Interview with Barbara Becker Holstein
Magic makes our life's way more interesting
Two jobs, one life
Barbara, you are psychologist in private practice for more than 30 years. Five
years ago, you came across with cinema. How did that exactly happen?
Why cinema, and not writing books for example?

Well, it was a long road. Around 20 years ago I wrote the book, which is probably my masterpiece book, called “The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy”, and my book is designed to help people reclaim their strength, their talents, and particularly their potential. And it’s all connected to the notion, that we all have an enchanted self, we all have a place within ourselves, that’s full of energy, and leaping to go ahead, and wants to be successful, wants to give to the world. Of course, I’m excluding people, who are terribly mentally ill. But in the normal range. And unfortunately, we are blocked. We are blocked by the way parents bring as up a times, or opportunities that are missed, or moods that we have, all sort of things. But still there is a magical quality, that human bring, and what it can do.

Barbara's office.

Of course, I became a psychologist for lots of reasons, that tie into this, respect for the human mind, and it’s potential for creativity, and doing good for the world, and all that stuff. Book was a success, by the sense, that it went into a second printing, and it was used in some courses, and so on. But there was a failure, in a sense, that most people in this world never heard of it or didn’t read it. So, being a kind of person, I don’t give up, I had written two books, that really were for girls, kind of girl’s diaries, that a girl wrote, she kept her diary basically over a few years, and the first book “The truth”, and second book “Secrets” were eventually picked up by a publisher, and that’s great, they are still published, they are still easily available on Amazon. These books helped me get to a place where I was intensely involved with how people go through, what we call in the USA, “a coming of age”. It’s when we are no longer kids, and we are no longer fully adults, and it’s a very rocky time, when we are falling in love for the first time, trying to separate from our parents, and that sort of things. So, these two books, and a play that I wrote, "The Locket" which centers on the girl's ability to reach for her on potential and even guide her future self in magical ways, that has been produced once locally, so it hasn’t failed, but again, not out there on a major platform at this point. All this stuff helped me meeting people like local producers, and filmmakers, and you know, people around doing their stuff, that as a psychologist I normally would never have met. And one of the things that also happened, was that I met a young girl who was staring in a very hard script, and she wanted to make a film with me, and that was the first film, a short film “The truth”. This is the first film, that I really believe is the first film in the world, that I can say was a selfie film, that was made by the actress, in the sense, that she held her own camera, which was only an iPhone 6, and she did her film, she did the scenes, without me watching, I only corrected it before hand, I wrote the script, but she went home, and put on her own makeup, and clothing. She did scene by scene this story of a coming age girl, who falls in love, with a person who doesn’t even know about it. She faces agony, ecstasy, and finally at the very end finds a way to love herself, through good feelings she has, a lot of them provided by an aunt. I felt that selfie filmmaking has to become really big around the world. Actually, most of the festivals do have a category now for this type of works.

"The Enchanted Self, A Positive Therapy" written by Barbara Becker Holstein

For me, I think it was another step on my path, because I’m not just interested in helping teenagers make films, even if I written the script. My desires go way beyond that, so I’ve done about 10 selfie films, and actually I have lost the track of the awards, because these films have been accepted, or even won some sort of status in like about 130 film festivals at this point. I am still entering "The Truth, a Short Film" in festivals and will continue to do so. I believe it is a beautiful, amazing film that represents a "first" in the filmmaking industry. It truly is the "First Selfie Film" meaning the actress did most of her own filming, using a smartphone.

Barbara Becker Holstein, and Cassidy Terracciano (right hand) - main star of Barbara's debut film
Do Dreams Come True?

Let’s talk about your film “Do Dreams Come True?” What is the main

message of this film, and when you came up with the idea to make it?

