“We are filmmakers and a dj duo seeking to connect with others through sound and image.”
- Fever Dream

6 NOV 2021

So how did you two meet and come together as a dj duo?

E We met freshman year at NYU, the first day of orientation. And we've been very close ever since. Yeah, it's been a long time since I courted her. I was like, “Girl, we need to get an apartment together.” I don't know anybody who not just puts up with my shit, but also, doesn’t actually get mad or upset or annoyed in the way that everyone else does. There's a symbiosis we have and a way of being together, that we work better in filmmaking. All of that comes from how we are as roommates. It’s a symbiosis that we've had to build over time. But it's really, really cool. The trust that has been built through all of that has been so validating and exciting. It is just so wonderful to have a companionship the way that we do. Like, we roll up to this party together and have immense trust the whole time. And then we'll always listen to each other's advice, which I think is really awesome. There's no ego. I think that's the most beautiful thing in this dj journey that we're on, and I mean, in filmmaking, too. But we're filmmakers first. And then djing came on the side. It really is an egoless place. I think it’s really important. It takes a lot to fight that. So when you can do it together, it’s really nice. It's all about, what vibe are you servicing? And not like, who's right? Who's wrong? I mean, in art and music and all that, there's not a right or wrong, it's just all interpretation. But to be able to interpret together, it's very, very powerful.


N We have always really loved music, and music has been a big part of filmmaking as well for us. We took every film class together. We would always spend a lot of time deciding what would go against the image. And then, at parties, we would always take over the aux. My boyfriend at the time, was djing, and so we kind of were hovering behind and learning from him a little bit. We tried it once, and I felt like it was really overwhelming. I remember thinking, “Oh my God, we're never gonna learn this. This is too intense.” And then, coincidentally, around the same time, our friend Masha was starting this residency at Newtown radio, and essentially, every Friday and Saturday, you could sign up for a slot and learn how to use the equipment and learn how to dj. We would go pretty much every Saturday or Friday whenever we could.

E I think why we aligned so much is because we've always had such a connection to music. For me, it's like for the film that I've been working on for a few years now. The whole score of it is like a soundtrack. I think as Nina was saying, music fuels images in so many different ways, and there's just this inexplicable power and heart bursting feeling that comes from the duality of sound and image. I think as it relates to college and our studies, djing was almost bound to happen. We see it as another place to put our energy because the thing with filmmaking is, it takes so long to realize a vision. So being able to have something where you have a little more presence and instant gratification of like, “Hey, I'm playing music, there are people in front of me, we can connect, I'm sharing this art form with many other people,” that’s a presence you don't get in filmmaking. As amazing as filmmaking is in so many different ways because it's like putting a million art forms together, the event curation and energy creation aspect of DJing has always really appealed to us.

What do you like about filmmaking?

N When I watch films, there's an element of being transported somewhere else and to someone else's experience. But a lot of it is having my own existence validated. When I'm watching a film, I can see the parts of myself that I don't like, be represented on screen and kind of elevated and seen in an in a kinder way, or just given space. Because I feel like we often reject the things in our daily experience and livelihoods that aren't pretty, and I think that's what attracts me to filmmaking. Also, for me, I would say my biggest appeal is that there is no greater feeling than to look through the eyepiece. After I mean months of just intense anxiety and self doubt and insecurity, and dealing with everything going wrong like at the level that we're at, and not even that, at any level, on every level something will inevitably go wrong. You will rip your hair out. It is brutal sometimes, but then to stand and see that everything has come to this one moment where like the light is hitting perfectly, the actors are giving the best performance ever, you say cut, and then you're just in tears because you did it. And everyone there feels it too. Transferring that feeling to when you're in a room full of people and everyone's connecting with that one same song, it is that same level of presence. It is the utmost present that I will ever be, behind the eyepiece.

Do you have any inspiration behind your dj duo name?

N I literally was on the Montrose L platform stepping into the train, and I texted Emily “fever dream.” It just came to me. I mean, as a filmmaker, I am really interested in portraying dreams, or more so, something that's outside of your present reality. The other day, Emily goes, “Do you know that fever dream actually has a negative connotation sometimes?” And I'm like, “Yeah, but also, you could change that.” So yeah. I’m a fan of that word.