | was also writing this dramatic narrative film called “Deep Sleep.” You asked where it started. And I’ve been saying in the screenings, because people always ask that question, | think it’s interesting that it always comes up, but it started when | met a man in Toronto who was married to a woman with my name and I|’d never heard of anyone with my name before. Gruben is kind of a funny name and I|’d never met anyone, even known of anyone who wasn’t part of my family. And this woman was Inuit, she was from Tuktoyaktuk so | was really intrigued by the idea that there was somebody who would clearly be very different, you know, have an almost doppelganger kind of experience from mine. | grew up ina really hot, dry, American city and this woman was from an Arctic village with a completely different ethnic background and | was curious about whether we might actually be related in some distant fashion. But |! think really, it started before that. | think it started, you know, it’s very hard to say when it started because it’s really about everything that | know and Ley Lines, a new film by Patricia Gruben is a fascinating and complex gem which uses as a beginning premise her own search for the roots of her family. Quickly though, the interrogation goes to a much deeper level of understanding of what it means to be a part of a family, or to live in a community, or to be connected to people that we never knew existed and who live in an absolutely different culture under completely different circumstances from our own. The film-maker’s curious gaze moves from matters of sociological and political import to questions of etymology and linguistics to DNA What follows are some portions of an interview conducted with Patricia Gruben on October 5, 1993. Planet of the Arts: Who are you? Patricia Gruben: I'm three things. First, I'm a filmmaker. I'm also a teacher at Simon Fraser University. I've taught all levels of film production but now I'm teaching screen-writing and directing actors. And | also run Praxis which is a work- shop primarily for screenwriters but also for film-makers in general that is set up to assist people who are writing feature film scripts to help them improve their scripts and to help them find producers and to have seminars and it sort of functions in the Vancouver community but also nationally. POTA: Let's talk about your film. There are a lot of layers to the film. Like something that obviously started out from some starting point which would be potentially unclear to somebody without some previous information but, uh, did you have any trouble keeping a focus on the project? Well, A) What was the inception? What was the starting point? B) Were you just pretty much open to going with any questions and branching out and following these various threads that crept up on you? PG: This is a film that | wanted to make partly because my previous work had all been narrative. There had always been a kind of dramatic element, even to my early, experimental films. Yes, the last film had been a sort of mainstream, | guess, semimainstream, feature film. And the work before that had been more experimental in nature but there was structure, crystal formation, and the genetic encoding of clay. As tangengential as these diverse threads may seem, they all relate back to the notion of family. Why is it important that we know these people? What is their connection to us? Why do we bother? Ultimately, the film is engaging due to its relentless curiosity and its willing- ness to follow any and all uncovered paths. This may q E seem unrewarding to those who prefer their truisms. ia! served hot and instant before them, ready to consume. But surely any art worth its weight doesn’t answer any questions, it only raises them. by Terry Dawes always a story. There were always characters. There was always a kind of writing. There was a script. It was always very carefully worked out before we started shooting. | felt I'd reached a point where | wanted to cut loose from that and try to let the images lead me. In the end, it's ironic because the film is full of talking. That was my intention and part of the reason | wanted to do that is because at the time, | was also writing this dramatic narrative film called “Deep Sleep.” You asked where it started. And I've been saying in the screenings, because people always ask that question, | think it's interesting that it always comes up, but it started when | met a man in Toronto who was married to a woman with my name and I'd never heard of anyone with my name before. Gruben is kind of a funny name and I'd never met anyone, even known of anyone who wasn't part of my family. And this woman was Inuit, she was from Tuktoyaktuk so | was really intrigued by the idea that there was somebody who would clearly be very different, you know, have an almost doppelganger kind of experience from mine. | grew up ina really hot, dry, American city and this woman was from an Arctic village with a completely different ethnic background and | was curious about whether we might actually be related in some distant fashion. But | think really, it started before that. | think it started, you know, it's very hard to say when it started because it’s really about everything that | know and