No one in Poser says the name of the city where it’s set, but it’s unmistakably Columbus.
Details of the Ohio capital and its vibrant arts scene are woven into the fabric of the entire film, which is an obsessive rabbit hole of house-party performances and costumed punk-rockers. Packed with dry humor, slick neon visuals, and an eerily hypnotic performance from Sylvia Mix as a podcaster name Lennon, it unfolds near iconic Columbus locations like Cafe Bourbon Street, an alternative music bar near Ohio State, and in front of mural-splashed walls that will feel familiar to any downtown Columbus native.
Poser directors Ori Segev and Noah Dixon
Poser is the feature directorial debut of independent filmmakers Noah Dixon and Ori Segev, for whom the decision to shoot Poser in Columbus came very naturally. After graduating from Denison University, outside Columbus, in 2014, the pair moved into the city, where they found a new home for their production company Loose Films — as well as a small but thriving arts community.
“When we first came to Columbus, we just immersed ourselves in the music and art scene, and were able to meet a lot of filmmakers,” Dixon says. “There is such incredible talent here…the arts community is manageable enough that everyone knows, or knows of, someone. I think it definitely informs a lot of collaboration.”
Poser’s cast is made up of real Columbus-based musicians: every band that audiences see performing onscreen is an actual group from the city’s independent scene. In many ways, Poser is a quiet dedication to the community that produced it: a collective of artists small enough that collaboration comes naturally, but big enough to make an imprint at exclusive film festivals around the world.
“I think that’s something that’s really special to Columbus and other Midwest cities. We wanted to show that off, but also keep it a little ambiguous for anyone else watching,” says Segev. “But it’s sort of been this amazing thing where everyone who’s been watching it from around the globe is really digging this Columbus scene, which is something we didn’t foresee at all. It’s been great.”
After 20 years working for top Oregon film festivals, Molly Kreuzman recently moved back to America’s 14th largest city to become the coordinator of the brand-new Cinema Columbus Film Festival, which kicked off this year and is committed to showcasing the best of the city’s film scene.
“Since my hiring in January, I have been on a mission to meet as many local independent filmmakers as possible, thinking there wouldn’t be many. I couldn’t have been more wrong,” she tells MovieMaker. “The quality of folks working on films here are incredible. The community is welcoming and supportive and players across the city are working hard to increase visibility and funding.”
More than Meets the Eye
Director Jonathan Sherman remembers well his move to Columbus from New York City 12 years ago. His realtor worried that he might find the Midwestern scene “boring” in comparison to the global artistic hotspot that he’d left behind. But as Sherman settled down to teach film at Kenyon College, he could sense the untapped potential lying right below Columbus’s surface.
A scene from Jonathan Sherman’s They/Them/Us, shot in Columbus.
“Seeing a city with fresh eyes that has neighborhoods as cinematic as German Village and Victorian Village meant I got excited about filming in locations that we haven’t seen on screen before,” Sherman reminisces. “When I started conceptualizing my next project, I wanted to create something of a love letter to my adopted city. There is so much unexploited production value here…for low-budget filmmakers, it’s heaven. Everyone opened their doors to let us film, even in the height of COVID.”
The resulting project was the award-winning They/Them/Us, a feature film released earlier this year that surprised audiences by building a delightfully unconventional story in its small Columbus neighborhood setting. Sherman’s drama-comedy about two divorcees using kink and BDSM to navigate Midwestern life together might not be a premise that would appear in your average wholesome family film. But at the end of the day, that’s exactly what They/Them/Us is: a tender analysis of human relationships that breathes life into a region rarely depicted onscreen. “Every Netflix romantic comedy seems to be set on a coast. But what happens is that the film business doesn’t represent the vast majority of Americans who live elsewhere,” Sherman explains.
“What is a family? What is a Midwesterner? What happens when you get a second chance at life?… Setting the film in Columbus really allowed us to play with a lot of expectations and stereotypes.”
Looking to the Future
What comes next for Columbus cinema remains to be seen. But nationwide attention for They/Them/Us and Poser — which was just named a New York Times’ Critics Pick — is building the city’s reputation as a place where independent film can flourish. Poser star Sylvie Mix’s next project, Obstacle Corpse, is a horror-comedy that recently wrapped shooting in Columbus. And the new Jim Gaffigan film Linoleum, from Columbus native Colin West, includes producers and several crewmembers from Columbus.
“I feel like the scene’s changed a lot very recently…before, it was like filmmakers were all working in their own separate silos,” Dixon says. “But especially in this past year it feels like we’re meeting a lot of other filmmakers who are all kind of collaborating and forming a community. It gets me excited about the future for sure.”
A scene from Poser
Sherman, a veteran of the central Ohio film scene, keeps busy by working on the Board of the Drexel Theater—a local non-profit arthouse—and on publicizing Columbus as a place where smaller-budget independent movies have potential to actually get made. His hope is that the growing strength of the Columbus cinema scene will attract the attention of Hollywood and of indie filmmakers across the country.
“I think the city is on the verge of exploding,” Sherman asserts. “Columbus nowadays may be known more for Buckeye football than filmmaking—but we are in the process of changing that.
“Making movies like They/Them/Us in the Midwest is a big surprise to a lot of viewers. They think this stuff only happens in New York or LA. But now, with two movies in theaters this year getting festival acclaim and awards, I think people here are starting to say… ‘Why not us?’”
Poser is now in theaters.
Main image: Sylvia Mix plays a podcaster named Lennon in Poser.
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