HFF 2015 Interview: The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano Director/Producer Joshua Seftel

2015 Heartland Film Festival Award Winner, Documentary Short The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano is about a photographer named Phil who is obsessed with his demise. He photographs himself in every dark depiction of his future as his family worries this project will void Phil of a positive future. Through this journey, Phil’s obsession changes him and his family forever.

We spoke with Director/Producer Joshua Seftel about his film:

HF: What is your film about, and how did the project come to be?

JS: The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano is about Phil Toledano, a man who has become obsessed with his own future. I follow as Toledano uses DNA tests, fortune tellers, and a prosthetic makeup artist to envision the many dark possibilities that might await him, including obesity, desolation, stroke, isolation, suicide, and violent death. Over the course of three years, Toledano becomes dozens of characters and captures these bleak possibilities in a series of haunting photographs. Meanwhile, his wife and daughter sit on the sidelines, worried that this project will leave Toledano unable to ever imagine a positive future. While on this journey, Toledano’s obsession alters him and his family forever.

Phil and I went to Tufts University together 25 years ago. In fact we even took a film class together there. Over the years we stayed in touch but only saw each other once or twice a year. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time when we ran into each other a few months after my father passed away in 2009. Phil had also just lost his father and had documented his dad’s final years in a beautiful book of photographs entitled Days With My Father. When I asked Phil what was next, he said “I want to know what’s going to happen to me…in the future.” He explained that he had plans to have a DNA test and that he was going to start speaking with psychics and fortune tellers to gather many possible futures. Then he planned to hire a prosthetic makeup artist who would help him create these future “Phils” so that Phil could take portraits of himself. I asked Phil if I could film the project, and he agreed.

HF: What was your role in the production?

JS: I directed and produced the film, and unexpectedly spent three years following his journey.

HF: Why did you submit to the Heartland Film Festival? Have you been to the Festival before?

JS: I’ve never been but heard it’s a great festival. I’m excited to attend!

HF: This year’s tagline is “Movies That Stay with You” – what lasting effect will your film have on moviegoers?

JS: For me, my film asks the questions “How much should you dwell on the fact that you are going to die?” “Is it better to avoid those dark thoughts, or is it better to throw yourself into the depths of all the ways in which you could leave this world?” I don’t have the answer, but I think the film wades into these waters. I think those are questions that stay with people for a little while.

HF: What has inspired you to become a filmmaker?

JS: When I was young, I was not a good reader. But I was hungry to learn and experience things. When my dad took my sisters and me to the library, they would borrow books, and I would borrow documentary films and movies. It was how I learned new things. And now, I love telling stories with this medium.

HF: What is something that you know about filmmaking now, but you weren’t told when you started your career?

JS: Filmmaking is hard. And it takes forever to make a film. So you better enjoy the process as much or more than you like sharing the finished film with the world. That tends not to last as long.

HF: What are some of your favorite movies? What’s your favorite worst movie (you know it’s bad, but still love it)?

JS: A few movies that inspired me to be a filmmaker: Roger and Me, Time Indefinite, The Times of Harvey Milk. And favorite worst movie…has to be The Pallbearer starring David Schwimmer and Gweneth Paltrow. It’s a poor man’s The Graduate. But there’s some good stuff in there. And nice use of Neil Young’s Harvest Moon.

HF: How many film festivals has your film been a part of? What do you like the most about the festival experience?

JS: The Many Sad Fates of Mr. Toledano premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and has also been featured in Sheffield Doc/Fest, Montclair Film Festival, IFF Boston, Camden International Film Festival and Little Rock Film Festival. It’s fun to share all the hard work that goes into making a film with appreciative and passionate audiences that you find at good film festivals.

HF: Heartland Film Festival moviegoers love filmmaker Q&As. Let’s say a Festival attendee wants to earn some brownie points—what is a question that you’d love to answer, but haven’t yet been asked?

JS: This was a film that seemed to get better and better as we made it shorter. So it’d be fun to talk about that process of cutting it down and why I think it works best at the length it’s at.