Pilar Timpane: Filmmaker, Producer and Writer
Creatives in Conversation: I believe that we can learn so much from each other and I am fascinated by the ways in which artists of all media move through the creative process. Each month I feature a different local artist as we discuss the challenges and joys that come from accessing and living with their creativity.
Photo by Taylor Ross
Pilar Timpane is a filmmaker and producer based in Durham, North Carolina. She is currently consulting on the Chicken & Egg supported feature documentary SILENT BEAUTY by director/producer Jasmin Lopez, a personal narrative about one family's experience with a history of abuse and a culture of silence. In 2018, She co-directed and produced SANTUARIO with Christine Delp, a documentary short about Juana Luz Tobar Ortega, a Guatemalan grandmother facing deportation who takes sanctuary in a North Carolina church. SANTUARIO was the winner of the Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short at New Orleans Film Festival 2018 and the winner of the 2017 Tribeca Film Institute IF/Then Shorts American South Pitch. SANTUARIO showed at film festivals around the country and aired on ReelSouth & PBS/World Channel, and through Al Jazeera's documentary strand, Witness. Her film projects have been supported by Tribeca Film Institute, Women in Film x Stella Artois Finishing Fund, Southern Documentary Fund, the Fledgling Fund, Working Films, Doc Society's Good Pitch Local and others. Her work has been featured across various media outlets including AlJazeera, PBS stations, The Atlantic Selects, Sojourners, and elsewhere. She's been an invited speaker at universities and festivals around the country. Pilar holds a B.A. from Rutgers University and a Master’s degree from Duke University Divinity School. Her work has focused on women’s stories, immigration, and religious communities, with the aim of using storytelling for social change.
What does living a creative life mean to you?
Living creatively means that I can't expect to have every [project] lined up one thing after the other. I call it a conceptual. I have to think of the concepts that I want [in order] to form what I'm going to achieve because I don't think that those achievements are necessarily laid out in a straight line for me. There are models, but a lot of times those come into conflict with financial resources and necessities and family life and different things that you might want aside from your creative career. [I have to] create my own options because I just don't think they are necessarily clear or outlined, especially [if you're] interested in more interdisciplinary work.
What are some tools that you use when you're developing your career conceptually?
At the very beginning I looked at other makers to see what they had done and what fields made sense for me. I was really interested in writing and doing social work. I did some photography, but then when I learned about documentary, I felt that it was this really clear meshing of storytelling and social issues. And so finding out about that felt a little bit like a light turned on in terms of ways to connect people to each other, but also through a visual language of storytelling.
What do you think the role of the artist is within their community?
Hopefully every artist feels called to different communities because I think what's really important right now is people representing their own stories. Jasmin Lopez is making a film called Silent Beauty [that I'm working on] about her own experience with history of child abuse and it's very personal and very familial film that follows her own experiences. And there's just something so powerful about that because it's just a first person perspective.
I'm interested in the ways that we can [represent] our own communities - like here in Durham or here in North Carolina. I've done some work in the sanctuary network in this local community, and it's expanded out into a national conversation. And I think that that's really cool; local becomes global. People who can make things have this particular skill that they can bring to the table. And I just think it's the time where people making things really matters.
Trailer for SANTUARIO. Pilar is a director, producer, and cinematographer on this short documentary, also directed by Christine Delp. To learn more visit santuariofilm.com
How do you think that we can get our country and also the world to value art and creativity more highly?
I do think that there are arts that are being funded [to an extreme degree], like if you look at Hollywood - and that's because they've taken arts and turned it into a business. And then there's the more grassroots or local film resources.
There's this incredible program, the Southern Documentary Fund, which is down here in Durham and in South Carolina. There's [a program] called IndieGrits and those are networks of Southern filmmakers and artists that are trying to stay [local] and make sustainable careers. I'm from the Northeast and that region is very saturated with talent. So I think [in the Northeast] a lot of people end up doing work that's maybe more like a cog in the system kind of thing, or like you're working for somebody else or you're working for a big client or you're working for corporate.
Thinking about [your art] as a business is very important. Yes, it is a passion, but it is also work. And I think something shifts for people when they really think, how can I turn this into a living?
What are some creative challenges that you have come up against during your artistic journey? And have you found ways or tools to move through them or are you still moving through them?
“Hopefully every artist feels called to different communities because I think what’s really important right now is people representing their own stories.”
I think that the creative challenges are the challenges of making work that's sustainable. And also for me, I mean, it's been a lot of learning how to write grants, which doesn't seem super sexy, but it's a huge part of [the work]. [For example] learning how to characterize work in a way that makes sense for a program or for a funder. Learning how to connect dots of why you're doing it.
One of my greatest challenges is just time and knowing what to say yes to. I have a family and a child and so my time is precious. I have to choose very intentionally, and sometimes that's really hard because there's plenty of things that I wish that I could be a part of, but I'm not going to be able to do all of them.
How do you personally pick the projects that you decide to get involved in?
I've focused on women's stories and stories that have to do with religious communities, which is something that I've been involved in for a long time. And then work that has to do with social change, those are all topics that I connect to and that I have been embedded in so I have this feeling of love and connection and support in those areas. And I'm not saying I wouldn't do other things — like I have a new idea for a project that I don't think really fits any of this — but [these areas of interest are] things that I think I can bring something to.
What advice would you give to someone of any age who wants to be more creative?
Learn how to make your work sustainable. That's the producer in me because I want to see creative people become successful enough to support themselves. And I think it's really hard.
Find people that you love to work with and that are doing things that you want to do. Find people that are a step ahead of you. And also confront your ideas about your work. I think we should ask ourselves, what do we really need to be making? Find projects that you know are going to make a difference.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Teaser trailer for The Last Partera. Pilar is a producer on this feature length documentary directed by Victoria Bouloubasis and Ned Phillips. Visit thelastpartera.com for more info.