You might have seen Bruce Smolanoff many times, onscreen that is. He’s been a busy and respected actor for quite a while, appearing in Mortal Thoughts and Kiss Me, Guido, among others, and often too on that long-standing meal ticket for New York thespians, Law and Order.

But he’s been directing too, and his second short film, Muck, which he co-wrote with his wife, filmmaker Emilie McDonald, will be shown at QWFF on March 17th. It stars Tallie Medel as Mel, a young comedian living with her mother in Queens who forms a relationship with a misogynist male comedian.

They are currently doing post-production work on Emilie’s first feature, QUEEN ANNE’S LACE.

Now that his career has definitely been kicked up a few notches, Bruce was excited to talk about it in our interview.

Q: MUCK has been shown at nine or more festivals so far, and won best short narrative at IndieMemphis. Any more festivals planned?

A: We are playing at the Queens World Film Festival in mid-March which feels really great because we’re coming full circle back to Queens from our first screening one year ago at The Creek And The Cave. The film has played at a dozen or so festivals around the country and a few overseas. However, we didn’t do a massive submission with MUCK but instead we focused our efforts on festivals that we thought had a similar taste and interest as ours. Our first submission was part of an online contest at Hammer to Nail. They were very supportive of the film and gave it the recognition that it needed to be seen by other festivals. That initial spotlight opened the door for MUCK to be seen by other festivals.

Q.   What about distribution of the film after the festivals?

A.   At the moment we’re focusing on adapting MUCK into a feature-length film so ideally there will be distribution once the film is complete.

Q.   You co-wrote it with your wife, Emilie McDonald. How did the idea originate?

A.   Emilie and I are both actor/performers and we hung out for years at many open mics in the lower East Side of NYC. We frequented Faceboyz and Reverend Jen’s open mics at Surf Reality and Collective Unconscious. At those theaters we formed lots of great friendships with many performers and artists who inspired us and were all amazing in their own unique way. MUCK emerged from that scene that existed between 1995-2003.

Q.   You’ve directed two shorts and now you’re a manager at BAM. Have you given up acting?

A.   I am acting even when I’m not hired to act. Meaning, in life I see things with an actor’s way of understanding things. I also come from a long lineage of people who talk with their hands and have always been surrounded by very dramatic people and we can’t help but turn every little thing into dramatic play. We kibitz and kvetch a lot. In terms of professional gigs – I don’t pursue the acting full-time, however I find myself acting in friends’ indie projects fairly often. I get excited when the phone rings and if it’s someone I know, admire or have worked with before, you can count me in. Unless it involves clog dancing, I will sit that one out.

Q.   How is QUEEN ANNE’S LACE coming along? How do you plan to introduce it?

A.   QAL is a neorealist feature directed by Emilie McDonald. I acted and collaborated on the writing but it is really mostly Emilie’s sensibility. I’m really excited about it because we are weaving documentary elements into the narrative, featuring local people of Piney Creek, NC (located in the Blue Ridge Mountains). It is currently in post-production and will be hitting the festival circuit in 2017.

See the trailer for MUCK (under SHORT NARRATIVE) at:  www.queensworldfilmfestival.com/films/2016

Oder tickets for the screening:  www.queensworldfilmfestival.com/tickets/