By Kellie Abrahamson
EU: Tell me about the film.
Bruce Broder: The film follows the journey of several kids who are in the magnet school program- the music program- in the public schools here in Jacksonville. I started following a group of these kids when they were in middle school, at LaVilla Middle School of the Arts, so they were from 12- to 14-years-old at that time. I really had started with something different in mind then the movie wound up, which often happens with documentaries. What I was thinking was it was going to be a story about what happens to these kids who are loaded with talent and absolutely loaded with enthusiasm for what they do. To whatever degree they bring that to LaVilla, I can say that from what I saw the music teachers nurture that and when those kids come out of that school they love what they do, they love playing music, especially in this jazz program there… One could know without a lot of investigation that it's a whole different matter when these kids hit high school and all the competing interests- girls, boys, the rigor of homework. All that gets into the mix and some of the kids lose their interest in music or have to dial it down. But there are those that maintain it all the way through. I was interested in what was going to happen with this core group that I was following when they hit high school. But, as I was at Douglas Anderson quite often with cameras, there came this really fascinating development which was the kids who were in the top jazz band- some of the kids I was following made it to the top jazz band right away- that group took it upon themselves to enter this very high level national contest, maybe the highest level jazz competition in the country, and that's called the Essentially Ellington Festival in New York.
EU: The film is being compared to documentaries like Spellbound. Do you think the comparisons are accurate?
BB: On the surface I think it is a fair comparison. It's about kids who achieve a great deal. But this is its own world and we see these kids from early moments when they are learning how to play to a situation at the end where they're playing at an extraordinary level.
EU: How long did you follow these students?
BB: It was periodically over the course of three years.
EU: Was it strange for them, being filmed for that long?
BB: Some of the kids went to Tribeca, they were there for the opening at that and they were on stage for a question and answer afterward so I can answer that question because I heard them answer it. They said that it was strange only at first and then I think I became a fixture in the classroom and they no longer noticed me or the camera no matter how close it was to their face. And, when I say that, I'm speaking of the main characters, the kids who I mainly followed. Some of the others were a little less comfortable and that probably figured into who became a main character and who didn't.
EU: You just came back from the Tribeca Film Festival. What was that like?
BB: Well, it was a completely phenomenal experience to have this movie play in front of New York audiences. It played six times in Tribeca. Four of those were public screenings and two were press and industry screenings. I can tell you at the public screenings the reaction was unbelievable.
EU: After such a positive experience there, is there any word on if Chops may be picked up by a studio for distribution?
BB: We're talking to several people. It's quite promising.
EU: What do the kids think of the attention Chops is getting?
BB: There were three that were there [at Tribeca] and they were immediately in Never Never Land. They hadn't seen it. You know, I'm in the classroom shooting and they don't really know what I'm up to. They don't know how they're going to be depicted in the end. It's just a thing that's going on to them. So these particular kids that went to New York have key roles in the movie and they didn't really know that going in. so when they saw it, it was kind of mind-boggling for them… This showing here has a certain significance because the Jacksonville Film Festival has made seats available for the original band members and members of their families. These families did not go to New York [for the Essentially Ellington Festival]. They never saw any of it. Aside from the box score they don't anything that happened there. I'm predicting an emotional evening there.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
