Red Mackey heard something was afoot in Prague in May of 1992. A recent graduate of film school in Santa Barbara California Mackey was having beers with other unemployed graduates when a friend passed on a copy of Alan Levy's now famous article labeling Prague the Left Bank of the 90's. Within a month Mackey boarded a plane and was soon knee deep in shooting footage for the film that would eventually become Rex-patriates.

Why did you make this film?

I read the Levy article and my head was ablaze with ideas. Of course as an artist I felt an incredible pull to contribute to and experience what was happening.

You mean as a filmmaker?

Well I had dabbled in poetry, music, the fine arts, stand-up comedy, sculpture and collage but I was and still am primarily a filmmaker.

Is rex-patriates your first film?

No I made a film in graduate school called Wieners that chronicled the lifespan of a wiener. The first shot of the film was a piglet being born. The last shot was the remnants of a wiener floating through a sewer and off into the Pacific ocean. The film was a metaphor for eternal life. Nothing really dies. It's simply a rearrangement of chemicals.

What were the difficulties in making rex-patriates?

Initially in the early 90's I worked under extreme guerilla conditions. I had little production money so I used natural lighting and sound. There was no makeup or anything of that sort. I filmed my subjects in exactly what they were wearing. At the time I wasn't sure if I was making a documentary or a traditional story. I let the action dictate the direction.

It sounds very Dogma.

People have mentioned that to me before. What I was doing in '92 and '93 Lars Van Trier and the Danes didn't start until a full three years later.

Are you implying they took their idea of creating the rules of Dogma from you?

I wouldn't go that far. I mean certainly the facts speak for themselves but as a filmmaker I'm very gracious. If people take inspiration from my work that's fine, no one works in a vacuum but I do think it's decent to acknowledge where our inspiration comes from. They've never had the courage to do that.

Was this a hard film to finish?

Oh absolutely. One reason was that I was committed to the idea that I wanted the film to make itself and not be bound to the arbitrary whims of a director or actor. That's a process that takes patience because you have to wait for the film to speak from the footage.

Some of the footage was lost during the shooting.

All of it disappeared between the years 1995 and 1997. That was a rough period for me. Most people abandoned the project. I had to accept that the film was silent. I knew it was silent for a reason but it's hard to convince investors of that. When the film was ready to be found it was and we were able to secure more financing.

Where was the footage found?

Let me make this clear. We didn't find all of the footage. We found some of the footage and that footage we found was the film. I believe by sticking to my convictions this is the first time in cinematic history a film has literally been able to decide for itself what it is. I'm very proud of that.

Are you satisfied with Rex-patriates?

Yes and no. There were things I could have done differently but I think most directors feel that way at the end of a project. I have no regrets. It was ten years well spent.

Any word to your viewers?

Yes. Confronting artistic challenge is confronting the unknown.