Balin Schneider is quickly becoming one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the industry after directing the Material Issue documentary, Out Of Time. I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview him in between his press for his directorial debut, and several new projects in the hopper.

Balin, thanks so much for making the time for me. I want to start with the question everyone is wondering. When will the rest of the world get to see this amazing documentary?

I think there will be an announcement on proper dates in the next month. For sure, the first half of 2022, and physical releases in the summer. There will be a strand of theatrical shows in May and April, and maybe the summer as well. We just had some things we wanted to fix before everyone else saw it. After hearing it, we wanted to tweak the mix.

I was hoping to add the trailer to my post, but I couldn’t find one. Is that something that you’re working on as well?

We should have a trailer out, hopefully, this month, maybe next month, but it should be live soon. The trailer is really cool! We’ve had some licensing holdups, but it’s ready on our end as of this week.

When I watched the documentary, I felt a sense of resolve. Did you feel like you were bringing closure to the Material Issue story as the process went on?

Personally, I had the whole journey with the film. Emotionally, it feels like adding a chapter for sure. Both the Minneapolis show and the Chicago show were my favorite parts, just talking about it with people and being able to tell that it brought closure to a lot of people, even the people that were interviewed too. There were some people I could tell when I was interviewing them for the film that they had not even talked about it for 25 or 30 years. It kind of gives this story an end chapter, some finality. I think especially for the fans, too, it definitely gives them closure, and that’s my favorite part of what it does. I hope that what the film does when it comes out is it takes people who aren’t into the band and makes them fans. On the other hand, I think what makes me most happy is that it will provide closure to the fans, and people who knew the band, and people who worked at the band’s label back in the day, you know, anybody connected to them.

Material Issue drummer Mike Zelenko (left) and bassist Ted Ansani (right) pose with director Balin Schneider (center) –Photo by Barry Brecheisen

You mentioned the interviews, all of which were gripping. But one, in particular, stood out to me, the one with the producer of their first two albums, Jeff Murphy (Shoes). It still felt as though he was heartbroken over Jim’s suicide, and really needed to get some things off his chest.

Jeff really cared about Jim, and that’s so evident. He made two amazing records with the band and, maybe, two of the most important records he’s ever made? Not that his own stuff isn’t important, but I think he really loved those records and loved working with those guys. Having this huge artistic thing happen in your life and not being able to talk about it is hard, because, you know, there was never any public platform where anyone was talking about Material Issue. I think that’s definitely why.

You did such a great job of bringing in people around the band who really cared about Jim. What was that experience like?

It’s been an emotional journey for the band because there are a lot of things you have to explore while doing it that are really…emotional. But the band, and the people around the band, and Jim’s family, are all kind of like…a family. I think that’s a given in any circumstance like this, but they really are very tight-knit and close. It was really nice to see everyone band together around one important thing.

Was Covid an obstacle to the production of the film?

Production was kind of right before Covid. We had a really long production period, there wasn’t a huge budget, so it was over the course of a year that we filmed all the interviews. We filmed 30 interviews total, and the thing that took the most time was collecting all the archival material and music, which was like a year and a half probably.

But we did our editing almost all during Covid, so it was remote. I’d watch a cut and then Zoom with my editor, as opposed to not being able to be in the room with her. The editing team Cara (Myers) and Pat (McIntyre) were really amazing, but all of that was pretty much remote. So, that was kind of weird, and I think probably prolonged the process a little bit. Also, when it came to releasing, the festival run was a little screwed. We premiered at Sound Unseen, and then we did the Lincoln Hall premier, but we didn’t enter into a bunch of other festivals because none were in-person, and I didn’t want to do a remote festival.

Balin Schneider Greets The Crowd During The “Out Of Time” Premiere At Lincoln Hall In Chicago, Illinois.
Photo by Barry Brecheisen

I definitely think it was cool to see the film with other people. It just felt so intimate and emotional, I caught myself shedding tears. I hope other people get to share this experience.

Yea, for sure…I still cry. There are certain things in the film that I see, that, I still cry at…even though I’ve seen it like three times. We want to do more of these theatrical runs where we’ll try to get the band to come out too.

Those moments with the family, especially Jim’s mom, and all of their interviews are really touching.

I think the family stuff is really awesome too, just in the fact that they were literally all so vulnerable about it, and didn’t hold back on talking about anything. That’s important because so much of the message that Jim’s mom gets across in the film is about mental health, and the whole family being able to be open and vulnerable about it, made the film what it is. It had this other message which was really important.

You’re 21 years old and have just directed this documentary of extraordinary magnitude. I’m wondering, Balin, do you come from a family of filmmakers, or where does the inspiration come from?

No, not really (laughs)! My dad’s a History professor, with a Ph.D. in history, so I’ve always been into historyand that part of a documentary. I was a Freshmen in college and I knew Material Issue and thought, they would make a good 8-minute YouTube video project. So, we did the first group of interviews and it just seemed like a good thing for my portfolio. Turns out, that as soon as we did those interviews everybody on Facebook was saying that a Material Issue documentary was being made, and it’s going to be huge! So that really spiraled and it all went well.

From then on we just learned as we went. I pretty much think everything I’ve learned about filmmaking, other than college, is from doing the documentary. There were definitely mistakes, money misspent, and that kind of thing. But it was really just learning while doing it. The band was really helpful too and my parents were big supporters of it. It was very challenging, and there were hard times, but it always worked out in the end.

Balin Schneider
Photo by Barry Brecheisen

Do you have any new projects in the works that you can talk about?

I have like seven things in development. Two of those projects are music-related: one’s about a new musician, and one’s about an older musician. Hopefully, something on that will be announced this year, but we’ll see.

That’s great news, congratulations! I think after seeing Out Of Time, a lot more people are going to know your name and will be looking forward to new things.

Yeah, hopefully, that’s the plan, but, I’m just happy that the fans that have been way too patient are finally going to see this film. Some of them have been waiting three-ish years to see it, so that will be cool.

Are there going to be any physical releases for the movie? There was a rumor going around Lincoln Hall that there might be a vinyl release along with the film?

We’re working on something that is either going to be a full LP or a 7-inch, and that will hopefully be out at the end of 2022. But we are for sure going to release something. We’ll also have some cool physical stuff, like definitely a blue-ray with bonus features. We might even do a limited edition VHS for collectors, and, also, posters.

Very cool! Well, I heard the doorbell ring so I’d better let you go. Thank you so much for your time, this was perfect.

I don’t know who that was, but someone else will get it! Thank you so much, I had a lot of fun doing this.

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