'Crestone' | Soundcloud rapper documentary scored by Animal Collective

The Crestone documentary is what happens when you film a group of SoundCloud rappers living their lives in Crestone, Colorado, growing weed and making memories that are now forever cemented in a movie.

The film’s director and old friend of the crew of internet musicians, Marnie Ellen Hertzler, packed her things and headed to the desert state for eight days with the intention of making a couple music videos and maybe a short film. The end product? This documentary.

Crestone is out now available on demand. On Febuaury 19th, the soundtrack, scored by experimental pop band Animal Collective, will be out on physical LP. You can pre-order the soundtrack here!

Check out the exclusive clip from the movie above and read our conversation with Hertzler, watch the trailer, and listen to the mixtape below!

Official mixtape for the motion picture CRESTONE Featuring the artists in the film _______ Film release via Apple, Amazon, and Altavoid on Feb 16 Blu-Ray release April 20 _______ Directed by Marnie Ellen Hertzler Written by Marnie Ellen Hertzler and Corey Hughes Produced by MEMORY Co-produced by Eliza Moley Shot by Corey Hughes _______ Starring Champloo Sloppy, Sadboytrapps, highmynameisryan, AM the A1, Phongwinna, Huckleberry, Mijo Mehico, and Benz Rowm

What motivated you to make this documentary?

I had known some of the guys in the movies since high school. We had been wanting to work together for over a decade at that point. I knew they're living out in Colorado and hanging out, making music and art and we finally got the opportunity for me to go out there. We only had eight days, but we knew we could get a couple of music videos out of it and ended up making this film. 

How does this project differ from some of the other stuff you've worked on and directed?

A lot of my other stuff is more narrative-driven. I think I've only made really one or two other half- doc half-narratives. They're all kind of about the internet, and the relationships we form on the internet, and how the internet shapes our lives and ourselves. So this is in that same vein, but I've never made it in a feature-length film, never made it with my friends, and never made a piece that revolves so much around music and artistic expression. It's usually just about expression on the internet.

Can you see yourself in the future working with your friends again, or doing another music-driven piece?

Yeah, I mean, I love music-driven work. So I can definitely see myself doing that. I’d love to work with the guys again if the opportunity comes up. A lot of them got really interested in acting and it was really fun to see their interest in filmmaking grow over the process.

Was there anything that you learned during the filming process of this or anything that surprised you?

I feel like I learned a lot. I think this is my film education. I didn't go to film school, I went to art school. I've considered that a sick experience for the past few years, quite the schooling. I think I've learned how important it is to slow down and really enjoy the process and the moment of making your film, because that's the really important part, is like actually being there and shooting. So much of those things like that, the reward is at the end when everyone sees your film, but I truly believe that it's the process along the way and the relationships you form along the way and the things that you've learned. I think that was the main takeaway for me.

Do you have a favorite memory that stands out from putting this all together?

I think the best day or the best scene we shot was at the sand dunes, the scene in the middle of the film with the Animal Collective score and Keem's voiceover. It was just like such a cathartic experience for everyone. It was a tough day. It was a really hot day shooting and we scheduled that for the end of the day, and it was just really fun. Everyone became really childlike. We're just running around these gorgeous sand dunes surrounded by mountains. I think about that a lot and how much it really brought everyone together. Even though we were all really close, just that kind of childlike playfulness, it was really special.

Would you say that the documentary has a childlike feel to it?

Absolutely. I think it's kind of like Peter Pan, The Lost Boys [laughs]. It's very playful and I really wanted to lean into that. I wanted to lean into the playfulness and that side of friendship, too. It's the make-believe and storytelling that we do in our friendships.

In this documentary, you said, “This movie is a love letter, this movie is about the end of the world.” Can you tell me what you mean by those words?

I think it can mean a lot of things, it's really what anyone wants to take away from it. But for me, it was truly a love letter to my friends and to that particular moment in time, because we'll never get that back and I think that's what I also mean by the end of the world. Where it's like, yeah, of course, we're showing apocalyptic shots of the mountain burning and there was the emergency broadcast on TV and no one else was around and technology stopped working. But also it's just like, a little bit of the end of an era for everyone there. Everyone left Crestone shortly after that. So yeah, a little bit of the end of an era but also a celebration of love and friendship.

When you first became friends with these guys did you ever think that you would be working on a project like this?

I knew we would be working on something together. My best friend, Sad Boy, in the movie, and we were immediate friends. When we met, actually in art class in high school, we were pretty inseparable. We're both really creative and trying to figure out where we wanted to be and what we wanted to be making in our lives. So I always saw myself doing something like that with him. But I guess I never expected the scale that this thing ended up again, we thought we were going to go out there and make a few music videos and maybe a short film and it ended up being pretty fruitful.

When did you know that it was going to be a documentary instead of just a couple of music videos and a short film?

I think when I got home. I didn't really get the chance to review the footage after every shoot every eight days because I would come home and have to write the next scene. Corey Hughes was able to review the footage, but I didn't really spend the time I needed to so when I got home and could finally review all the footage I was like, oh, wow, I think we could really shoot something long-form and fun out of this and bring in social media elements and musical elements and stuff like that and create something a longer form. I think that something longer form would lend itself to the experience we had out there too because it did seem like a very long time out there.

This documentary is out on-demand today, what are you most excited for people to see and gather from it?

I'm just really excited for this film to find its audience I think, it's only played in festivals and really small online screenings up to this point and those are only accessible to a certain group of people. So I hope it finds like the cool internet kids and finds a home in their lives. I'm just really excited to see where it ends up. I'm just excited for people to connect with a film that is this style, too, because I think it really lends itself to how we are consuming media today. Everything's an endless scroll and we're stuck on our devices because we can't really do much else out in the world right now. Yeah, it's exciting. I can't believe it's happening. Finally.