Years before Kane Parsons became a famous movie director with “Backrooms,” his former film teacher, Philip Chidel, recalled first seeing the original short film.
“We showed the film in class and as we’re watching it on YouTube, we’re watching it go viral, we’re just watching the views climb,” Chidel said.
At the time, Parsons was a 16-year-old student in the cinematic arts program at the Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School. Two weeks later, the short had amassed over 10 million views, and Chidel began receiving phone calls from people asking him about the internet phenomena that came from inside his classroom.
Soon Parsons was taking calls from Hollywood as the industry looked to capitalize on the viral video. And just four years later, the movie would reach theaters. The film, released on May 29, has become the highest grossing movie for the A24 studio. At 20 years old, Parsons is the indie film studio’s youngest director to date.
The original YouTube video, “The Backrooms (Found Footage),” was just the beginning in many senses. The creepy short film — based on an open-source, internet horror story and set primarily in an eerie maze of empty rooms — was the first in a series of popular videos Parsons made, each with millions of views.
The series plays on the concept of “liminal space,” empty or abandoned places that were once bustling, appearing creepy or surreal. Notably, the creators of the television series “Severance” referenced this concept in their use of seemingly unending office hallways.
Chidel said Parsons’ first video was not a class project and the young director would have made the film regardless. However, as his teacher, he had a front row seat to watch his student’s meteoric rise into the film industry.
Chidel comes from the industry himself. After a career as an independent filmmaker and time working at the Academy of Art University, he took the teaching position at the Marin School of the Arts eight years ago.
The MSA program allows students to specialize in 13 creative areas such as film, dance, art and music. Parsons, who lived in Petaluma at the time, attended the school from his freshman year to his junior year.
Chidel said it has been amazing to watch the reaction to the film from both people familiar and unfamiliar with the original videos. He recalled seeing fans line up around the block for the premiere in Los Angeles, likening the energy to the release of the “Star Wars” movies when he was a kid.
“The energy in the air was so electric,” he said. “He’s the talk of the town, and deservedly so, so just watching this from afar, my heart is beaming with pride for him.”
On June 8, Parsons returned to his former high school for a private screening of the movie for students, families, teachers and alumni. More than 400 people showed up, some dressed as characters from Parsons’ short films, according to Chidel.
Michelle Cortez, director of the Marin School of the Arts and co-principal of Novato High School, said the school was honored and excited to have him back. She recalled checking her Instagram feed that evening and seeing that “Backrooms” had hit No. 1 worldwide at the box office.
“As we did our showing the other day, he and Phil went and took a walk around the Novato High campus and we had a full house of students watching the movie,” she said. “I was thinking about the juxtaposition of this huge worldwide recognition and honor, while sweet Kane is walking around with his former teacher.”
The film and its internet roots appear to have struck a chord with young audiences. The industry trade publication Deadline reported that the average age of “Backrooms” viewers is around 25. Chidel said Parsons’ YouTube popularity and unconventional path to Hollywood have impressed his young students.
He read one email from a student who said Parsons was “one of the few people in the world” the student looked up to, and an inspiration to pursue creative endeavors.
Gianmarco Cistaro, a 17-year-old junior in the cinematic arts program, said that thinking about a career in film can be daunting, but seeing someone like Parsons do so well in the industry at a young age gives him and his friends hope.
“It was really inspiring to see a former student of the school I attend have so much success and it was just really awesome to see that somebody who’s in the same circumstances as me can accomplish something like that,” said Cistaro.
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