Meet Clara Aranovich | Writer / Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clara Aranovich and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clara, why did you pursue a creative career?
Filmmaking has been the love of my life from a very young age, since I was seven years old or so. Of course, back then, I didn’t orient towards filmmaking as a “career” so much as, simply, “The thing I want to do with my life,” the distinction being in the practical details. When I fell in love with cinema I wasn’t thinking about one day having to hire or fire representation, form an S-Corp, pay union dues… all the things I associate with the “business side” of my vocation.

As with many relationships, mine to cinema was founded in a sort of romantic love and blissful ignorance, at least for the first fifteen years before I actually entered the film industry. Cinema lit me up, it made sense to me, it spoke to both the technical and artistic sides of my intellect. I loved how cinema made me feel both when I was making it and ingesting it. I literally couldn’t fathom and didn’t really consider pursuing anything else (other than, perhaps, law). At no point did I set out to “pursue a creative career,” it just so happened that the love of my life (film) was a creative endeavor.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Professional filmmaking is hardly an easy path for anyone, much less for someone who’s not a hetero, white, cis-gendered man. Mercifully, I’d no idea how challenging the path was going to be for me as a woman until I was already too far up it to turn back. And yet, I consider myself wildly privileged and fortunate because I do subsist from my art/craft; this is not a luxury I take for granted.

Looking back (and looking around at my present situation) there have been many challenges, but none bigger than sexism. As much as I hate giving sexism more air time, that’s the truth. More than facing the constant rejection, the invitations to comparison, the financial hardship, dealing with unsavory personalities in the industry – it’s the invisible hurdles I face as a woman that set me back most. What’s brutal and almost tanked me wasn’t even the sexism itself at times, but how *I* oriented towards it. When it finally occurred to me that I may have already failed at my life’s dream by virtue of being born female, I fell into a massive depression. Very long story short, I eventually conceded that I had two options – to give up or die trying. I chose the latter. I doubled down on my commitment to the craft. As best I could, I relinquished an attachment to the timeline I’d mapped out for myself and I learned to release my grip on outcome while focusing more on process. I’d say that’s central to my approach to my work in general – process over outcome. That’s not to say that I don’t care about the final piece of work I create, but that a process of integrity, love, joy, respect, and technical rigor eventually begets the best art. I carry this philosophy with me everywhere I go, especially on set. I believe this is what may set me apart from others, this acquired patience and commitment to being as good a colleague/boss as I am an artist. It’s hard enough to do what we do, why make it more frictive if there’s no need to? Even better – why not make it a joyous experience if that’s available to you?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Must-do things: Movie at the Arclight Cineramadome (RIP :'()
Movie at the American Cinematheque
Movie at the New Beverly
Movie at the LACMA
Underground jazz nights
Dodgers game
Swan boats in Echo Park Lake
Abbot Kinney
Griffith Observatory
Huntington Library & Gardens
The Broad Museum

Must-consume foods/drinks:
The mushroom taco at Tacos 1986
Ramen from Ramen Hood in Grand Central Market
**Really anything in Grand Central Market
Burger from Goldberger
Thousand layer pancake from Joy in Highland Park
Coffee from Kumquat in Highland Park
Brunch at Botanica in Silverlake
Chocolate chip cookies at Soho House
Oysters and champs at Manuela Downtown
Breakfast sandwich from Gjelina Take Away

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to my high school Humanities teacher Mr. Tom Schellenberg. Until I took a class with him I felt I was deeply unskilled with writing/language/words. I dreaded English classes and as a daughter of immigrants my relationship to the English language was generally a bit strained.

For reasons I either never knew or can’t recall, Mr. Schellenberg invited me to write a piece of short fiction in lieu of one of the required book reports during the semester. I don’t remember what I wrote, but something palpable shifted in me. I realized my narrative surrounding my relationship to English may be flawed, that I actually loved writing and language in general. My confidence burgeoned. I started declaring that instead of just being a film director one day, I wanted to be a writer/director. A couple of years later, I ended up majoring in Literature, what had previously been my least favorite subject. I can’t understate how grateful I am to Mr. Schellenberg for stepping outside the curriculum to inspire me to fall in love with language and writing; it was a revolutionary act in my life and eventual career.

Website: http://claraaranovich.com

Instagram: @claranovich

Image Credits
B&W photo by Tory Stolper