Barry's solo adventuring.
Confronting mortality
By Matthew Avitabile
PRATTSVILLE — Mountain Eagle alum Paul Smart is producing a film that is receiving significant attention. He is producing Don Barry: A Quixotic Exploration, which features Barry Gerson and Genda Monter. There will be a showing of the film Sunday, Aug. 10 at 7pm at the Prattsville Arts Center at 14562 State Route 23 on Main Street. For more information, call 646-678-2394.
Arts have been a significant interest to Smart for decades. Before he moved Upstate in the 1980s he was living in New York City working with a literary agent, who handled famous writers including Isaac Asimov and Norman Mailer. Smart was involved with writing, poetry reading, and theatre. He described them as a “great way to learn you don’t go into these things unless you have money already.”
He built what was called a “motivating debt” while studying for a Master’s in Art Administration at NYU. He was hired by a colleague at the Independent Feature Project, prior to the significant rise of independent film in the United States. He helped run a film market and got to know a number of “major players” in independent film. Much of the financing at the time was coming from European filmmakers.
He then “jumped over the fence” into producing with some independent directors. This allowed him to get “close” in a number of projects, which he likened to creating houses of cards.
After moving Upstate in 1987, he started work at the Catskill Mountain News, the Woodstock Times, the Daily Freeman, and the Mountain Eagle. He worked at multiple papers at the time, which allowed him to make a living.
“It was fun,” he said. “It was a great way to get to know the area.”
He was also running Catskill Nickelodeon, which received state arts council funding to show old movies around the Catskills, including Westerns, foreign films, and silent films.
In 1989, Smart took a French film for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, taking it nation-wide utilizing microgrants.
After this he stepped away from the film scene and became more involved with newspapers and published a book called “Rockin’ Woodstock.”
“It was great when I got in at the Mountain Eagle,” he said, as the only regional weekly newspaper. It allowed him to work in Delaware, Ulster, Greene, and Schoharie Counties. He worked at the newspaper until about 1999 before moving back to New York City doing public relations work during the dot com era. He took a number of different writing jobs at the time before getting married and moving to Catskill, and has returned to Lexington in Greene County. He now lives in Art Flick’s former house, the founder of the fly fishing trend in the Catskills in the 1920s and 1930s. He worked for the publications linked to the Woodstock Times and related newspapers. He wrote a novel and other books during this period.
He always stayed interested in film, he said.
Around 2018, Smart and his family moved to Albany and his son attended school there. He took on an office in the press room at the State Capitol and wrote about local Catskills stories and also worked with the Albany Public Library.
During the pandemic, Smart was able to work remotely, including during trips to Europe. When in Milan, Italy the virus started to shut down the area. He contracted the virus early and was sick for about six weeks. His family decided to move to Mexico so that his son could pick up another language. In 2021 the family expected to stay for a one-year “sabbatical” but decided to stay longer-term.
“It was wonderful,” he said.
The film is 95 minutes long and was written, directed, and produced by Smart, edited by Isabel Companha Rojana. Hadyn West is the Cinematographer and music was produced by Karen y Los Remedios and John Martyn. Sound design was done by Pamela Casasa and post production was completed by Terminal, CDMX.
Barry Gerson stars as Don Barry and Genda Monter is Sanchia Panza. Smart said that he was fascinated by Paul Quixote, saying that he failed the course that covered the book. He hadn't even finished the cliff's notes, he said, and not finishing it "haunted me." He created the film in his new hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico.
Smart recognized that Don Quixote could be made into a film, being able to merge "real life and the literary in actual settings." He said that he recognized that he could "make a film myself."
Quixote is an especially important idea to him since Guanajuato has been putting on a celebration of Miguel Cervantes, the book's author, for 52 years. There is also a significant museum and statues in the community. He said that for much of the world, Cervantes is a more significant figure than Shakespeare.
Smart said that he wanted to work with “non-actors” to capture the beauty of Guanajuato.
“It’s a way of connecting with the community you’re in,” he said.
He cited his longtime friend, Barry Gerson, of Potter Hollow, who he likened to Don Quixote. The film was a chance to “honor Barry’s legacy,” combining it with Don Quixote. About two-thirds of the film is based on Cervantes’ works.
Genda Monter has an “otherworldly beauty” and was a gender-reversed role within the film. The narrator was played by Phil Grant, who Smart had worked with on the radio. He describes Grant’s voice as “better than Morgan Freeman’s.”
Over time, Smart built a crew and planned filming around the Cervantino Festival and the Day of the Dead.
“Just the act of producing” the film was Smart’s favorite part, including organizing and feeding the team.
Creating sets, such as Don’s childhood was “magical” to him. In addition, he enjoyed hiring a drone for a day for film production.
The film also required between seven and eight months of editing in Mexico City.
“It was magical all the way through,” he said.
Smart said that the film scene has changed over the decades, including “gatekeepers” that make it difficult to get exposure for independent film. Money, rather than just the artistic value, often challenge filmmakers.
Much of the response comes the day after someone watches the film, Smart said. This allows people to consider the deeper meaning of the movie. After bringing the movie to the West Coast in screenings, there was a significant social media reception. After that, Amazon, then Apple picked up the film. It’s also being taken on by French and Latin American streaming services.
“If I care for my child, I have to teach it to walk on its own,” he said. “That’s happening now,” he added. The film is standing on its own, independent of the “monetary return.”
“It’s building up its own audience.”
Smart cited that professionalization of art often takes away from some of its meaning. Doing art by yourself allows you to engage and “recognize the continuing beauty in the world and not just the things that frighten us.”
The film "grew into a meditation on the redemptive nature of art and creativity."
He is currently working on a new film, about one-half produced based on a writer from Phoenicia. Smart is also in the initial scripting phase of producing a film including two American and two Mexican children and their explanations of the history of their countries using toys.
For more information, call 646-678-2394.
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