Emmanuel Itier

EPIC BILL

Nature Track film festival 2023

With director: Quinnolyn Benson-Yates.

Epic Bill is truly about re-inventing yourself and finding your true self. Meet Bill Bradley, a self-made millionaire who collapsed into bankruptcy and how he found himself, again, by entering the world of extreme endurance racing. Maverick director Quinnolyn Benson-Yates truly captured the spirit of what is defining “Epic Bill” through amazing sequences in the wilderness and honest, visceral, exposé of a man going through a transitional existentialist crisis. This is a must-see movie as it is so majestic and so vibrant. Young filmmaker Quinnolyn has a bright future in front of her. Watch her grab an Oscar in the coming years!

Q: how did this film come together?

Quinnolyn: After graduating from UCSB in Santa Barbara, I got hired by a company whose CEO wanted me to do a documentary about her brother, a self-made millionaire who had to declare bankruptcy and got into extreme endurance races. Initially this was going to be a short and my boss was very impressed by her brother and his commitment to this world of extreme racing. She flew me to Minnesota, and I started filming Bill there. It was negative 50 degree and this was truly insane! I was so happy to be thrown into this wild adventure despite the freezing cold conditions. Through the process of putting together this short, Bill mailed me a drive with lots of archive footage of him doing other races since 2006. There was roughly a hundred hours of footage. So, I went back to my boss and told her we could extend the short into a feature movie if she wanted. She believed enough in me to let me do it! So, four years later, here we are with ‘Epic Bill’, the feature.

Q: Beyond following Bill attempting all these races, what is your movie is truly about?

Quinnolyn: What is great is that movie is about a man who doesn’t finish the races he is attempting to win. Most movie in the same genre are all about men or women being successful with their enduring. But Bill is not successful in that sense. In many races Bill doesn’t even finish the race. So the movie is truly about what you take away even so you don’t succeed in what you are attempting to achieve. What are the lessons you learn from not making it at the end. Is the finish line the most important thing? It seems like it’s more about the community of all these men getting together at various events. I think it’s more about perseverance than triumph.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Quinnolyn: The negative 50 degree was a good one! I had seven layers of clothes and two layers of gloves.  In those temperatures your battery run out very quick. The camera kind of love it. But then you need to get into the warm and your lenses will fog out. So, you lose a few hours of shooting. Then, another challenge was filming in Argentina. Because of the altitude you can only walk so slowly. We went as high as 14,000 feet and this was quite enduring. This filming was very physical and very tiring.

Q: What did you learn about Bill and what lesson did you get from being with him and doing this doc?

Quinnolyn: I’m very grateful I got to do my first feature film about Bill. Making a feature is so different from making a short. A feature film is like a marathon. So, I saw parallels between my journey making this film and Bill’s journey doing these races. I’m very grateful for the belief and the support Bill had in me doing this film. Once production ended we got into the covid period. I ended editing remotely with two other editors. It was an isolating exprerience.  But Bill was cheering me, and we managed to get through the process. I had so much emotional support from Bill. You’re standing next to someone who walked the talk, and this was super inspiring to me to work with Bill. Every time he went down from all sorts of failures he managed to stand up and fight back. This is amazing to film and to witness. It’s so inspiring.

Q: Having your film in the Nature Track film festival, what does it mean?

Quinnolyn: I’m so happy to be part of this amazing film festival again. I’m excited to be back into my hometown where I graduated. I’m sure it will be an amazing experience. I’ll be able to show my film to my friends and my family. Also, I’m on a panel, so this is exciting to share my experience with an audience and other filmmakers. It means a lot to me. Let’s see what opportunities will come from it.

Q: Any plans for Distribution?

Quinnolyn: We are in early talks with a program from PBS. So let’s see what will happen. I hope, eventually, that we get it on one of the many platforms out there.

Q: What’s coming next for you?

Quinnolyn: Well, I’m in my second year at USC pursuing a film degree. I’m doing narrative and it’s a blast. I’m currently shooting a short, a western comedy. But you find out it’s actually a VR game. But I can’t wait to be back at directing a feature, whatever it is. I love doing features.