Let's face it "Big Brother," "The Real World" and something called "Survivor" are artificial stabs at reality. In 1984, Martin Bell and Cheryl McCall gave us a terribly frightening documentary called "Streetwise" chronicling the day to day lives of dumpster diving kids on the streets. Survival was not a game and there was no million dollar payoff to the last one on the street. "Streetwise" got nominated for an Oscar as more dumpsters were raided and bodies were sold.

While surfing the Internet, a dive into a dumpster of sorts, I ran across www.rawnonfiction.com. Although I have not seen the film (Luben, I'm emailing you my address for a screener), it looks like "Raw Non-Fiction" has been gathering positive praise placing it in the same category as "Streetwise." One of its directors, the Bulgarian-born Luben Omaiski joined me for an IM chat on September 18, 2000, which ran into the early morning hours of September 19, 2000.

"Raw Non-Fiction" will be screened tonight, Wednesday, September 20, 2000, by Angelika's NewFilmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City, at 8pm. The screening is part of the IFP (Independent Feature Project) Market in its 22nd year, featuring 300 narrative documentary features, scripts, shorts, and works in progress. Lets hope that a distributor finds "Raw" likeable.

EInsiders.com: "Panic in Needle Park" and "Midnight Cowboy" come to mind when I inspect your website. Have you been influenced by great 70s films, about real people dealing with their real problems? Have you ever seen "Straight Time?" Is it "Slacker" meets "My Own Private Idaho?"

Luben Omaiski: I haven't seen "Panic." But I've seen "My Own Private Idaho." I'm into a lot of seventies movies. I think the seventies were a very creative decade moviewise. By the way, we're starting a film festival. It's called the Filmjunkie Underground Film Fest.

Your film, "Raw Non-Fiction," I haven't seen, so forgive me for improper comparisons, but is there a "Midnight Cowboy" connection? I want to give the readers a sense of comparison.

First, I want to say that I directed "Raw Non-Fiction" in collaboration with my partner Hans Fritz. And yes, there are scenes in our movie that do have the sort of "Midnight Cowboy" feeling you are talking about. But as a whole it's an entirely different type of film.

Is it mockumentary or documentary? Pick a genre if that's possible (maybe it isn't possible and maybe that is a bad thing). Maybe you want to avoid genre altogether.

I honestly haven't seen anything like it yet. Although some compare "Raw Non-Fiction" to "Streetwise," it's different in it's feel, approach and style.

How would it compare to "Kids?"

It's totally a documentary, but it has the feel and structure of a fiction film. Even the marketing campaign one liner is: "A Movie So Real It Feels Like Fiction." "Kids" was a fiction film made to look like a doc.

Yes, I saw the tagline, how do you feel about marketing the film that way?

Well, it's certainly something new and a risky undertaking, but hey, our movie is all about risk and no compromise. That's its power.

How did the film get made? Start with how the idea come to you guys.

"Raw Non-Fiction" is not the same "Streets of San Francisco" Karl Malden and Michael Douglas used to patrol.

Well, at the time, I was living in the Tenderloin, which is San Francisco's ghetto. It used to be the red light district till they got rid of the rampant prostitution. I was working dead end, low?paying jobs and on my way to work I used to pass these kids who hung out in my neighborhood on my way to work and back.

I was going to ask you about the Tenderloin. How did you end up there?

I saw this interesting subculture and I thought we should make a movie about it. I wrote my partner all about it and then it just happened. As for how I got to live in the Tenderloin, that's a good question. I used to be very rebellious and I thought I had to experience different sides of life to gain a unique perspective as an artist. I sort of had no idea what it was to live in the real world till my early twenties. That's funny.

Was the Tenderloin the real world? I mean its not MTV or anything, right?

I guess, the real reason I got to live in the Tenderloin was that the rents in San Francisco are just horrible and that's the neighborhood for struggling artists... And it's as far from MTV as you can picture it. I was actually paying $500 a month for this ratty little studio. I spent one year and one month there, to the day.

Was it a journey into the unknown like "Heart of Darkness" or something?

Yes.... everything in life is a journey. But this one was truly a great test and an amazing learning experience. I'm sure I'll never forget it. Even if success comes along. It'll be there, I hope, to stop me from selling out.......And it's funny, but our idea about the movie originated as a parody of MTV's "The Real World" but with real life street kids. We sort of wanted to make fun of MTV. But the movie evolved into something with a life of it's own.

