SXSW 2024: Brian J. Smith Discusses Directorial Debut: ‘A House Is Not A Disco,’ Capturing the Magic of Fire Island Pines, and More

Brian J. Smith, known for his versatile performances in projects like Sense8, Stargate Universe, The Matrix Resurrections, and Class of ’09, is now making waves as a director. His film A House Is Not A Disco is set to make its world premiere at SXSW, showcasing his talent behind the camera alongside his captivating storytelling on screen.

The compelling film documents a year-in-the-life in the world’s most iconic “homo-normative” community: Fire Island Pines. Situated fifty miles from New York City, this storied queer beach town finds itself in the midst of a renaissance as a new generation of millennial homeowners reimagine the Pines for a new, more inclusive era. Filmed like a Wiseman movie on magic mushrooms, a large cast of unforgettable eccentrics, activists, drifters and first-timers reflect on the legacy of the Pines while preparing their beloved village for the biggest challenge it has faced since the AIDS crisis: rising seas caused by climate change.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Brian about A House Is Not A Disco, capturing the magic of Fire Island Pines, and more.

PC: In your director’s statement, you stated that you’ve always been drawn to the power of memory. What has been the moment on Fire Island Pines that inspired this documentary? When you look back at this experience, what is the memory that you’ll remember most?
Brian: I remember going to the Pines one time in November. It’s a fun time to be there because it’s basically abandoned. That time of year, you can really feel the ghosts out there. Although the Pines is this place that has constant activity, partying, connecting, dinner throwing, and stuff like that, for me, the Pines was always a very solitary experience. I wanted that sense of loneliness at times to seep through the characters’ journeys out there. We were lucky to find some people who were not just having a great time out there, but also were struggling and trying to find their way.

Gosh, I’m trying to think of a defining moment out there. When we were filming, there was so much synchronicity that happened. One of the coolest moments is when we met the two boys at the very beginning of the film who were there for the first time. They lost their wallets and couldn’t get back home. We randomly found them on the boardwalk.

They saw us with the cameras. They were like, “Hey, what are you guys doing?” We were like, “We’re making a documentary. Would you like to be in it?” They were like, “Yeah!” It launched us on this little adventure with them throughout the whole year. We kept seeing them and checking in with them. Those kinds of moments were definitive for us. It was a lot of synchronicity and a lot of fate that was working in our favor.

PC: You really captured the magic of the Pines. One of the subjects in the film talks about the fact that people come out there to discover new things about themselves. What discoveries did you make about yourself through your own experiences on Fire Island?
Brian: I discovered that I hadn’t quite had an adolescence. I grew up in Texas during the Reagan and Bush years. It wasn’t the friendliest place to be open, be a kid, and know something’s different about you. I think a lot of us spend our teenage years in hiding.

Then we come to places like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Chicago, and we come out, and we need places where we can be teenagers or adolescents. We can make all the mistakes that we didn’t get to make romantically and socially when we were teenagers. That was something that was really surprising to me. I had a lot of social things to learn, a lot of confidence that I needed to gain, and a lot of heartbreak that I needed to go through. That was a lot of what that place taught me.

PC: Beautifully said. You touched upon this already, but what’s so compelling to watch with this film is the ways in which you’re able to highlight the generational differences as well as the history of this community and the renaissance that it’s experiencing. Was that contrast something that you were mindful of while you were filming this project? Why was that juxtaposition so important to you as a filmmaker?
Brian: I love older people. I’ve always felt more comfortable with people who were maybe a generation or two or three ahead of me. I’m fascinated by what we inherit from our elders. The great thing about the Pines is that it’s this wonderful melting pot of generations. You have people who have been going out there since the ’70s or even earlier. They have a lot to tell us about what it was like to be queer and what it’s like to be gay when it wasn’t okay. I’m not saying it’s okay now, but it was harrowing. We need to have those people in our lives and in our culture to tell us about what it was like before. The Pines is one of the great intersections for that. There’s a lot of learning, exchanging, and loving going on. You see a lot of older men with younger men. There’s this wonderful mentorship that happens out there that I find very beautiful. I wanted to incorporate it into the film.

PC: Another theme that you touch upon in the film is the concept of chosen family and how this community comes together. Who were the people in your own life who have shaped the storyteller that you are today?
Brian: Lana Wachowski was a really big one. I did a show with her on Netflix called Sense8. That was a massive experience for me. We traveled the world, and we made one of Netflix’s first queer, experimental series. It was really formative for me. I learned a lot watching Lana Wachowski and her sister Lilly and how they worked.

