In We Were Once Kids, Eddie Martin looks back at the notorious 1995 indie cult film Kids, produced and distributed by the now-disgraced Miramax Films. Shot on the streets of Greenwich Village and starring a cast of real NYC teenagers, the film became a lightning rod for controversy. Labelled as a sex and drug-fuelled tale of excess and moral depravity, it still went on to become a bonafide hit around the world.
Over the decades, the film has continued to gather a devoted following, and is responsible for birthing the careers of filmmaker Harmony Korine and actresses Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny.
But what happened to the rest of the kids? Martin answers many of those questions in his riveting documentary and surprisingly finds a heartbreaking Australian connection to the story as he revisits the lives and circumstances of the original cast, some of whose stars burned dangerously bright while others ended in tragedy.
Examining the excitement, confusion, and promise of early stardom in New York’s early skateboarding culture, Martin’s documentary offers an unflinching look back at one of the most iconic films of the ‘90s.
Where were you when the original Kids film was released in 1995?
“I was living in Australia. I was a young skateboarder at the time, so I was part of that culture. But as for the original film, I could take it or leave it. It didn’t have the same impact on me that it did on a lot of people, but I’m very aware that the film meant a lot to so many people and it is a cultural classic.”
Tell us about your career as a documentary filmmaker?
“My story is a pretty classic one of growing up in the skateboarding era which is an incredibly creative culture where we made our own videos and shot on Super-8. It just evolved from there and I got into editing and then it really became a case of how can I make a film? I had a video camera and access to an editing suite and that’s how I went about it. I made my first documentary very DIY-style [Jisoe] and it did OK, and I had some overseas festivals and then I got an opportunity to make another one [Lionel] which was fantastic, and then it’s just organically grown from there. But I’ve always been really interested in non-fiction filmmaking. That’s my passion. I grew up very inspired by early Joe Berlinger and Errol Morris and all that kind of stuff.”
It’s no secret that documentary filmmakers don’t get rich. Do you have a day job?
“No. Making documentaries is tough and I might be a masochist but I’m incredibly passionate about what I do, and I’m committed to it full time. I’ve always got multiple projects developing on different stages which enables me to eke out an existence. What’s nice now is that you can get some ownership of your back-end, a good thing which is evolving in this space. I feel the documentary space is opening up with the streamers and all these new avenues and platforms. It’s so much more docu-maker friendly than it used to be.”
Was this your dream right out of high school?
“I wish I could say yes and probably if I was more mature at that age I would say yes. But I floated around for a couple of years and tried lots of different things and it wasn’t really until I found my feet doing this, that I really discovered a passion that I could sink my teeth into. In my youth I did all sorts of stuff from working in a warehouse, doing retail and many different things.”
What gave you the idea to revisit Kids?
“Well, fast forward 20 years, I was introduced to Hamilton Harris [who featured in the original Kids and serves as a narrator for We Were Once Kids] by a mutual friend. Hamilton had been wanting to tell his story for some time before we were introduced. For whatever reason, we connected and hit it off and we went on this journey. He was just so passionate about the story and wanted to share his experience and honour his friends, and I was just interested in the alternative narrative that he held; a narrative held for the past 26 years by a handful of people. Also, I just wanted to empower him as best as I could to help share his story with audiences.”
It’s crazy that it actually took an Australian filmmaker to finally shed light on what really went down 26 years ago in New York during the making of Kids? What did you bring to this?
“It was just the way it panned out, I guess. Honestly, I think there were some benefits to being an outsider looking in, in a way. I didn’t have all that politics or whatever. I just felt like I could come in with fresh eyes and not be bogged down by all that peripheral cultural stuff. And there is an Australian element in the film of course…”
Exactly, and we don’t want to reveal any plot spoilers, but you managed to locate the actual long-lost father of one of the major players in Kids, whose life ended in tragedy a few years after Kids was made. Obviously, his father, in Canberra, was devastated because he never even knew he had a son until after he died. How did you put together this puzzle?
“Actually, one of our co-producers on this film, Caroline Rothstein, had written a “Kids: Where are they now?” article, which led to the father tracking down some of the original Kids cast-members and introduced himself, so it was just one of those amazing coincidences.”
The father conveys such sadness and regret, and as we see in your film, he totally resembles his son. Was it difficult to get him to talk on camera?
“Yes, well it’s very tragic and sad and we’re really honoured that he was brave enough to sit there on camera and share his story.”
It’s no surprise that Kids’ original director Larry Clark and Harmony Korine – making his precocious debut as a screenwriter, aged 19 – declined to take part in your own documentary. But Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny also feature in the original Kids. Did you reach out to them?
“We did, but because we never got an official answer from them, it’s impossible for me to know the reasons why. And, at the end of the day, this is Hamilton’s story and his core group of friends, which Rosario and Chloe weren’t really a part of anyway. Obviously, for me it would have been great if they wanted to speak and I would have been thrilled to hear what they had to say, but it just didn’t happen.”
Much of We Were Once Kids is told through the lens of Kids original cast member, Hamilton Harris. Where is Hamilton today?
“We don’t really talk about that other than to say where he lives now and that he’s a father himself. We didn’t want to go down that classic trope of describing in detail where everyone from the original cast is at now. It’s more about the key theme of breaking cycles and Hamilton – despite all the obstacles in his life – has grown and come out the other end as a functioning parent with a family. He also practices his art and does his music. But the big thing for me was to tell this story about being trapped in the cycles of poverty, addiction and domestic violence and the trickle-down effect this has on kids trying to move forward and become functioning adults. At the core, this is a very human story which I hope will be the great takeaway. It’s also a cautionary tale which is the most significant part of this journey.”
Do you believe that Larry Clark and Harmony Korine are in some way responsible for the deaths of two of the main stars of the original Kids?
“I want audiences to make up their own minds. I think I’ve shown the experience of the main characters and I’ll let the audience decide for themselves.”
Your film shows Larry and Harmony attending Cannes in 1995 with an awkward press conference where the journalists ask them about the age of these kids, some of whom were shown semi-naked, having sex and doing drugs. Do you know if there were any prosecutions pertaining to this under-age aspect?
“Not that I’m aware of.”
Harmony Korine parlayed Kids into a successful filmmaking career, pretty much repeating the same formula. How hard did you try to get him involved in your own film?
“We really tried. We reached out on as many levels as we could and we asked more than once but, again, for whatever reasons, he just wasn’t receptive. I will say that it’s interesting that our group of ‘former-Kids’; our heroes, were so giving to them back when they were making their film but now they want to tell their story, then those filmmakers didn’t reciprocate with any sense of wanting to give back to them which I think speaks volumes. I guess he’s [Harmony] been pulling it off now for 20-odd years.”
Oddly enough, Larry Clark did not go on to enjoy the same kind of success as Harmony?
“Yeah, I guess that’s for everyone else to judge. I’m not going to sit here and judge Larry’s success. But it is interesting that he did target these young, vulnerable kids from low socio-economic backgrounds.”
We Were Once Kids is in cinemas June 1, 2023
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