Were you a filmmaker at the time this idea hit you, or did the idea make you a filmmaker?

I was a filmmaker, yes. I had dropped out of college because I didn't really think I could learn much more there. I wanted to move on and start making movies, which actually didn't happen for a few years. First, I tasted life as a member of the working class. I needed to gain more experience before I could make a good movie. I had grown up sort of protected and I needed to shatter some shells.

How did you learn filmmaking?

As far back as I remember I was always a storyteller. You know, writing short stories, etc. Then I realized that movies were the current medium for expression so I went in that direction. I was always fascinated by good movies. I'm not even going to tell you how many times I saw "Star Wars" as a kid. One learns how to make movies by making movies. I'm not sure if that's a quote or not, but it sure sounds like one.

Did movies replace reading for you? I noticed the reference to Shakespeare and Steinbeck on your page. Your story sure isn't The Red Pony or anything (although it may have a bit of In Dubious Battle or The Grapes of Wrath in it from what I see on the website).

No, movies never replaced reading for me and they never will.

Tell me about your literary influences, any Bulgarian writers?

I'm not really into them. I'm hung on the classics.

Which classics?

I'm into Homer, some Shakespeare, Greek drama, etc. but definitely I used to read a lot more than I do now.

Your website www.rawnonfiction.com is very good. How has the Internet influenced you? How has it helped promote your film?

Hans says that our site got something like twenty thousand hits last month, which is pretty good traffic for a small independent film, which has not even played yet and does not have a major distributor's marketing campaign behind it at this early stage. But we'll see on Wednesday at the New York screening. If the theater gets mobbed and we have to turn people away, that will mean something positive.

What is the current marketing campaign for the film other than the Internet?

Well, we're entering it into the major film festivals. We got Angelika Entertainment's NewFilmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC actually screening the film on Wednesday, Sept. 20th at 8pm. And, of course, they are promoting that event too.

How did you get into the marketing chain? I assume because the film is that good?

We submitted it to Angelika Entertainment's NewFilmmakers and they loved it. Actually, Angelika Entertainment produced "Streetwise," the Academy Award nominated documentary, back in the eighties. It was about homeless kids in Seattle. Very sad..... By the way the IFP Market is held at the famous Angelika Film Center in NYC.

Tell us about "Raw Non-Fiction's" premiere at the New York International Film & Video Festival.

Oh, that, I wouldn't consider that as the premiere. We were so disappointed in that excuse for a festival. These guys are pitiful. No one in the industry respects them, because they are very unprofessional and disorganized. They don't have any acceptance standards so that means at their event you can see a great movie right next to a real bad student film. But mostly the latter, which is why no self-respecting industry people show up. I only wish we knew beforehand. By the way, my partner has written a pretty funny article about that whole experience on Filmjunkie.com. Check it out. We even created a forum with other filmmakers about that festival. Most filmmakers were beyond disappointment.

So, is this week the premiere. Tell us a little about the festival currently screening your film.

Yes, I consider the screening by Angelika's NewFilmmakers at the Anthology Film Archives this Wednesday, 09/20, at 8pm, as the actual premiere. I mean these guys are the real thing. They are the first name in independent film afterall.

The Soundtrack: The Pixies and Stereolab with Ms. Cline, interesting combination, is this the music of the streets?

These guys certainly loved Patsy Cline, and they will probably listen to the Pixies. I'm not sure about the techno stuff. The soundtrack was the result of a collaboration between myself and my music supervisor Maria Sundeen, to whom I'm very thankful for the great job she did for us.

I have to ask this, slap me later. Your last name is unusual, have you considered the Tarsem ala "The Cell" approach? How about being known as just "Luben?" Or, the artist formerly know as "Luben?"

Not having a last name seems like such an unnatural thing to do to me, you know. Plus, filmmakers with unusual names are considered to be the hotter ones (laughs). Actually, my last name is a pseudonym I've been using forever since I started writing short stories years ago. And no, I would not just go by my first name. I know too many Lubens in this world to do that kind of thing. Going just by your name seems like a pretentious thing to do to me, like you're the Madonna of film or something. And remember Roman Polanski?

Maybe someday, Omaiski will be a house-hold name that we all have no problem pronouncing, and Luben will make a cameo in his Oscar winning epic as "the man with the knife." Good luck, Luben, and let us know how the IFP Market turns out. See Filmjunkie.com for Luben's coverage of the IFP Market.

Jonathan W. Hickman