Born in Bangor and based in New York (both in the United States), Todd Verow is a filmmaker and producer with a career spanning nearly four decades. He has directed more than 60 films. He worked with American actor and director Charles Lum on experimental films such as Age of Consent (2014) and Desert Cruising (2024). Their latest collaboration Memorabilia (2025) is an intricate medley of Super 8 footage and plotline, outlining the lifespan of a gay men on his deathbed. Lum died in 2021, leaving Verow to complete the work on his own.

In this exclusive interview, Verow explores their collaboration, explaining the significance of dreams and memory amongst queer storytellers. Memorabilia serves as a strong tribute to recollection, and Lum’s work as an incendiary artist. The film premieres at BFI Flare.

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Eoghan Lyng – Is it fair to say that Memorabilia is a movie about identity?

Todd Verow – Yes, I would say Memorabilia is about identity.

EL – Were you at all influenced by Call Me By Your Name [Luca Guadagnino, 2017]?

TV – No, I wouldn’t. I was more inspired by All That Jazz [Bob Fosse, 1979], because it is about looking back on life and figuring out what it all meant. Call Me By Your Name is more about starting your life, and figuring what it is about.

EL – Quite Orson Welles then?

TV – Yes!

EL – There’s a crisp quality to the photography; how was this achieved?

TV – The entire film is shot in Super 8. A lot of it was shot in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I wanted to play this up, and really work with the physicality of film; the qualities, and how different they are. Especially older film that degrades and fades away. There were seven rolls of film I received from Charles Lum, who passed away and left me all this.We talked about making this project, so I was excited to get it processed. It was 40 years old, so it was degraded, and this inspired me. How memory degrades, and film degrades.

EL – The degradation of life.

TV – Yes!

EL – That’s a Burroughsian conceit; do you agree with that, and do you enjoy Burroughs?

TV – I would say yes, because I liked how he did the cutouts.The way he wrote things down, and cut them up, which is kind of the way I wanted to do things here in this nonlinear way.That’s how memories are: you will think of something which will remind you of something else, and that’s what I wanted to capture.

EL – Memory is a key part of the film.

TV – Memorabilia, because he wants little mementos. And how unreliable they are, because they trigger unreliable memories.

EL – How long did the production take?

TV – Like I said, I had the footage Charles left me. We had talked about an autobiographical project using that, and then I processed that film. I shot new footage to link it together, so all in all from getting the footage to completion, about a year.

EL – When did Charles pass away?

TV – November 2021. The thing was, we worked together on so many projects that I could hear him while making this. Stuff like: “make this shorter”, or “make this funnier”. So it felt collaborative, which was nice.

EL – Do you think some of the pornographic elements will push audience expectations?

TV – I hope they surprise people. I have always thought if you are going to make a movie about sex, you shouldn’t hold back. [Pauses] I don’t really consider it pornographic, because for me it’s a true representation of sex.

EL – Maybe that’s the wrong term.

TV – [Laughs] There are so many negative connotations, but I don’t have a problem with pornographic.

EL – A director like Bruce La Bruce sees pornography as a badge of honour.

TV – Yes, I’m friends with Bruce. I’ve known him a long time.

EL – Do dreams form part of the film; or mainly memory?

TV – No, dreams and memory are intertwined. With my own dreams, I travel through time. Kind of the same thing with memory; waking and sleeping dreams. That is something I wanted to convey.

EL – Do you think maturity forms another aspect?

TV – It’s about somebody looking back at the end of their life, and figure out who they were. It’s a foolish task, because you never really know. You have to live it as best you can.

EL – Your film was comparable to Roeg’s work.

TV – I admire Nicolas Roeg’s work, and in some ways this film can be compared to Bad Timing [Roeg, 1980]. A similar theme: “why was that relationship at that time?”. 1970s cinema was a great time for experimental film, and mainstream cinema to experiment.

EL – Do you think non-professional actors bring something to film?

TV – I like working with professional actors , and non-professional. Everyone brings something different to the table. It can be tricky with non-actors, because they can freeze up. It’s the job of a director to get anyone to relax, and non-actors can bring something to it.

EL – Do you think spontaneity adds to the film? I know Christopher Nolan isn’t too keen on it.

TV – I love improvisation; being-in-the-moment. A script, to me, is more of an outline of what you want to do. When you film, it can be completely different. A live energy to it.

EL – Could this work as a stage play?

TV – That’s an interesting idea. It could work as an installation piece, and could work as a stageplay, especially since a lot of modern plays use video. I’m up for that.

EL – What was Lum like to work with?

TV – A perfect collaboration! I’m much more structured, and he’s much more emotional and all over the place. I got him to focus, and he got me to open up. We were symbiotic!

EL – Do you think LGBT+ people are sensing an impasse given the Trump administration?

TV – Yes, but we’re used to that, so bring it on!

EL – Fighting spirit! Are you familiar with William Friedkin’s Cruising [1980]; did that impact gay cinema?

TV – Yes! That film is problematic, but I love it. It captured a time and place in New York that was not on film elsewhere. It’s bold, and the story could have been more focused, but it’s brilliant. It’s definitely influenced a lot of queer filmmakers.

EL – It’s a shame Al Pacino has a dim view of it, considering his steely performance.

TV – That’s ok; I like it!

EL – If you had to classify Memorabilia as something, how would you?

TV – That’s a hard question. I see it as an underground experimental film, and a dream film. You can slip into it, and go somewhere else.

EL – As a fan of Brazil [Terry Gilliam, 1985], I love dream films. But what is it about queer cinema that lends itself to dream-cinema?

TV – We have to go through life in a different way, as we think about things differently. We see things that others don’t see. I think queer people live in our dreams more than straight people. We have more fantasies and dreams, and a different perspective on life.

EL – Restoring the old footage, was that tricky?

TV – When Charles was still alive, and I was encouraging him to get the films scanned and digitised.I love the quality of those films: a little dirty, a little faded, a little scratched. That brings a memory quality to it. I went with that, and didn’t want to clean up anything. Shoot the new footage in the same way.

EL – What should audiences expect from this film?

TV – I think it’s good to come into it with an open mind; maybe some marijuana, or mind-altering substances? Might be an idea, and if not, experience it. Let it blow over you while you’re there. Charles was a big marijuana smoker, and it influenced a lot of his work, and ours together.

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Todd Verow is pictured at the top of this interview. The other image is a still from Memorabilia.