Name of Film: The Phone Interview

Director: Kassy Gascho & Melissa Jones

Melissa Jones Bio:
Melissa is an expressive and inventive filmmaker, based in Toronto. Melissa's work, despite crossing all boundaries of genres, has a distinctly surreal quality. Her work on short films is led by her unique eye for art, often having a key hand in the set design of her films. Melissa has a strong background as an editor, and her influences from multiple genres bleed into her work. Recently Melissa took home the award for Best Director for her short film Cordelia! at the Sin City Horror Festival in Los Vegas.

Kassy Gascho Bio:
Kassy Gascho is a very goofy filmmaker and film programmer whose work has been screened at various film festivals around the world since she was 16 years old. She’s been making movies way longer than that but you won’t ever see them. Kassy’s DIY filmmaking approach is informed by working in various roles over her time on this planet and having a strong background in editing, camera, and producing numerous DIY shorts since she was 12 years old. Her short, The Phone Interview has received rave reviews such as "Can there be enough pink?” and “This looks like it was shot in Claire's store” as well as received multiple awards from festivals around the world. Her new short #BOSSBABE started its festival run with its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal where it took home the Bronze Audience Choice Award for Best Canadian Short.

Director of Photography: Kassy Gascho

Screenwriter: Kassy Gascho

Short Synopsis: After being rejected from her dream sorority, a determined girl kidnaps a local cashier in hopes of achieving community by working at a boutique grocery store.

Why did you choose to explore this topic?

The Phone Interview stemmed from my desire to create a film to personally pull me out of my current reality, and into a universe that wasn’t the one we’re living in. I wanted deeply to make something fun, bright, and vibrant but I wanted it to be a thrill ride at the same time. I wrote this script to follow along with the protocols around shooting during a pandemic, but I wanted the film to be structured in its universe separate from that, a little bit less digital, but not entirely analog.

I always like to believe that not everyone has bad intentions, and this film is a hyper-exaggeration of that concept. Daphne embodies the idea of having a multitude of feelings for a character as her actions are incredibly immoral but she has reached a point in her emotional span where they feel very necessary and stemming from a toxic culture of exclusion, which we all know too well.

When I wrote the film I knew exactly how I wanted to make it, style it, shoot it, and edit it. The Phone Interview was created with such a small crew that this vision was able to be completely cohesive from the beginning to the end of the shoot. I hope you have as much fun watching it as we did making it!

Where has it screened:
Blood in the Snow Film Festival (2021)
Deep Cut Film Festival (2022)- Winner of the Visual Award
Nightpiece Film Festival (2021)
Foggy Isle Film Festival (2021)
Toronto Indie Horror Festival (2021)
Anomaly Film Festival (2021)
Hamilton Film Festival (2021)
Videodrunk Film Festival (2021) - Winner of the Evangeline Canadiana Prize

Social Media Links:
Instagram: @itskassywithak @babymelsi