Film made by dean shows the dark side of excessive drinking

When the Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival featured the work of a MHCC dean Thursday in the Whitsell Auditorium, in downtown Portland, it highlighted the consequences of binge drinking and started a relationship with a non-profit group that preaches this message to teenage girls.

Janet McIntyre, dean of integrated media, performing and visual arts, debuted her first feature length film, “Faded: Girls & Binge Drinking,” a 60-minute documentary, at the festival.

McIntyre started filming the documentary while working as the director of the photography, film and visual effects departments at the Art Institute of Portland. She has been a part of MHCC since July 2010.

McIntyre said that being dean is similar to directing because you are still managing people and projects. She said the biggest difference is “there are a lot more meetings. Academia loves meetings.”

After earning an undergraduate degree in painting, McIntyre said she moved out of painting because she didn’t want a career as a waitress in order to support herself. After 20 years of graphic design work, she became restless and decided to make her love of film into a career, she said.

While studying for her master of fine arts in film and television at New York University, McIntyre produced her first short film (less than 40 minutes in length), “Covered Girls,” with fellow NYU student Amy Wendel. She said the film, about Muslim American teenage girls in post 9/11 New York, was the result of her attending the graduate school during the national tragedy. “Covered Girls” aired on Showtime. TNT and the Independent Doc Channel.
In addition to around a dozen short films, McIntyre said she also worked in Los Angeles on crew for feature films and commercials. She said she worked on music videos in New York, too.

The title of McIntyre’s current film is based on a term she said was common five years ago when she started the film but is less used now. “It was a more common term among younger people to say, ‘Let’s go get faded,’ or ‘I was really faded last night,'” she said.

She said the idea for the film came about while working at the Art Institute of Portland. Initially, she was working on a public service announcement for an organization that works with families, parents and teenagers on underage drinking (under 17) and drug-related issues called Beaverton Together, she said.

When looking at the statistics, McIntyre noticed that four out of five high school girls in Oregon binge drink, which she said is higher than the national average. The average age for girls to take their first drink is 12 years old, she said. McIntyre said other studies have shown that binge drinking can affect the judgment and scholastic abilities of kids because of the effects on a still developing brain.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, binge drinking is “a pattern of alcohol consumption that brings the blood alcohol concentration level to .08 percent or more.” The NIAAA says this usually means five drinks for men and four drinks for women in a two-hour period.
“I didn’t want to get onto a soap-box about this information. I was really curious about why is it that girls are choosing this route? What’s going on with them? I want to let them tell the story. I don’t want experts to tell the story. Even though I’m giving you statistics, I don’t think statistics really resonate with people,” she said.

The film follows four girls who are struggling with alcohol abuse. “The reason why I chose the girls I did was to present four very different types of lifestyles, backgrounds, cultural differences and economic differences,” she said.

With a full work schedule, McIntyre said she would work on filming and editing during her vacation time.

“I love being in an academic environment and perhaps some of my interest in pursuing the subject matter is a result of me being around so many students who face some pretty major issues and challenges with alcohol and drugs. And I hear those stories all the time,” she said.

McIntyre said now that she’s finished the heavy-themed documentary, she would like to film a comedy short. “Like a two-day shoot, two-day edit and it be light and fun. Just tell the actors to improvise some laughs. I don’t want to deal with heavy material for a while,” she said.

McIntyre said “Nights of Cabiria” by Fellini, Coppola’s first two “Godfather” films and a documentary about musician Chet Baker titled “Let’s Get Lost,” are a few of the several films she is inspired by.

McIntyre is trying to work with Girls Inc., a non-profit group that works with girls’ empowerment issues, to screen her “Faded” film in middle schools and high schools, she said.

“If that happens, there would be another screening date set up as a fund-raiser with a percentage of the gate going to Girls Inc.,” McIntyre said. There isn’t currently a showing scheduled.

The trailer and more information about the film can be found at www.fadedthemovie.com.