Zachary treitz biography

Zachary Treitz is known for Men Go to Battle (2015), We're Leaving (2011) and Frances Ha (2012).
I sat down with director Zachary Treitz to discuss the film, which he co-wrote with Kate Lyn Sheil and for which he was awarded Best New Narrative Director.
Zachary Treitz is a director and editor known for American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (TV Series) and Men Go to Battle.

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Zachary Treitz

Interview

Talking to the filmmaker behind Men Go to Battle.

July 8, 2016

Tim Norton in Men Go to Battle, 2015. All images courtesy of Film Movements. All photos by Brett Jutkiewicz.

Men Go to Battle is the story of two brothers who live in a cabin on the remnants of their family's once-grand Kentucky estate, which they sell piecemeal to survive. The year is 1861, and rumors about the Union Army are a hot topic in the parlor of the town's wealthiest family, the Smalls. When younger brother Henry (David Maloney) is romantically spurned by Betsy Small (Rachel Korine), he enlists in the Union Army without telling Francis (Tim Morton). The brothers' lives diverge for the first time, and they are forced to confront the world alone precisely as the Civil War transforms it forever.

Men Go to Battle eschews the extravagance of conventional period pieces in favor of intimacy and naturalism. The camera lingers on Henry's face as he marches into the Battle of Perryville, and outdoor scenes are scored by cicadas and rustling wind. Contrary to expecta

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Zachary Treitz’s Old Kentucky Home

ABOVE: ZACHARY TREITZ. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN HANSEN.

Period pieces are usually delicate affairs to shoot, requiring a comfortable budget and highly controlled environments to create an accurate rendition of the time. “Not in our case!” says writer-director Zachary Treitz of his micro-budget indie Men Go To Battle. The film is Treitz’s first, which he co-wrote with actress Kate Lyn Sheil. Set during the first year of the Civil War in the South, it follows the antics of brothers Henry (Tim Morton) and Francis Mellon (David Maloney) who compete to keep their depressed farm alive, keep each other entertained, and act as suitors to higher class women until Henry runs off to join the Union Army.

Though the film feels as accurate as a movie can get, the shoot in rural Kentucky, Treitz’s home state, was far from controlled, stirring up anger from local politicians, potential lawsuits from the EPA, and death threats. “We tried to be open with chaos. We cultivated chaos into the movie,” says Treit

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Indie director Zachary Treitz chats about his Civil War-set feature debut, Men Go to Battle

A sensation at 2015’s Tribeca Film Festival, Men Go to Battle is an arrestingly smoky and understated period piece (read our review here), one that quietly charts the failing relationship between two brothers whose farm falls into disrepair during the Civil War. Writer-director Zachary Treitz, 31, shared its genesis with us.

Where are you now, geographically?
I’m in Chinatown. It’s actually the old place where Frances Ha was filmed. Remember that apartment she lived in?

Seriously? that must be wild. You worked on that film a little, and you’re a new York guy. So why is your debut a Civil War film?
I’m actually a Kentucky guy at heart. That’s where I’m from. The background of the story was based in my family’s history: I grew up hearing about how they’d been a part of the westward expansion and, by the 1860s, how they’d become prosperous. And by the end of the Civil War, they were decimated. That was a romantic story I&rs