Jenni Olson quotes:

I've been making 16mm urban landscape films about San Francisco for many years. I choose different nonfiction themes to investigate and am generally interested in surfacing lesser-known histories. I like to investigate and illuminate these histories, combining them with my own unconventional storytelling style, which is generally a stream-of-consciousness voiceover involving a steady stream of personal reflections on pining over unavailable women.

It is vitally important that you prioritize your film and use your time and energy and resources to make it happen. Stop waiting for things to fall into place. Start doing things right now to make it happen.

I think the biggest misconception about experimental film in general is that it is always difficult and inaccessible.

I definitely find the technical aspects of post-production generally quite overwhelming.

I find that I always also manage to incorporate a simultaneous reflection on cinema history into my films.

Certainly my films are cinematically unusual, and quite contemplative in their pacing compared to conventional films, but I think overall they are quite engaging, accessible, and even funny.

Stop helping everyone else make their films, and enlist them to help you make yours. This is an exaggeration, but the point is - you are the one person who cares the most about your project, so you have to take the leadership in driving it forward.

ather than Eisenstein's fast and hard cutting, I like to hold the shot very still and for longer than we're accustomed to. For me personally as a viewer, this technique invariably causes me to have waves of emotions that I think arise from a profound form of mindful awareness and the feelings that go along with that. I am frequently brought to tears by this kind of existential cinematic technique.

I have always been interested in crafting films that use long, static urban landscape shots as a way of manipulating the emotions of the viewer and forcing them to slow down, which I think simultaneously makes them more vulnerable as spectators, and also puts them in a position of being more than just spectators.

I want people to have a new way of looking at the world when they leave the theater.

While the creative aspects of my filmmaking style are challenging in their own ways, I have developed such confidence and passion over the years that it has become much easier.

My work is not for everyone, but I think if people give it a try, they may be surprised by how entertaining it is.