The Pioneer Valley is no stranger to Hollywood. Over the years, its rich variety of landscapes—and, perhaps, the chance to recreate another place on the cheap—have lured many a film crew in search of a set. Most recently, a Mel Gibson thriller took over Mt. Sugarloaf and the court house in downtown Northampton, but the area’s film history also includes the 1966 classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, partially filmed at Smith College, and Oscar-winner The Cider House Rules, which reinvented the derelict North State Hospital as the Maine orphanage at the heart of the script.

Now one of its own has returned to put his own twist on the place. Northampton native R. Masseo Davis, a 21-year-old film student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, recently began shooting for his feature film Doucement, the story of a choreographer running from fame in a war-torn future. Davis uses the character of Michael Souta to explore his idea that “even in dark times joy is simple, and when it’s real it happens without effort.” Creatively adrift, dodging the spotlight, Souta finds new inspiration in the innocence of a young girl, and with that, the strength to make art in the face of despair.

Before transferring to NYU, Davis was himself a BFA student in dance at UMass, and his new project will return him to the concert hall there, but on the other side of the camera; the Fine Arts Center is just one of the locations he plans to use during a 10-day production.

Other plans for the shoot will make use of an abandoned factory in Easthampton, and Davis and his crew hope to draw on the area’s theatrical bent to fill up to 400 roles for extras. As he geared up for the start of his busy visit home, Davis took a moment to discuss his film, his working methods, and the pleasures of making art in the Valley.

Valley Advocate: Can you tell us a bit about how Doucement came to be?

Masseo Davis: I started writing this project last summer, 2009, while I was studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic at FAMU [The Czech Film and Television Academy]. The trip was an eye-opening, humbling experience because prior to the trip I had never been to Europe, and all the anticipation leading up to my arrival was met with a sting of reality. I expected the culture, the people, and the environment to be completely foreign to me. What I discovered was that people are people everywhere.

By the time I was finished in Prague, I had the opportunity to travel around via Eurail and I managed to make my way to Paris. I encountered the term “doucement”—it was explained to me as something that is generally used during pillow talk or during an intimate moment, but I found the literal translation of “sweetly, softly, smoothly” as an interesting way to perceive the world around you. In terms of the film, it is used as a guiding tool as to how I would like the lives and the world of the characters in the film to be seen.

You have a history as a dancer—how did that play into the story?

Dance will always be in my blood and in my bones. I was raised as a dancer and always loved that joy of moving. I have been surrounded by it all of my life and I guess it is one of those things that I will always carry with me.

Do you find that your dance background seeps into your filmmaking in other ways? How did you transition from dance to film?

I guess the best way that I can touch on the relation between film and dance is the idea of telling a story without the use of words. Perhaps silent [or] non-verbal storytelling seems strange when referencing the cinema, which notoriously utilizes language to illustrate the human condition; however, fundamentally the cinematic medium can be boiled down to being an experience of moving pictures. And when considering the idea that a picture can tell a thousand words, then perhaps one can see the potential for the work.

I announced as a second grader, after completing a homework assignment for Mrs. Hurd at Bridge Street Elementary School, that I was going to grow up to make movies. I wanted heroes to look like me. Watching movies has been my family’s favorite pastime. We did not have cable, but we visited Pleasant Street Video almost every day. I was a regular there. So in my mind, my ambition has always been to be a filmmaker who happens to dance every day.

You’re attending NYU. When so many young filmmakers would love to head to New York to shoot a film, you decided to return to the Valley to make Doucement. Why is that, and what are some of the benefits to working in a place you know so well?

We’re an interesting community—the Pioneer Valley/Five College community. I have introduced quite a few of my friends from NYU to my friends and family from Northampton. They just click.

This is home; there are places in the Valley that I have been in love with for a very long time. I have dreamt of doing exactly this—whenever I bring NYU peers to our place, the Valley, certain places—for example, One Ferry Street in Easthampton; the nature of how the location will be utilized—it takes their breath away.

Besides, I have my folks, my proud Papa who has always been the family’s biggest cheerleader. Whenever asked, I always tell people that I attend a community college—NYU Tisch School of the Arts—[because] it is taking a whole community to get me through my BFA degree. I am blessed and I am forever grateful.

Having grown up here, do you ever find it difficult to see locations in the area with a fresh eye?

This is the easy part; I am so excited about all the locations and about doing on-location sets. Everyone has been welcoming the production and me with open arms. In a way, these locations inspire me. For me, it is not a matter of looking at places with a fresh set of eyes; I have always looked into our Valley as a place to tell a story.

What are some of the challenges in location shooting? Assuming you don’t have a Hollywood-sized crew, how do you deal with traffic, noise and such?

Well, the idea is that you don’t need a lot to make a good movie. Toys are always nice, however, not essential to tell a compelling story. I feel that as an artist of any medium, the hope is to eventually master one’s craft at its bones so that when you have the opportunity to embrace extra toys and gadgets, you can use them to their full potential, perhaps even exposing something new.

There are fundamental problems that arise from shooting on location, such as compromising control of the environment, but the way to cope with that is simple. It’s a risk assessment; on a student/low-budget film production, if the loss of environmental control is so great that it jeopardizes the stability [or] reliability of the story, then you don’t shoot there. Or is the problem something that you can embrace and make your ally?

Filmmaking is an expensive art. Doucement is budgeted at close to $30,000. How do you and your producers find financing, and how does the success or failure of that process affect the production in terms of compromises made?

Our finances come from pinching pennies—old-time house parties in Brooklyn, and I have been on set earning a couple of bucks here and there on industrial gigs, commercials, etc. Generosity of families, friends, the community—in-kind donations are instrumental in shaving off big budget concerns and keeping me on schedule.

What are your hopes for distribution? Are you planning on submitting Doucement to festivals? Selling DVDs?

My hopes are high for this project. It’s a hard thing to speak on. The way I figure it—always push yourself as far as you can go. When I start making movies that have a destiny before they are completed, it will be a new day for me!