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Katina Dunn

Los Angeles

Writer/Producer/Director

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Gender: Female

Race: None

Citizenship: USA

Biography: 

I made a documentary on flamenco performers in Los Angeles - "KUMPANIA."
I first saw these artists in a little club in Hollywood playing their hearts out to an empty room, which was rather a shock. Here were talented people struggling to make a living and few people were experiencing their art outside of the flamenco community.

The challenge was to make a flamenco film in a new way, to appeal to a new audience.
I avoided all flamenco cliches in KUMPANIA. Nowhere in it do you hear the word "passion" or see any fire symbolism.
The documentary utilizes flamenco principles of improvisation and surprise, both visually and aurally. To that end, besides the traditional music, there is a hip hop score by composers "Gnotes" Sean Dwyer and Canyon Cody. The great flamenco singer Antonio De Jerez made up his own lyrics on the spot during recording sessions for the soundtrack. Antonio is a hidden treasure of Los Angeles.
Antonio took me aside one day and told me to make sure there was humor in the film. "There is a lot of fun in flamenco," he said.

IDA has been an invaluable resource in the making of KUMPANIA. Thanks to all the seminars I attended and helpfulness from DocuLink bloggers, I am able to keep up with the bigger picture of filmmaking which of course is morphing at a rapid rate.

I can't say enough good comments about the KUMPANIA crew. They were chosen for their subversive outlooks, wild energy and superb technical abilities, all principles of flamenco as well. Cinematographer Avi Cohen did great work despite our constraints. We weren't allowed to film backstage, onstage, and in many cases, could not adjust any lighting or sound lest the channeling of flamenco spirits be disturbed. Many of the flamencos had never been filmed before, and many didn't necessarily like it.
Editor Noah Berlow saw the Romani basis of the art form akin to survivors of The Holocaust. This understanding and his acute musical ear were invaluable contributions. He cut some scenes to the rhythm of Cristina Lucio clapping out flamenco beats in his little office at Crossroads Of The World in Los Angeles. We worked overnights for a few months until the documentary was completed, with not one disagreement.
Noah used footage from all kinds of cameras - my old SONY HVR-A1U to Avi's EX-1 and Canon 5D - and made them coalesce.
Music Editor Fran Gala lent his exquisite talents to fine tune the project.

All of us were enthralled with the KUMPANIA stars themselves. They are authentic and brutally honest in their performances and interviews. There is not a false note in the documentary.

Like most music documentaries, KUMPANIA is a sweetness of life, a little bittersweet, maybe, because these artists can't stop doing what they do, even though not many people appreciate them. So, it's a love story - of flamenco, the artists and Los Angeles, a city of many undiscovered inhabitants and alleys.

Graduated Northwestern University 1980
Attended Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School 2010