Cherry Jones is a big part of my own formative family of artists who helped me grow. I did a play with her years ago. Also, my boyfriend. I met someone about a year ago. We’ve been living together, and that’s a first for me. I’ve never done that before.

And then, of course, the people that I worked on this film with. This wasn’t one of those experiences where we were like let’s go make a film and then bye, see ya. They’re actually texting me right now on my computer because we were on the news talking about the film this morning. [laughs] There’s something about this film that brought people together, and they don’t seem to want to let go, and I love that. I want to help build those kinds of families in my own career and in my own life. It’s exciting that it’s been such a warm experience for everybody.

PC: There’s so much trust that’s needed in documentary filmmaking. You can tell that you built a rapport with everybody involved and the ways in which the film’s subjects are able to poke fun at you during those interviews, but you also have those very vulnerable conversations. What was that process like, building that trust where everybody felt so comfortable and safe to be their most authentic selves?
Brian: If there’s anyone who knows how scary it is to sit in front of a camera and try to be the best version of yourself, it’s me. It’s a puzzle that I’ve been trying to unlock for over twenty years as an actor, so I’m very, very sensitive to the experience that people have when that little red light comes on and they feel like they have to deliver or they have to be good or funny or whatever.

A lot of the time, when we started recording, they didn’t even know that the cameras were on. We were just having a conversation. I think you can really see that relaxation in the film, and that was very important to me. It was really, really important to me that people had a good experience on camera because if you’re able to give someone permission to take their time and to find their way, most people can get there and be incredible and powerful on screen. That was a real surprise to me that that was something I enjoyed helping to provide for people.

PC: Credit to you as a filmmaker. You had over 140 hours worth of footage. What was that editing process to condense it to the 90-minute documentary that features so many different personalities, interviews, B-roll, and action shots, and make it feel so cohesive? Were there themes that emerged in that stage of the process that were less prevalent while you were filming?
Brian: They say that one of the most important parts of any film process is the edit. It was the first time I’ve been through that. What I did was once we were completely done filming, I had a drive with all of our footage on it. I went through and watched every single second. There’s nothing that I didn’t comb through and dig through. I took notes, categorized, and time coded things.

For me, it was a little bit like being an actor learning their lines. I needed to master the material before I could really start to have a point of view on it. Then once I did that, there are things that you find that you keep thinking about or it could be a look that someone gives in an interview. I can’t really explain it. It’s a gut reaction that you have that you’re like this needs to be in the film. You build it out from there. Once we found the superstructure of going from seasons and making this cyclical, seasonal story, a lot of that started to fall into place.

We had the brilliant Blake Pruitt, who’s our main editor, and Kyle Simms, who was our initial editor on this, are both fantastic at making these scenes come alive, especially once we knew what the structure of it was. But the editing, I was surprised by. It ended up being my favorite part of the whole process. I found that I really like that quite a lot.

PC: You’ve also said in previous interviews that this has been one of the most fulfilling projects that you’ve worked on. Did you find that your experience producing and directing have now impacted the way you approach your work on screen as an actor? Are you itching to direct another film?
Brian: It taught me how to listen in a much deeper way. There’s something fantastic that happens to all of us when we’re not self-conscious. I found when I was interviewing people and even just being on the phone with people off-camera, trying to talk to someone to see if we could film at this location or trying to raise money, you get off of yourself very quickly. You’re so keyed in on what the other person is doing and how they’re reacting. Then you find that you’re actually interesting in that moment. I hope that intense active listening and being in the world in a very present way with people, I hope that starts translating over into my acting. It would be great if it did.

PC: There’s no better place for this to premiere than SXSW, having been from Texas yourself. What does this moment mean to you? What do you hope audiences see after they see this?
Brian: There’s so much bad news out there. There’s so much to discourage us and make us feel like you just want to stay at home. I don’t think everyone is going to be able to get to Fire Island Pines, but I hope that some of the magic and that joie de vivre of that community comes across the screen.

I hope people leave the film just wanting to go to a club and wanting to dance or wanting to go be a deeper part of their community and appreciate those places that we all go to where we can be ourselves. That’s my deepest wish.

Some films are meant to make you feel bad. Those are necessary films. We need them. But the films that I want to make I want people to leave smiling, energized, and feeling like they can be a bigger person.

To keep up with Brian, follow him on Instagram. For SXSW screening details for A House Is Not A Disco, click here.