Chicago Catholic News: Filmmaker from Skokie explores faith, religious imagery and -- tacos?

Filmmaker from Skokie explores faith, religious imagery and -- tacos?

(POSTED: 2/8/10) Rob skateboards to June's Hot Dog and Taco Palace often, it is where he gets his favorite tacos. When he sits down for lunch, he surrenders himself to the joy of eating his perfect meal. He enjoys it so much that he almost fails to notice the Virgin Mary image shining in his food.

This is the beginning of Taco Mary, a short film written and directed by Mary Novak, a staff member and part-time film professor at Chicago's Columbia College. Novak filmed the movie at Poochie's, a hot dog and hamburger restaurant in Skokie.

Novak, a practicing Catholic, lives in the northern suburb with her daughter and husband, a self-proclaimed atheist. Although Novak never adopted her husband's worldview, her writing was motivated by their dialogue on religion.

"The material comes from different sources: personal, my husband -- our dialogue on faith and non-faith -- and that weird cultural thing where people see things," said Novak.

Novak is fascinated by the way some people reinforce their faith by seeing religious imagery in otherwise ordinary objects.

What "kind of prompted it all is 'Underpass Mary,'" Novak said, referring to the stain on the wall of a Kennedy Expy. bridge that some say resembles the Virgin Mary.

When Rob sees the Virgin Mary in his taco, he shows it to people around him, but is met with mixed reactions. Some people are stunned by it, others see nothing, and Rob must decide if he should sell it on eBay or let the owner of June's put it on display.

Novak's movie is funny, even a bit irreverent, but it never makes fun of religion. Taco Mary deals with themes of exploitation and the way people react to the wonders around them, but Novak allows her audience to think about their own views on religion.

"There's an ambivalence that I kind of want the audience to feel," said Novak. "Yeah, it's not good to exploit, but if it brings people to an altar where they can renew their faith, then maybe the show of it is alright."

Although Novak is a practicing Catholic, she is not trying to be a missionary. She believes that all forms of spirituality are important, and hopes to convey that with her short film.

"I think if you really look at life, how can you not have some sort of faith?" Novak said. "You live with a lot more hope and vibrancy when you do."

The Taco Mary script was submitted to a writing competition at the D.C. Shorts Film Festival in 2008 where it won an award for Best Screenplay. The festival then provided Novak with $1,000 to bring the film to life and show it the following year.

Even at 50 years old, Novak is a young filmmaker. She earned an MFA in film at Columbia College, and has made five movies, but each one is just a step in her learning process.

"It takes a while to be good at it, as a filmmaker, because it's a very complicated art. There's so much to learn," said Novak.

Novak has been submitting her work to different film festivals, with varying success, in hopes of finding the means to continue making movies. She is not trying to make money from Taco Mary, in fact she has only been losing money so far, but she considers each film an investment in her career.

"To get into festivals and get some credibility, you want to base that success to move forward with your next project," said Novak.

By Stan Golovchuk, for ChicagoCatholicNews.com
Contact: info@chicagocatholicnews.com

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