Nine Letters is A Film That Isolates The Feelings Of Moving To New York City

Cristina Muller's film Nine Letters uses a minimalist documentary style to emphasize the conflicting feelings of moving to a cosmopolitan new city. Muller uses imagery and sound from around New York City to enhance the sentiments of nine letters that are read as voiceover. The letters span from 1930 to 2016 and show the perspective of a diverse group of immigrants. The film emphasizes the repetitive nature of the city with long shots of people exiting subway cars and walking across bridges and streets. There also exist moments of unique pause like sitting at a cold window, on a winter evening, as the sun sets. The observations made by the writers of each letter are able to breathe over the imagery and sounds Muller layers, giving the viewer time to absorb each letter. Nine Letters expresses how moving to New York City comes with an intensity and lightness that can be reflected back into the constant state of being alive.

See the North American Premiere of 'Nine Letters' on February 25, 2018 @1:00pm and February 28 @2:00pm at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) at New York City's 7th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Winter Film Awards' Alessandra Newhard spoke to Cristina about her work.

Alessandra Newhard: How did you decide on the nine letters to feature in the film?

Christina Muller: It was definitely a hard choice to make, as I had beautiful and interesting letters I've found during my research. The first step was to establish the letters I've written to my partner that I wanted to use in order to build a structure for the film. Then I selected other people's letters that could somehow "engage" with this structure, contrasting or adding to it.

Alessandra: Why did you choose the NYC locations in this film to shoot pedestrians?

Christina: Some of them were places that were part of my daily life and others were places that "spoke" to me since I got here (the Manhattan Bridge and the Union Bridge in Gowanus, for example). I also walked a lot, mainly in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to get to know the city and when I found an interesting place I would write down on my notebook and come back the next day with the camera. NYC is a city where people walk a lot, so this public space of the sidewalk shows a lot about the culture. It was then pretty obvious that pedestrian and streets would definitely be the main kind of images to shoot.

Alessandra: All the letters are pretty short, giving the audience time to reflect on the words during the visuals and soundscape. Why did you decide to leave this space for the viewer?

Christina: This film was since the beginning an attempt to give the viewer enough time to think, see and hear, in order to deeply engage with the letters and the city landscape and soundscape. Thus it was important to find a rhythm with pauses, so each one could have time to go from one letter to the next one.

Alessandra: The nine letters that are read during the film range in topics from the mundane (e.g. grocery shopping, the weather) to the heavy (heart attacks and longing for a sense of home). Can you describe how you see letters as a means of connecting us to ourselves and other people, especially in a foreign country?

Christina: I believe this mixing of mundane and deep thoughts is the most interesting and beautiful aspect of letters, just the way our lives are filled with both. When you write a letter there's always a moment to talk about the weather, the train you got the other day or the last thing you bought when doing grocery shopping. It is a way to put yourself in the place you live, with the specificities of it. And when you're in a foreign country or city this element is even more important to establish measures of distance.

Writing is a silent and private moment, therefore very intimate. Writing about heavy, sad or deep feelings helps you to better understand and connect with yourself, and when you're away from "home" it also helps your relation with people who are not there with you, as they can rely to the emotions regardless of the place they are.

Alessandra: Identity is a topic that is discussed in of several letters. Can you explain how you think identity is lost when leaving home for a cosmopolitan city such as New York?

Christina: I don't believe identity is lost, but reshaped. Going away from "home" is also going away from yourself and then refinding it somehow. As New York is very diverse, it's true that when I got here I was overwhelmed by all these different identities, and at first I felt a little bit lost. The city was somehow reflecting an interior feeling I was having. Then after a few months, even though the city kept being diverse, it was possible to find an identity within. At the same time I was also finding my "place" in it, which is probably what happens with other foreign people who get here.

Alessandra: Why did you decide to incorporate yourself into the visuals of the film unlike the other characters?

Christina: That was a hard choice to make, because I hate to see myself in the screen! But I felt that THE ONE of the reasons I was making the film was because I was experiencing what I was telling. Thus it was important to put myself also as a character and not only as the filmmaker/director, making this "separation" clear to the viewer. Finally, it became also a way to establish an "arc" in which the person I'm in the beginning of the film is not the same as in the end.

Alessandra: Are you currently working on any new projects?

Christina: I'm currently doing an MA in Media Studies at The New School and working on my thesis, which is going to be an audio piece about New York City Soundscape from the past and the present and how it affects our lives. This thesis idea started while I was making this documentary and recording sounds of the city.

https://youtu.be/5mGTxKBBUN0

By Alessandra Newhard. Alessandra Newhard is a photographer/filmmaker that currently lives in Queens where she works in film and television. She graduated from American University in 2016 with a major in Film and Media Arts and a minor in Literature Cinema Studies.

New York City's 7th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs February 22-March 3 2018. Check out our jam-packed lineup of 93 fantastic films in all genres from 31 countries, including Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!

Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.

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