Sound Unseen Film Festival – Rocksteppy

City Pages article:

Like many filmmakers before them, former Minnesotan Jake Dilley and his collaborator, McManus Woodend, search for the meaning of life — this time on the road while manning an RV. In their new film, Rocksteppy, the two brothers make a pilgrimage to SXSW in Austin, Texas, and lose and discover themselves along the way.

Dilley, formerly of Minneapolis band the Color Pharmacy, moved out to California last year when he was awarded a scholarship to study in the David Lynch MA Film Program. In Minnesota, he had been working on his script under the name We’ll Know When We Get There, but once he made the move and it came time to film, plans were thrown out the window to make room for something that was more functional. The results produced an organic film stemming from a lot of improv and working with change along the way.

Rocksteppy will premiere at Sound Unseen at Bryant-Lake Bowl on Thursday, November 12. City Pages caught up with Dilley before the debut.

What do you think moving out to California has taught you about the film industry? 

Jake Dilley: I’ve mostly been working on Rocksteppy over the past year while living Los Angeles, but the limited exposure I’ve had to other projects in that time has been really positive and educational. It’s interesting to be in a city where so many people openly identify themselves as creatives. Minneapolis is teeming with artists, but I’ve found that people in L.A. are generally more eager to talk about their art.

What did you feel you had to learn before making this film? What do you think you learned along the way? 

JD: The making of this film and the masters program I attended were great in that pretty much every part of the process was new to me. My undergrad is in studio art, and I’ve primarily focused on writing, producing, and performing music since then. I dabbled with music videos here and there, and have always loved movies, but it wasn’t until I was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the David Lynch MA in Film Program that I really considered making a feature.

Since you moved, why did you decide to include so many Twin Cities musicians in the film? 

JD: In many ways I still consider Minneapolis to be my chosen hometown. Some of my fondest memories and closest friends are from playing music in the Twin Cities, so it seemed appropriate to include many of them in this film that pokes fun at the music industry.

Written by Jimmy Morrison