Lily Baldwin is a New York-based filmmaker and dancer that uses movement of the body and unconventional narrative structures to tell human stories. Her short films (Sea Meadow, A Juicebox Afternoon, Sleepover LA, and Swallowed) have played at festivals like SXSW, Berlinale EFM, and the Lincoln Center and been featured on NOWNESS, Short of the Week, Fandor, Filmmaker Magazine, and Vimeo Staff Picks. Lily fell into filmmaking when she was performing as a professional dancer in David Byrne’s two year world tour Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. Lily often writes, choreographs, directs, edits and plays the leading role in her films, seeking to “rip things up” with both graceful and rigid moments and scenes made up of bold, jarring edits. In other scenes, she’s simply another human on the street, walking with the rest of us. Lily is a Sundance Fellow with her upcoming VR project in collaboration with Saschka Unseld, Through You. She’s about to start shooting her first feature, Glass, a stalking thriller based on a real experience about a dancer and an insidious fan in our privacy-gone world. Lily talks about the rigor and commitment of dancers, coming into film as a “second career”, the responsibility she feels as an artist to pull from her own experiences and educate, and “working your buns off” to be the ultimate version of yourself.
“I think we have a responsibility to mine what we know. It’s great to make up stories and live in imagination but I feel like I can do a better job with something I’ve been through. Life is unlived, for me, if I don’t peel off the layers.”
MUSIC in this episode is by Michelle Blades. Listen to her music on Bandcamp or on Midnight Special Records' Soundcloud, and take a peek at her Tumblr.
Songs you heard: Subtropical Suburban, Crush! I Went to Your Party from the album Ataraxia // Le Bois, Lava Boy, Swallowing Truths & River Rocks, Yellow Petaled Coast from the album Songs From Another's Bed // My Grimey Dreams, I'll Let in the Outside Noise from the album & // 10th and Wilson Score off the EP Nah, See Ya // Making Friends In The Dark, It All Ends Here off the album Cold Shoulders
Name: Lily Baldwin
Current City: New York
What are you listening to now? I just went throwback on myself and have been listening pretty nonstop to Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works II
What film/book/show/piece of media changed you? There are too many to fit into this white box, but if I look at my bookshelf right this second, I'm going to say: Eadweard Muybridge's pictures and Murder She Wrote -- Jessica Fletcher is one of my favorite protagonists.
Who is your career role model? Cindy Sherman -- she's self taught, fearless about changing herself and isn't afraid to be ugly in her work.
What is a tool you can't live without? A Panasonic boombox from the 80's that I listen to NPR on.
How do you drink your coffee/tea? Coffee-- a super dark, greasy brew with a dash of cream
What's your spirit animal? Wolf.
Updates? I'm thrilled to be premiering my short film Swallowed as part of the upcoming omnibus feature project, Collective:Unconscious, at SXSW as the first ever omnibus feature in competition! Next on the horizon this year is gearing up to shoot my first feature GLASS, a thriller inspired by a true stalking story. I'm also going to be directing a VR project, Through You, with Saschka Unseld in collaboration with Sundance. And on less immediate burners, I'm cooking up two episodic series!
CLIPS USED IN SHOW:
- Ride, Rise, Roar (Feature Documentary Trailer)
- Sleeping With Frank (Short Film)
- Sea Meadow (Short Film Trailer)
- A Juicebox Afternoon (Short Film)
- Sleepover LA (Short Film)
- Music from Swallowed by Mark degli Antoni (Short Film from Collective:Unconscious)
- Women of The Year: Misty Copeland (Short Film)
CREDITS:
- Produced by Sarah Ginsburg & Elaine Sheldon
- Sound design by Billy Wirasnik
- Illustration by Christine Cover
- Production Assistance by Alijah Case