THE OVERNIGHTERS written and directed by Jesse Moss. A filmswelike release. 100 minutes. Opens Friday (November 7). For venues and times, see Movies.
In 2013, Jesse Moss decided to make a documentary about Jay Reinke, a pastor in Williston, North Dakota, who’d made it his mission to give shelter to the constant flow of people arriving in town to land a job in the fracking industry.
Things quickly became complicated as the town labelled the people staying in Reinke’s church transients or homeless and the pastor doubled his efforts to take people in. The resulting conflicts are detailed in The Overnighters.
“If I was asked to solve the tradi-tional homeless problem, I would be at a loss as to what to do,” says Reinke, sitting with Moss a few hours before the film’s Canadian premiere at Hot Docs.
“I think what was happening also was unique in that these were able-bodied individuals – with their brokenness and their struggles, but still functional – and there’s a different need there.”
“What I liked about Jay from the beginning was his self-awareness,” Moss says. “He didn’t present himself to me as anything other than a man like the men he was helping. He wasn’t a paragon of perfection or some sort of saint. He was just a guy presented with a choice to make.”
“I’m almost grateful for some of those scenes where I’m not really presented very nicely,” Reinke says. “It indicates there’s some real tension and frustration there, an uncertainty as to what to do. I think sometimes people think you have to be superhuman to respond to somebody else’s need, you know?”
Moss says he thinks the situation in Williston illuminated a key aspect of the American character: the idea that there’s a place where you can go to reinvent yourself.
“A place to find not only a job, but a better vision of yourself,” he says. “But I think the reality of the film is that you can’t outrun, not just your addictions and your burdens, but your bad luck. Even in a place that seems to offer limitless possibilities.”
Interview Clips
Jesse Moss and Jay Reinke on following the mission wherever it leads, even if it means confronting a pissed-off woman with a shotgun
Reinke on what he’s learned from the experience of opening himself up for a filmmaker
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
