The 41st Independent Spirit Awards were all about “Train Dreams.” Clint Bentley‘s sophomore directorial outing took home the Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography for Adolpho Veloso. It was a triumphant day for the independent film, which is heading into the Oscars with momentum a year after its Sundance debut.
Before all the excitement began, Bentley took a Coffee Break with Lavazza. Prior to the ceremony, IndieWire and the beloved Italian coffee brand partnered to host intimate conversations with the filmmakers and performers behind some of our favorite films and shows.
Given the choice of Light Roast or Dark Roast questions, Bentley opted for a heftier Dark Roast and opened up about the challenges of shooting the film in the Washington wilderness.
“It was an independent film so we can go down the list,” Bentley said with a laugh when asked about the problems he encountered. “We were shooting on location in the US, in Washington state. You never have enough money, you never have enough time. But the whole crew believed in this so much and put their whole heart behind it.”
The incredible finished film isn’t the only reason that the challenges were worth it. Bentley explained that the encouragement he received from his collaborators taught him to stop giving up on ideas before he had a chance to try them. It’s a lesson that helped him fulfill his vision for “Train Dreams,” and one that he’ll carry with him on future creative endeavors.
“I learned to believe in myself. And I learned that through the people around me believing in me. To make this film was a jump from ‘Jockey,’ and my producers, Joel [Edgerton], Adolpho, my production designer Alex Schaller, told me ‘Don’t limit yourself. Let reality limit you, but don’t start by limiting yourself.’ That’s a lesson I learned in this process, and I’d tell any filmmaker to learn it early rather than waiting like me.”
Watch IndieWire and Lavazza’s full conversation with Bentley in the video above.
About Lavazza
Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 9 manufacturing plants in 5 countries and about 5,500 collaborators all over the world. The Group’s global presence is the result of 130 years of growth and the more than 30 billion cups of Lavazza coffee produced every year are a testament to a remarkable success story, with the goal of continuing to offer the best coffee possible, in all forms, by focusing on every aspect of the supply chain, from the selection of the raw material to the product in the cup.
