The first time I went to summer camp was when I was 15 years old. My parents sent me to a theatre arts camp, and at that point in my life it was single handedly the most formative experience I had had. The friendships that last a lifetime, the camp drama and romances, the camp dance that felt like the event of the century – this all changed my outlook on life at the time. I had found a place where I fit in, without question.

When watching Rachel Israel’s film “The Floaters” I was immediately taken back to my own summer camp experience, way back when.

The film follows musician Nomi (Jackie Tohn), whose life is falling apart. In an effort to help, her best friend and head of Camp Daveed, Mara (Sarah Podemski), hires her for the summer. Nomi finds herself in charge of a group of misfits, affectionately nicknamed “The Floaters”, with one mission; get the kids to care about something, and more importantly, each other.

Filled with heart, humor, wit, you can’t help but fall in love with this story, these characters, and this camp they call home. Marked with authenticity and a familiarity that’s appealing to all audience members, the film feels like a siren song for the misfits, reminding us we’re not so alone.

In conversation with Cinema Femme, Israel speaks about the collaborative creative process of this film, and what it was like creating such a heartwarming, humorous piece that will feel so recognizable to so many.

I really enjoyed your film, it was such a blast! I just wanted to start by asking how this script found you, and what drew you to being a part of this story?

Yeah, the script found me through my agents. It was an old fashioned agent script. When I first read it, I loved many things about it. I never went to summer camp so that part of it was a new world for me, but I loved how the script encapsulated some of the things that were always central for me about Jewish community, which is this space where it’s welcoming to difference, and where we can engage with each other in a positive form of argument, and that’s central to the culture and I loved that it showed that about Jewish community.

I also loved that it felt like a crazy Jewish world but something that would be broadly appealing and not in any way for a Jewish audience. Films that I really get into and are successful at pulling me in deeply are very specific about their worlds, and it doesn’t matter if I culturally get it or not. I really loved the opportunity to do that with summer camp, and show a Jewish summer camp which is this quirky little space.

Like we were talking about, summer camp is a very universally understood concept, that concept of found community and collaboration. How was that idea reflected on set while you guys were filming?

Yes! So we shot at an actual camp, Camp Tel Yehudah in Barryville, New York, and it was an isolated environment. You can’t really find restaurants that are open reasonable hours, and so we all just hung out at camp. I stayed at the camp, as did many of the cast, and the process of making a film is very bonding, and that environment where we were holed up together on site really did that, and I think you can feel it in the film.

You absolutely can! This film has a major creative component, like songwriting and theatrical performance, can you talk a bit about that aspect of the film and how that changed your approach to the storytelling?

Well here is a small, funny detail. There is a play within the film, and I realized when we were about to shoot that that I don’t know how to direct theatre. I can talk to actors but I don’t know how to direct a stage performance so it looks pretty and you can see what you need to see, so I called on our incredible production designer Jordan Janota, who has a background in theatre, and was like can I just leave you with them and you direct them on stage. Just a funny detail relating to the arts in the film.

For a deeper answer to the question, there is an idea in the film about reinvention. Something I’ve heard time and again from people who have gone to summer camp is it’s a place where they’re able to be someone in that space that they aren’t at home, and how liberating that is, and I think the arts are a place where we get to create a new persona. I think that work into that theme, art being a place of reinvention.

You have a lot of performances in this film from some young adults. Tell me a little more about that!

They were all such talented people, and I really feel like we have caught this moment with these rising stars. For example, Jim Kaplan’s character Tums was written as a side kick character to Jake Ryan’s character of Wetspot. He and Jake formed such a great backstory for their characters and their friendship together, and when we would shoot we would leave room for improv because it was just so strong. Because these actors all did such deep work in forming their characters there would be surprises that would come out in the improvisation that I didn’t know about their characters that eventually made it into the cut.

I love that you had some improv in there. The film feels very organic, so this makes a lot of sense. Obviously the film also features wonderful performances from Jackie Tohn and Sarah Podemski. They’re brilliant in their roles. How did you land on them? What was that casting process like?

I mean they are such natural fits for their roles. It was from very early that we thought Jackie Tohn, this would be perfect for her. And Sarah, her character Mara is written in a way where if the wrong actor was cast in that role it could be very closed off and cold. Sarah Podemski has such a deep warmth where Mara is such a lovable character, even if she has more boundaries

They’re both great comedic actors and very serious actors. When we filmed a climatic scene with them, they wanted to do a read through of it. They said it was good but wasn’t there yet, they weren’t hurting each other enough. So we were about middle of production and we worked on that together, and they produced those zingers.

So Cinema Femme focuses on female and gender expansive creatives. What has your experience been like as a female director, creating a female led story?

Something that was important to me, and the producers as well, was wanting to see representations of strong female Jewish characters who aren’t playing to stereotypes that we’ve seen for Jewish women. So strong, positive and complex was what we were going for.

In terms of me as a female director, I feel like as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized ways in which I’ve been socialized as a women to kind of always want to be pleasing. As a director, you have to be very direct and authoritative, and you have to have confidence in your voice. I think it’s as I’ve gotten older I’ve recognized those ways that I have to kind of shed what was socialized into me. Maybe it’s the cockiness of being a younger women that I didn’t realize it sooner. But it’s nice, it’s a feeling of growing power.

There are great roles for young women in the film, and roles for women in their forties in the film, and I loved representing those characters.