Ra Paulette is a self-proclaimed “digger of caves and piler of rocks.” Is it a true statement? Generally speaking, yes — he does quite literally dig caves and shift around large mounds of rubble, and has been doing so for the past 25 years. But in no way should the 66-year-old New Mexico native’s proclamation be taken at face value. In fact, it’d be a downright disservice to even consider it. It’s a humble characterization by a humble man, because Paulette is first and foremost an artist, and a damned good one at that.

For me to say that you’ve never seen work quite like Paulette’s could be construed as a pompous, bombastic observation, too often uttered or written by art critics in a sort of self-aggrandizing play to inflate that critic’s know-it-all front. In this case, though, I can assure you that it wouldn’t be off the mark. Armed with naught but hand tools, the artist — or archaeologist, as he sometimes describes himself — treks over the rough terrain of northern New Mexico and hacks away at the region’s soft-sandstone formations to create huge caverns of manmade space within the hillside, carving out the interior with artistic flourishes and knocking out holes in the roof so natural light can illuminate the geological chasm. The finished product, which arrives after years of labor, is nothing short of ethereal, and that someone would come along and feature the excavator and his subterranean shafts in a documentary was probably only a matter of time.

Cue director Jeffrey Karoff, who, along with director of photography Anghel Decca, captured Paulette’s craft as well as its toll on his personal life in the 38-minute documentary CaveDigger. It’s a captivating piece of non-fictional cinema, and critics took notice in a big way — the doc earned Karoff, who primarily directs commercials and short films for philanthropic organizations, his first-ever Oscar nomination. Seeing as it’s also his first feature documentary, I’d say he sports a pretty enviable track record.

The Venice, California native is fully aware of the stiff competition he faces this coming March, but maintains a rosy perspective nonetheless. Whereas the four other contenders in the Documentary Short subject category are “hardship” stories, “CaveDigger is the only one of the five that doesn’t have that heaviness at its core,” Karoff described to me. “I feel particularly proud of the fact that my peers in the Academy would recognize that there’s something here filmically.”

Ultimately, Karoff unearths a moving exposé and a must-see, and recently divulged to GALO how one pancake breakfast changed everything.

Editorial Note: Portions of the interview have been edited and shortened.

GALO: First off, congratulations on the Oscar nomination.

Jeffrey Karoff: Thank you very much. It is quite exciting. I know it’s a cliché to say it’s unexpected, but this was such a homegrown project that the contrast of being on the world stage to how the film was made seems all the more stunning.

GALO: What about Ra’s work and story inspired you to turn it into the documentary film that became CaveDigger?

JK: It entirely came from the impact of seeing his work in person. When I went into the first cave of his that I saw, it took my breath away. I can’t think of a lot of art that has quite that impact. It was closer to the impact of something grand in nature, and it was clearly something that was visual. It was a long time ago though that I saw that first cave. It took me many, many years to begin the film, and in the course of making it, to find what the film was about. I knew that I wasn’t interested in making a film that was just a reflection of his art. Art is something that speaks for itself and a good film about it should bring more to the table than just the art. I wasn’t interested in making a Discovery Channel piece. A lot of things started to come together many years after I saw that first cave that said to me the timing was right.

GALO: When did you first see his work?

JK: I have a house in New Mexico. When we first went to the little community where Ra lives, we were at a pancake breakfast fundraiser for the local volunteer fire department and we sat down next to two people and started chatting. One of the things they told us was they were having a cave made on their property. As you can imagine, it peaked our interest. They invited us to see it. That ended up being Liz and Shel [Ra’s ex-girlfriend and her husband, respectively], who feature very prominently in the film. We saw the cave in progress, and they were exasperated [with the project at the time]. I remember it clearly. It was going on and on and on. And I didn’t know Ra, I hadn’t met him, but I was pretty stunned by what he was producing.

GALO: What things fell into place that hinted the timing was right to make the movie?

JK: As mundane as this is, film technology changed. One of my reluctances to making the film was not only that I didn’t want to make a film that was just capturing someone else’s artwork, but biography is very tricky in film. It’s not a contest, it doesn’t have an obvious end, there’s no climax. Where does the story go? All of those doubts went into keeping me from jumping into making the movie. Then when digital technology got so good in consumer products, then suddenly the bar was a lot lower to embark on this kind of thing.

Also, I was trying to make a piece for my commercial reel and that’s really where I started, making a commercial piece. That turned into something else when Ra had the [cave] collapse. Then it felt like I had to pursue the story further.

(Interview continued on next page)