Alum Austin Kase on the Journey to Filmmaking and the Collaboration Required to Make a Film
By Marian D. Cook
Multi-Hyphenate Filmmaker and 2015 Stowe Alum Austin Kase (far right) directing on the set of his latest short film, Hide Your Crazy (2023). Photo by Keira Wight.
Writer, Director, and Editor Austin Kase has been a Stowe Story Labs Alum practically from the beginning. Founded in 2013, Austin first joined the community when he attended the Stowe Narrative Lab in 2015 to workshop his first feature, Wish You Were Here.
Just a few years out of college (Yale) where he studied Humanities with a concentration in film, Austin was in the process of immersing himself completely in film, including via an internship with the legendary Filmmaker Roger Corman.
See, prior to college, Austin’s life was completely entrenched in music. "I was a musician before I was into film," Kase reminisced. "I played the French horn in the orchestra since elementary school, and I continued to play through college. That was really my first introduction to the arts. I really only discovered film seriously in college. But the first film I ever made was in high school."
While at the New Jersey Governor's School of the Arts (a now-defunct high school arts program) studying classical music, Kase began to find himself drawn to the ventures of the filmmakers in the program. "I was just so fascinated by what they were doing," he recalls. "I wanted them to show me how they were editing movies, how they were adding music."
“My senior year, I had this bug in my head that I really wanted to make a movie, so I did one and it was a parody of a James Bond movie, but in a high school context. It was a little like Brick, the Rian Johnson movie,” Kase explained.
From there, Kase's passion for filmmaking began to take root, forcing him to reevaluate his career path: what he considered “safe” or the “traditional route,” and what was expected of him.
Kase continued, “That was my first real attempt at film, but I didn't have it in my head that it was something I could really do with my life. I went to college thinking I was going to be a lawyer, but I just kept being seduced to make more movies in classes, side projects. And about halfway through school I had to level with myself—I'm spending way more time on these little silly movies and putting the best of myself into them versus what I should be focusing on. So then I had to admit that this was something that really mattered to me and wanted to pursue.”
Upon this realization, Kase began shaping a unique approach to storytelling honed through years of musical training. Editing came most naturally to him first. His keen sense of rhythm, tone, tempo, and dynamics, likened the editing process to composing a symphony, where each scene's beats are orchestrated to create a harmonious cinematic experience. This ear for the edit is what led him back to Yale, post-graduation, working for the Yale School of Music as a video producer and editor for four years.
Undoubtedly, he’s mastered the intricate and delicate dance of music and visuals, but he’s also demonstrated a skill for seamlessly blending genres, that was in part nurtured and inspired by his mentor Roger Corman—the king of cult, low-budget genre movies who has helped launch the career of many acclaimed directors like Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola.
"I really like how genre can take deeper emotional or political stuff—stuff that people have preconceived ideas about—and sneak it under their defenses," he explains. "It's a way of expressing uncomfortable, emotional ideas in an accessible, fun, and safe way."
So far, Kase has explored everything from romance and comedy to horror and fantasy, artfully combining two or more—like Another Girl, a fantasy comedy; Wish You Were Here, an indie, coming-of-age; Golem, horror; and many more.
Behind the scenes of Austin Kase’s horror romcom film Hide Your Crazy (2023), starring Amy-Helene Carlson as Iris, who is hiding a supernatural secret from her boyfriend Dan. Photo by Keira Wight.
Equally versatile are his roles. Aside from editing and writing, Kase also directs, produces, and voice acts. "Directing is my favorite," he explains. "It's about bringing out the best in a team of talented people, who are already better than you at their respective jobs, and giving them a vision to do their best work.”
Over 12 years of experience, global catastrophes, and a fondness for Cat People (1942) then culminated in Hide Your Crazy (2023), a horror romcom written, directed, and edited by Kase about “Iris hiding a supernatural secret from her boyfriend Dan, and when he surprises her for her birthday, they have to face it together as a couple.” It’s not a departure from Kase’s typical genres, but rather a new blend that explores the complexities and fear of intimacy, and desire for love and acceptance, through the vehicles of transformation and fear. The title itself is a reflection of people’s urge to conceal their quirks and “shadows” when getting close to someone new.
“When people face a sort of inner-sense of ugliness, darkness, or feeling that they're not worthy of love, horror is a great genre for exploring that because so much of horror is about that. But it does it in a way where it doesn't feel pretentious, it's just something that you could get together with a group of friends, eat popcorn, and have a fun night,” Kase explained.
