Staff Pick Premiere: "Charlotte" by Zach Dorn |

In this episode of the Staff Pick Premiere, forgotten folk-singer Lena Black discovers her fifty-year-old track "Charlotte" has been remade into a hit pop song. Set in the aftermath of the release, filmmaker Zach Dorn explores how the impact of the hit song will be felt by Lena as well as her daughter Diane and her eleven-year-old grandson, Eli.

In her letter to the singer, Lena writes: "There is a far more serious thing than forgetting in the first place, which is being confused." This theme runs through the entire film as the newfound triumph reveals past wounds. Through a collection of fragmented conversations - Lena's letter, Diane's call and Eli's cassette tape - Dorn creates a touching picture of a family beginning to hear each other through music.

If asked about his distinctive style for the film Dorn shared: "I loved the conceit that we explore these bonds without ever seeing the families interact. Through the use of isolated monologues, I wanted the audience to feel like the characters were each creating their own version of the same song. There are these generational physical, emotional and geographical gap, however, I hope, something at the core of their worries will eventually lead to the same song."

It's a familiar tune to those who have experienced their families drift apart, but "Charlotte" is different from any other family drama that we've seen on the . With hand-crafted puppets and stop-motion animation Dorn takes us inside their lives, memories, and imaginations for a deeply emotional journey.

 Ahead of the release the release, we spoke to Dorn to learn more about his inspiration the process, style, and process. Read on to hear more about "Charlotte."

 The film's source of inspiration:

"In 2019 I created a puppet show about the world's biggest sponge as well as the popular TV series Gilmore Girls. One day, while buying some mini-craft supplies in the fake flower section of Michael's craft retailer, Carly's rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" heard on the speaker. The song is extremely upbeat a great bubbly pop song, which is odd because the original song is rather mournful and complicated. This was an amazing feeling, because I loved the Carly Rae cover so much. For me, the popular version, despite being more artificial was still full of the emotional complexities that Joni Mitchell's version had. I felt conflicted and embarrassed by this idea, but I kept thinking of Carly Rae Jepsen as well as Joni Mitchell's versions of "Both Sides Now" as they conversed. That conversation would eventually become the lyrics of "Charlotte ."

 In making the script

"I thought of the first rendition of "Charlotte" as an radio show, a sort of the Joe Frank voyeuristic drama, that was set in miniature scenes without the use of puppets. I composed the story from the viewpoints of eight characters who all were in a professional or personal relationship that was built around the song "Charlotte." Following taking time to get acquainted with the characters Diane and Eli were the ones I found most intriguing which is why I kept them around along with Lena as well as pop-star T.Y.M. After I had figured out this and was able to understand the story, I spent lots of time trying to figure out the best way to weave their stories connect."

 On the music collaboration:

"When I was writing "Charlotte," I always thought of musician Jenna Caravello in mind. As I was writing the script, I sent her fictional Rolling Stone interviews featuring Lena Black and some of faux-diary entries. Based on this information, Jenna wrote the folk song.

 Jenna's track was sent to Zhenya Golikova, who I met online. In 2020, Zhenya covered these voice memo melodies I wrote for a girlfriend, goofy and silly songs about kittens and marshmallows as well as missing someone in another country, and then Zhenya transformed my songs into amazing ballads. Her work has this early Magnetic Fields vibe, like the songs were written underwater by wild marine monkeys.. I sent her Jenna's song and she got the pop version a week after. ."

 In the talk-show segment:

"So many female folk musicians in the 60s and 70s were deeply under-appreciated. Artist like Vashti Bunyan Karen Dalton, Linda Perrhacs as well as The Roches, were overlooked or marginalized into categories like "freak folk" and were not taken in the same way as their male counterparts. I think there's this interesting paradox, in which folk music is associated with modernist ideals but is being entangled in a particular sort of unspoken sexual sexism.

 In the mind of these musicians I could not help but imagine Lena at this strange moment of her career. for her to remain relevant, she'd have to participate in the 70s Laurel Canyon lifestyle, party with the right kind of people, do the right drug - all in a society created and conducted by men. And I just don't think she'd want to do that. Perhaps because she was a mom and maybe she saw Through It All. I'm not certain. It was just her sadness - which was spread across a lifetime mourning an entire career. What happens to her anger? How will the anger play out with her daughter? When I was thinking about these issues I attempted to compose Lena's interactions with Sam as the prologue towards her bond with her daughter."

 On developing his unique visual style:

 "In my early 20s I was a puppeteer, but I never did very well in the art. I'm missing an 8th part of my brain. I swear its led to an utter absence of spatial awareness. The idea of building or manipulating something with three dimensions was not feasible. However, I did stumble upon Toy Theater, a type of two-dimensional puppetry once common in the late 19th century of England. I began to build tiny dioramas out of matte board and acrylics, like pop-up books. I used live-projecting digital cameras within of them as I narrated stories about my landlord or dead dog.

 I get obsessed over the small details of things, be it the bar code on a Doritos bag, or the design of a McDonald's Happy Meal box. Because of my missing brain, I'm not able to make straight lines or shape things in a realistic way. So, I have this style that is a mix-up of something that is falling apart and obsessive.

 In order to create the puppets I worked with stop motion animators Oliver Levine and Lily Windsor for a more grotesque and textural style that was appropriate to the hand-painted film's world. Since I made the film during the time of the lockdown, we had to work across the country, Lily from Chicago, sending tiny boxes of llamas, as well as Oliver dropping head-sculpts off at my door at Burbank .">

 What's next?

 "Currently, I am independently working on a short documentary on the CGI Livia Soprano from the third season of The Sopranos, as well as this genetic defect known as BRCA2. I grew up with an Italian American family filled with various eccentricities and personalities, but in my 20s, the BRCA2 derailed these familial connections due to the early deaths of members of the family.

 In the year 2020, I watched The Sopranos for the first time. Each show felt as if that I was in conversation with my family again. Now, I am making a film about this experience where I recreate home videos in stop-motion , and then analyze Livia Soprano's performance posthumously in relation to my personal memories of grief ."