You both graduated from SVA several years ago. What have you been up to since then?

Kate Jones: A lot of post graduation was trying to have a ‘lived experience' for me. I traveled India solo and studied in Germany, dropped out of graduate school in London because it was too expensive. I had a crazy relationship and now I have a two-year-old. The most important thing is I continued to make work and push myself and refine my creative process. Lisa and I also continue to collaborate long distance, our friendship as collaborators only grew more confident. It’s one of the best things that came out of attending SVA.

Lisa Saeboe: After graduation I tried my hand in the art world and worked as a gallery manager, but I always felt like I needed to work in a field that was more creatively fulfilling. I stumbled into set design by helping out on a short film in 2018, and fell in love with it. I’ve been freelancing in the commercial and fashion set design world ever since, which, luckily, has allowed me to maintain my studio practice and make films with Kate and my partner Jake.

You first started working together in 2014 when you were students in the SVA in Rome program. What led to your first collaboration?

KJ: We both have a photo background and started painting seriously around the same time. We just had a lot of interests in common. We also were in such a nurturing environment to work together, we both were feeling so much and wanted to synthesize it.

LS: Film felt like a natural extension of that, a way to combine all our interests and strengths into a sort of gesamtkunstwerk. And so “Satori,” our first collaborative film, was born. Rome’s rich cultural and natural landscape also had a magical way of inviting us to explore film as a medium.

How has your collaborative process and the work you make together changed over time?

KJ: I think we both have life experience we bring into it, so just more confidence. A big part of the collaboration process is blind faith and trust, you have to trust your partner’s vision even if you can’t see it in the moment. So I think we have grown as individuals and it’s elevated our work, securing trust in each other. It’s amazing; Lisa has attention to detail and organizational skills I don’t have. She insists I do this thing called “spreadsheet,” or put images in a Google Doc. She can hold a camera really still and takes great B roll, and she has a timeless cinematic eye.

LS: I believe some of the best work comes from collaboration because it’s a conversation that grows and expands over the years. “Satori,” which we shot when we were only 20 years old, feels more lighthearted, but you can still see similar themes in “Night of the Tilberi.” We’ve been developing ideas for new films and will be applying to grants so we can take our vision to another level.