In 2005, a devastating storm tore through Curtis Miller’s hometown of Newburgh, Indiana.
“I was interested in how that storm exists and what’s missing to the locals,” he says.
Miller’s film, “A Brief History of Chasing Storms,” explores “tornado alley”— a region known for frequent tornadoes that extends from Texas and Oklahoma across the Great Plains and up into Wisconsin and Minnesota — and the idea of the twister as “an American icon,” according to the documentary’s website.
“I’m really excited that [“A Brief History” is] at this festival. I’ve never shown with Chicago International before. But I’ve gone to it many times. And, just really looking forward to having the opportunity to share with my adopted home audience.”
He spoke with the Sun-Times about living in Chicago, what makes the city’s filmmaking scene unique and what he wanted to be when he was a kid.
Q: Your film, “A Brief History of Chasing Storms,” is in the CIFF “City and State” lineup. What is your connection to Chicago, and how did that relationship influence the film’s production?
A: I’m not originally from Chicago, but I’ve been in the city now for 12 years. I moved here for graduate school at UIC and stuck around ’cause I love the city. I think that the arts community here is really vibrant, and as a Midwesterner. If you’re from the Midwest and you want to go to a big city, Chicago’s kind of the place where a lot of us end up. The UIC program really encouraged a kind of scrappy, independent form of filmmaking. What sparked the film initially was an interest in a storm researcher who taught at University of Chicago.
Q: Chicago has a thriving film community. What unique qualities make it fertile ground both for the stories you tell and for the act of filmmaking itself?
A: I think that what makes it unique here is that there’s something that’s nice about not having the pressure of being one of the great cities. I think we just keep our nose down and make the work. It helps that it is relatively cheaper. Chicago has a rich history of independent and experimental filmmaking. We just kind of bump into one another and can’t help but share ideas.
Q: What was the genesis of “A Brief History of Chasing Storms?” What drew you to the script, and what was your process for realizing its themes on screen?
A: There was a really bad storm in my hometown of Newburgh, Indiana, in 2005. I can’t remember the exact number of deaths, but there were more than a few dozen. I was interested in how that storm exists and what’s missing to the locals. Even before that, I thought I wanted to be a meteorologist as a kid.
Q: Given that you were filming in Tornado Alley, were there any particularly dangerous situations or close calls you experienced firsthand?
A: Yes, there were definitely some poor decisions that were made, especially early on. People like me run out and think that they can watch a couple of training videos on YouTube, download a weather app on their phone and they can go do it and if you do that, you can find yourself in really dangerous situations. I came to really respect the people who go out to do storm spotting as a community service.
Q: What was one of the biggest creative challenges you faced while making this film, and how did you overcome it?
A: Money is always a problem. I made this silly decision that I wanted to shoot the whole thing on film. I couldn’t afford to process it, so I applied for an Illinois Arts Council grant, and they fortunately provided me with the funds that I needed to be able to send that film off, get it developed, and keep moving.
Q: If there is one core question or idea you want the audience to leave with and discuss on the ride home, what is it?
A: What I’d like people to take away from this is to just think about the way that weather shapes us. I think as climate change continues to accelerate and we’re all living through greater and greater frequency of weather extremes, we can learn from the communities that are shaped now and were shaped by storms in the past.
Q: Beyond typical advice, what is the single most important lesson or unique “secret sauce” crucial to your success as a filmmaker?
A: My word of advice, especially when working in nonfiction, is just be open. I felt like I was responding to a lot of stuff. Listening carefully, not just looking, but listening to your surroundings and really listening to the people you’re interviewing because they often end up revealing something that’s more interesting than you thought you were looking for.
“A Brief History of Chasing Storms” is showing on Oct. 18 at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St.. For more information, go to chicagofilmfestival.com.
Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a three-part series with directors who are part of the Chicago International Film Festival’s “City and State” lineup of films. Read part 1 with Rich Newey and come back to suntimes.com read part 3.