On the eve of the film’s screening at New Directors/New Films, Shane sat down with us for a heady discussion on the film’s origins, finding an audience, and non-verbal communication.

PAUL DALLAS: The film has just had its New York premiere this week. How has the reception been here?

SHANE CARRUTH: The bottom line is, the first time anyone saw the film was January at Sundance. I’ve been traveling around with it, and it’s played Berlin and SXSW, and we’ve done these awareness screenings in Seattle and LA and all these other places. This film was always going to be divisive in some way, simply because it has an ambition that is a bit different. So there will always be some people who key into what its ambitions are and what its intent is, and they’ll judge it based on that. But in general, it’s definitely leaning toward the positive. If January was the beginning of a conversation that’s making people aware of what the film’s up to, I don’t think anyone’s walking into Upstream Color now without knowing roughly the arena it’s trying to engage them in.

DALLAS: It’s astonishing that you managed to make this film in relative secrecy. It’s a rarity in this day and age.

CARRUTH: Yeah, it is. I’m realizing that now. It was done only because I’d tried to get this project made called A Topiary, and even though I’m nobody from nowhere, the script found its way online. It was being read and reviewed. It was really anxiety-inducing. So [that experience] definitely made me want to keep things quiet on Upstream Color—or as quiet as they can be. When there’s a finished film to be seen, then let’s let people know that it exists.

DALLAS: You’re distributing the film yourself. What does that mean?

CARRUTH: In some ways, we’re not really doing anything different than what a distributor would do. We’re tying to use these great [festivals and venues] to draw attention to the film and raise awareness. There was no way to be sure that a distributor would have been willing to communicate [the film’s message] to the public. My intention is not to make every last dollar I can. It’s to let the people who are potentially going to be receptive to the film know that it’s available for them and [to tell them] roughly what it is, so there isn’t any bait and switch happening.

DALLAS: Paul Thomas Anderson went a similar route with The Master. It was the first film where he personally controlled the graphic design of the advertising and cut the trailers.

CARRUTH: Yeah, I was so inspired by that.