“Do Dreams Come True?” - is kind of a macro-film, that I moved away from just telling of age issues of kids, into coming-of-age issues for grownups. That’s really awesome, just the endless series subject, because finding a way to partner, and most people do want a partner, not everyone, but most people do want a partner at some level, or they want two partners! And it’s terribly difficult to really put two human beings, or three human beings, or any group, including children when they come, if they come, together. Because the human mind is so individual, and the way people record their memories, and their mishaps, and their golden moments. It’s so different, depending on the person.

PSYCHOLOGY IN CINEMA

The couple in this film has big troubles, and that becomes very clear early in the film, which happens with many, many couples. But on the other hand there is a little bit of magic in this film, and it’s not extreme magic, it’s very subtle, but important, because very often couples stay together for the smallest things, when someone says something in the right way, somebody gives a little present, sometimes a friend mentions something that makes you look at the relationships differently, or you go to a therapist. And that is what really happens, this is a simple film. They were miserable, she was very upset, he was to, and she gets a little present from him, that has some magical overtones, that we don’t really bring to life unless you pick up on them, because the woman who delivers the little present to her turns the situation around in the way, that she is ready to be with her husband again. The woman is played by the same actress as in the god-mother scene. So, my real belief as a psychologist, and as a human, is that we do have earth angels, we have amazing things that do happen to save us again, and again. Maybe we have angels above, I don’t know, but we definitely have earth angels. I had my own earth angel experience. So, this film is about this small magic, that every couple faces.
Two jobs - one Barbara Holstein
Please, tell us about, how is it being a psychologist in USA, and being
apparently an indie filmmaker?
Barbara Becker Holstein and Megan Brown (actress from film "Falling in Love, a Coming of Age, selfie film")

Right now, this has been an avocation... I think I’m on a sort of pinpoint, moment in time to move, when it’s more than an avocation. Because I know, what I want to do. I know exactly that I want to put some of my material into a streaming series, that connects by two books for girls, that are in a coming age, and with a lot of work with adults, that I so well understand, as a psychologist, and make a series, that takes one character from child to adulthood. I’m not going to say too much because if I can do it, I’m pretty flexible, but you see that some of the young parts coming of age, combined into the flow of adult decisions. It’s going to make a great series.

What is the path of your works? How exactly do you want to realize
yourself in cinema?

I have a lot of framework, potentially done. We just did a “Zoom” drama because this was the only way to work during the pandemic for financial and health reasons. This is our fourth zoom drama.  And this one is about adult women, and her husband, and their relationships. I’m sure that the web series can handle many of my things that I develop, so this is my way.

Career so far
As we know, your films are closely related to your main work, in them you
raise various psychological topics. How long dose it usually takes you to write a book?
Barbara Becker Holstein and her director career so far:

1."The Truth, a Short Film"
Released: 2016
2."The Truth, a Short, Short Film"
Released: 2016
3."Fall in Love, a Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2018
4."Secrets, a Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2018
5."Angst, a Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2018
6."Selfie"
Released: 2018
7."Conflict"
Released: 2018
8."The Medium, a Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2018
9."The Selfie Project"
Released: 2019
10."Conflict and a Bit of Magic, A Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2019
11."Lock Down"
Released: 2019
12.Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, A Coming of Age, Selfie Film"
Released: 2019
13."Truths Change and Still Remain"
Released: 2020
14."Life is Complicated: A Zoom Drama"
Released: 2020
15."I had an Affair or Did I? A Zoom Drama"
Released: 2021
16."I had an Affair with my Husband! A Zoom Drama"
Released: 2021
17."Around every Corner, Romance & Mystery: A Zoom Drama"
Released: 2022
18."The Locket"
Released: 2022
19."Do Dreams Come True?"
Released: 2021

Right now, I’m working on a book, that I’ve just started, and finished the first chapter, and I’ve done the outline. It can take me on, and off working on night for half an hour, or in the morning for 45 minutes, it can take another 3-4 months. A book - is hard. What happens in a book, which is a little different then working with the actors. The characters are starting to take on a life, and they sort of telling you, what you going to write next. My new book is going to have many chapters, about 8 episodes, where you going to know a group of people, that are living in a particular house. House is the base, the people are different, because different people own the house at times. That is what I’m working on now, and it’s completely different from my other works. I cannot talk much about is at this point, because it’s still a secret!

