Although writer/director/co-editor Hilary Brougher has not tripped the time lines like the characters in her debut feature, The Sticky Fingers of Time, she has become something of a world traveler. Brougher's globe-trotting odyssey began last summer, when she brought Sticky to the Venice Film Festival for its world premiere. After that, she and her lone print moved on to several other prestigious festivals, including Toronto and Rotterdam, with additional stops in London, Paris, Argentina, and New York. By the time she reached the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema in early May 1998, she had not only screened the film in a wide variety of settings, but had secured a distributor. Strand Releasing, a small company specializing in independent motion pictures, will open The Sticky Fingers of Time to a group of select cities during the fall. Although the release is likely to come with very little fanfare, Brougher is hopeful that good word of mouth (still the most important means of marketing any film) will enable the picture to reach a wider-than-expected audience.

The Sticky Fingers of Time is Brougher's first full-length motion picture, and represents the realization of an ambition that blossomed 15 years ago, when, at the age of 14, she began making Super-8 shorts. In the mid-'80s, she received a scholarship to New York City's School of Visual Arts, where she studied until her graduation in 1990. At that point, she continued to live in the city, taking on a number of production jobs while attempting to get a film off the ground. The Sticky Fingers of Time was not Brougher's initial choice for her first feature. However, after submitting a script for the oddly-titled 10-30 Rosebud to the Good Machine production company, Brougher was advised by producer Ted Hope to start with something a little smaller. (10-30 Roesbud, since renamed The Arc, will be Brougher's next project.) The result was The Sticky Fingers of Time, for which Hope and Good Machine story editor Jean-Christophe Castelli offered creative (and later financial) support. Rewrites were done, money was raised, locations were scouted, and the cast was brought on board. Although limited by budgetary constraints, The Sticky Fingers of Time was born.

Brougher is a firm believer that the budget should meet, not exceed, the needs of the script. She would prefer to turn out movies that she cares about and has creative control over, rather than become the figurehead at the helm for a 3000-screen Goliath. That's not to say that Brougher isn't interested in getting a little more money for her projects. The Sticky Fingers of Time was produced for $250,000, finishing costs included. The results are impressive -- this is a far more polished film than one might expect for that amount -- but Brougher indicated that, for a couple hundred thousand dollars more, she could have gotten all of the coverage she wanted and smoothed out a few minor continuity errors that exist because there wasn't enough transition footage.

The Sticky Fingers of Time is presented using a combination of black-and-white (for 1953 scenes) and color (for 1997 scenes). Brougher, who had always planned to use this approach to delineate between the two time periods (it's great for atmosphere and the characters look subtly different when photographed in b&w than they do in color) had initially intended to shoot the entire picture on video. As additional money became available, she was able to upgrade her plans. The finished project was filmed completely on Super 16 stock.

The Sticky Fingers of Time is unique for several reasons. First, it's a science fiction movie that has no special effects. Secondly, it's a rare example of a film in this genre that features both a female director and female stars. (Science fiction, after all, is a heavily male-dominated niche.) Finally, Sticky manages to tell its story all the way through without becoming involved in the kind of verbose "techno-babble" that hamstrings many time travel endeavors. It's easy to suspend disbelief when watching this movie.

The film opens in 1953 New York City, and introduces us to one of two protagonists: Tucker Harding (played by Terumi Matthews), a writer of dime-store novels. Tucker, who observed an early H-bomb trial, has been infected by radiation which, unbeknownst to her, has given her the ability to spontaneously time travel. She learns of her talent when a walk down the street to buy coffee takes her 1997 instead of the nearby store. While in the future, she makes contact with two other time travelers: a former lover, Isaac (James Urbaniak), and a depressed young woman, Drew (Nicole Zaray), with whom she develops an immediate connection. Isaac, an expert at being a non-linear "time freak," explains that Tucker is free to live life in any order, although she can't experience any one moment twice. Time may be running out for her, however, since a yellowed newspaper clipping presages a dire future if she returns to the past.

Her careful approach to the various time travel paradoxes explored in The Sticky Fingers of Time indicates that Brougher is a fan of science fiction, not a first-time dabbler. By her own admission, she is a "geek" who was more compelled to make a sci-fi or horror film than a coming-of-age drama or a tale of urban violence (the first choices of most new film makers working on a low budget). Brougher's two main inspirations for Sticky are the short stories of James Tiptree Jr. (the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon) and several episodes of The Twilight Zone. She is also familiar with Star Trek (which may explain the Spock-like phrase of "Logic suggests..." uttered by one of her characters).

Like almost all first-time directors, Brougher is rightfully passionate about her film. In her view, Sticky isn't just science fiction; it's about Drew's "creative awakening," which, in some ways, echoes her own experience in getting the film made. The lack of special effects is a source of pride, since Brougher hopes that the story (on its own merits) will be enough to engage viewers. "Imagination is a powerful tool," she remarked when I sat down with her following screenings of Sticky at the 1998 Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. "Sticky isn't about special effects. It's a small, intimate film about people... It's necessary to keep both the emotional logic and the science fiction logic intriguing and sound." Brougher's vision is effectively realized, because, while the "hook" into the story may be the science fiction/time travel elements, it's the characters and their relationships that keep us involved.

A lesbian subtext to the relationships between several female characters, including Tucker and Drew, has made Sticky an attractive choice for several gay & lesbian festivals (London and San Francisco) as well as for more mainstream venues like Toronto and Venice. However, this is not a film about sexual identity, nor does it have a strident political agenda. Brougher firmly believes that sexuality is not the sole trait by which a character should be defined. And any sex, whether heterosexual or lesbian, is presented in a low-key manner. Far more important are the issues of desire and friendship.

The cast for The Sticky Fingers of Time is comprised almost entirely of New York-based actors drawn from the local theater community. All of them give impressive performances, especially Terumi Matthews as Tucker and James Urbaniak as Isaac. The casting process took nine months before Brougher had everyone in place. She speaks glowingly about the enthusiasm and professionalism of everyone, saying that she would enjoy working with any of them again.

Like many new film makers, Brougher not only directed the project, but wrote the script. However, she took her involvement in the creative process one step further by working aside veteran editor Sabine Hoffman in piecing together the final cut. The result is that Sticky is Brougher's project from beginning to end. In fact, she admits to enjoying the editing more than the writing, indicating that it was "more fun in some ways" and remarking that, for her next film, she hopes to be able to do the editing on her own.

Sticky was shown twice at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema. It received two of the best screening slots -- prime time during the Friday and Saturday nights of the first weekend. Both shows were sold out, and Brougher was upbeat about the mood of the crowd (I was there on Friday night to see the film for the second time, and concur with her assessment that the audience was into the experience). Film critic Roger Ebert attended one of the screenings, and, while he will defer writing a formal review until the film is presented for the press in Chicago, Brougher was pleased by his favorable reaction, which he expressed to her personally.

The Sticky Fingers of Time is a rare breed: an intelligent, thought-provoking science fiction movie that has the depth and strength of character to appeal both to those who love the genre and those who don't. It isn't necessary to puzzle out Sticky's time paradoxes to appreciate the relationship between Tucker and Drew. The film is worth seeing and supporting when it achieves its limited release in the second half of 1998. As for Hilary Brougher's next film -- I'll be eagerly awaiting my chance to see The Arc.

© 1998 James Berardinelli