DOCUMENTARY
There’s Something About Fraser By Ca ro l Bada r acco Padge t t
“ I’m still experimenting with my own style, but I plan to keep showing people how weird and wonderful the world can be, hopefully through my own unique point of view. ”
F ilmmaker Fraser Jones is not normal. Which is good, because he’s excellent at seeing things in a fresh, somewhat beautifully twisted light. “I think the only reason I’ve gotten into any film festivals is because I’m making something that programmers and audiences haven’t really seen before,” states the creator of offbeat, yet stunningly singular documentaries. “My films don’t have big budgets or big names involved, but there’s always an experiment at the core of any project. Some people like those experiments and want to encourage them, while others have walked out of the theater.” At the same time, wistfully and judiciously, he adds, “My films won’t be enjoyed by everyone, but I don’t think I truly love any films that are unanimously praised and don’t take big risks.” Jones’s most recent documentary, Where the But- terflies Go , is currently in post-production, and then he plans to premiere it on the 2022 festival circuit. He first conceived of the project in December 2016. “I had recently graduated from college (studying film at NYU) and my mom gave me the graduation gift of a meditation retreat in Big Sur, California,” he states. While there, he noticed a tree covered in thousands of monarch butterflies. “I spent the afternoon just staring at this spectacle, and soon began researching monarchs, their lengthy migration, and the threats to their survival.” And then Jones had an epiphany. “It dawned on me that no one had succeeded in spreading the primary action people can do to help the endangered monarch, which is planting the monarch’s host plant called milkweed.” Without milkweed, there would be no monarch butterflies because their larvae feed exclusively on the plant. “The ultimate goal for the film is to save the monarch butterfly from extinction, of course, but I’d be thrilled just to convince a few hundred audience members to plant milkweed and do their part to help pollinators,” he says.
Baron Cohen attended, that I really started incorporating comedy and absurdity into the documentaries I was making,” he explains. “I never set out to be in my own films, but I’ve continuously come up with characters that usually resemble an exaggerated or goofier ver- sion of myself,” says the Atlanta native. Instead of looking for someone else to play these char- acters for free, essentially, he has done it himself and learned from the process. Today, at home in Atlanta, Jones appreciates the fact that films can be made much more affordably than in LA or New York, and that the city provides a wealth of interesting locations practically in his backyard. But there’s something else he truly values about Atlanta. “People making films here make a conscious decision to live here and enjoy the quality of life that comes with it,” he notes. “So, there’s a sense that we’re all lifting each other up and collectively trying to make Atlanta more of a hub for independent film. “There’s a lot of talented people and friends here that I love working with. There’s also a lot of big beautiful trees to look at.” Moving forward, Jones will continue his creative process, bouncing ideas off his partner and close friends who give advice but respect that the filmmaker’s projects ultimately blossom in his own mind. “I’m still experimenting with my own style,” he closes, “but I plan to keep showing people how weird and wonderful the world can be, hopefully through my own unique point of view.”
Fraser Jones
Offhandedly Jones adds, “Aside from saving some monarchs, I also just want to make people laugh.” Making people laugh, as it turns out, is another talent in the filmmaker’s arsenal, one he cultivated early on. “As a kid, I was always making little comedy videos using my mom’s VHS camera… and making my friends laugh.” This joy led Jones into all kinds of storytelling— theater, speech and debate, and spoken word poetry. Of all the kinds of storytelling that Jones engaged in, his favorite proved to be the documentary, mingled with a touch of the absurd. While Jones had learned the technical basics of film- making in film school, it was in another school that he learned to develop his sense of comedy and timing. “It wasn’t until I studied clowning at Ecolé Phillip Gaulier, a theater school in France that my hero Sacha
www.fraserjones.tv/butterf lies | @fraserjones.tv
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