Melody Cooper (far left) and Austin Kase at the Vancouver International Film Festival for Hide Your Crazy (2023). Melody Cooper is a screenwriter, NYX Horror Collective Co-Founder, Stowe Alum, and now Stowe Mentor/Board Member, who executive produced Hide Your Crazy.
The journey to making Hide Your Crazy involved collaborating with fellow horror enthusiast, screenwriter, NYX Horror Collective Co-Founder, and Stowe Alum/Mentor/Board Member Melody Cooper, who executive produced the project. With a shared love for horror and being fellow Stowe alums, it was an easy yes for Melody when asked to come on board. “This was my first time executive producing someone else’s film, and I found Austin to be an extremely intelligent and talented director,” Cooper said of Kase. “It was a joy working with Austin to help hone the script, raise money for production, cast the film, and give feedback for the edit…He and I are collaborating on a feature project which I’m very excited about. But I just love that Stowe has essentially been responsible for bringing us together to partner on projects!”
Melody Cooper isn’t the only Stowe Alum that helped with the production of Hide Your Crazy, 2015 Stowe Story Labs/Champlain College Fellow JLee Mackenzie, who attended the same Lab as Kase, did 3D scans for the VFX.
Hide Your Crazy was also produced by the nonprofit production company, Of Substance, which innovatively uses film to support those touched by mental health struggles, substance misuse issues, and trauma. They develop and distribute original short films differently – as approachable, captivating, and provocative tools for professionals to use in therapy, rehab, schools and beyond. You can see more about the film on Of Substance’s page here.
Now, the film is making its way across the festival circuits: Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (where it had its world premiere); the Vancouver International Film Festival; and recently the Sidewalk Film Festival, where Kase was once again reunited with the Stowe community.
Running concurrently and in partnership with the Sidewalk Film Festival, Stowe Story Labs Sidewalk Narrative Lab is an intensive, four-day program where screenwriters can workshop their projects among a community of peers and top industry mentors.
Austin Kase (second from left) with 2023 Stowe Story Labs Sidewalk Narrative Lab participants at the 2023 Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama.
So as Kase’s film premiered in the sold-out After Dark Shorts slot, nearby Lab participants further developed their projects and eventually the two collided. Kase said, “Sidewalk was an awesome festival with excellent programming from around the world. And then on top of that I got to hang with all the Stowe people again and see some of my old mentors like Chris Millis and David Pope. It was just incredible.”
Reminiscing on the connections he’s made through Stowe that have helped him get to where he is today, Kase had the following to say: “There's something just very vulnerable about everyone sharing their work at different stages of their career. I'm sure there must now be people who are more established in their careers going through Stowe, but at the time that I did it, or the Lab that I did, it was people who were starting out. And there was something about that that was really powerful—we all felt like that kind of was our film school, or for me, that was my film school.”
He continued, “It’s just a testament to the talented people that have gone through there and gone on to do great things and we all have the common bond of going through Stowe together.”
Interview by Marian D. Cook
Marian D. Cook is a former journalist and a 2023 graduate of USC's MFA program in film and TV production. She graduated from Spring Hill College in 2019, Summa Cum Laude and with honors, with a BA in Journalism.
She's currently focused her talents on producing and editing strong, female-led stories and those that uplift her Latinx community. Her latest projects include Bad Hombrewood, a short documentary she produced and was directed by Guillermo Casarin, about Latinx representation in Hollywood, starring Phil Lord, Guillermo Del Toro, Lee Unkrich, Melissa Fumero, and a range of Latinx talent that demonstrate the beauty and diversity of the Latinx community, that won Best Student Documentary at the American Pavilion at the 2022 Cannes International Film Festival, was nominated for the 42nd College Television Awards, and has been selected for over 40 official film festivals across the globe including Santa Barbara and the Cleveland International Film Festival. She also produced Backlog, directed by Jacqueline E. Rosenthal and based on a true story, about one woman's story to end the national rape kit backlog, which was a Best Student Short Audience Award Winner at the Cleveland International Film Festival and was also an official selection of the American Pavilion's Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Marian also just finished editing Renacer, directed by Jenniffer Gonzalez, about a Latina's journey post-abortion, which was a recipient of the The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's AI2 Reproductive Rights Accelerator Award. Currently, she is editing Ximena Davis' Eclipse Chasers, which is set to premiere in December 2023. You can learn more here. Marian assists with all aspects of operations, writes for the newsletter, and assists with research and writing to support fundraising and communications about programs.