How it all started 
When did you come up with the idea of making a film "Do Dreams Come True?"

Well, I think the idea has been appearing since I have concluded that there is magic in our life’s. But I’m not sure why it came to me, because I just wanted to do a film that moved away from the girl as the star, I wanted to move to a couple as a star of the movie. I wanted some magic in it, and I can’t tell you more why, and how it came to be, because once I get the idea of a plot, I can have it down in a half an hour. So, that’s how it happened. Interestingly enough, we were able to use my own home as the setting, what I never did before for my other films. But the strange part of this story, is that since we made a film, we sold the house, and moved to an apartment!

Psychological insights in cinema
What other topics you want to raise in your future works?
A book "Diary of a Gutsy Tenn" by Barbara Becker Holstein

I want to raise many facets of couple hood. Starting from decision to adopt, to having your parents live with you. There is endless number of topics. But I’d say the deeper level that I want to work with, is how we create sense of safety in our lives, and for the people we care about, rather than beating up on each other, making life miserable, and not talking to each other for a week. How we create some level of safety, and that’s very hard, but critical, because in our country we don’t have enough safety, we don’t even have good childcare for babies. We have a lot of money here but creating a safe environment - for example your country is way ahead of us.

Next level

Are you thinking about making a feature film, or you don’t feel ready for

this step?

Barbara Becker Holstein with a certificate for "Best Family/Children Film" at New Delhi International Film Festival.

I feel myself ready to direct a full-length film, if people understand, that I have not gone to a school for filmmaking, and I cannot tell you exactly where the lights should be placed, but I can get the actors, and actresses to work at a very deep level, and give them a lot of permission to understand their characters. So, I believe we can really get to a very deep level, that a lot of directors are not able to make, because of my psychological background.

Barbara Becker Holstein and the actresses from the film "The Selfie Project.
Growing up as I director
Please, tell us about, how is your shooting process usually going? What do
you like the most about directing? How would you like to improve your
directing skills in future?
Barbara Becker Holstein with director, and cameraman, discussing blocking the scene from "Do Dreams Come True".

Well, my shooting process is very different from other directors. For all my "Selfie' films I have written all the scripts. and directed them. What made me proud, and excited, that there was often no crew present, and not even myself, when many of the scenes were shot by the girls themselves on their smartphones. I want to make my actors feel the level of responsibility, to get the deepest characters. So, my feeling around directing is not typical, because it comes from a deep understanding of psychological behavior. And I don’t expect to feel so much excited the way I’m working, it’s more the way a teacher would feel, that her students got it.

Do Barbara's Dreams Come True?
Do you have any targets for your cinema career, or you just concentrate on
your messages to the viewers?

Of course, I’d like to be known, I’d like to be interviewed, I’d like to write more books, and make more films, and be invited to different places, but I don’t think I have a lot of the energy, like someone who is just starting out, because for me those years just passed, doing all those things. For me, being respected, and able to show the world, that somebody in my age range, many people, thousands, millions in my age range, can show their potential, can offer to the world. Yes, they can be retired, if you feel, that you need to, but still add productivity to all the world. I feel that I’m at the point, when soon I’m going to become clearly known for certain things, that I offered. My work will be known, there, where I’m going. That’s my vision.

PSYCHOLOGY IN BIG CINEMA

Psychology has always been a big part of cinema, are there any favorite
films for you, which are closely related to this direction?
Ah, believe me or not - “Christmas Story” is one of my favorite movies. I really like films such as “Meet me in Seattle”, it’s a light romantic film, but with very deep characters. I like most of Woody Allen films, not all of them, but he captures a lot. There is a film called “Barry Lyndon” from Stanley Kubrick, which is gorgeous, it’s something about gorgeous film. I think Hitchcock was great, if you want to be scared, do it with someone like Hitchcock!
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