Little Girl Blue

Today is my last day at the job I’ve had for almost two years. This makes it all real. Living here has been unbelievable - this city and the people I have met and the art that I’m surrounded by has changed me and the way I view the world. But living here is also a time warp.

So after today I’m putting it all in. With all the time in the world and an awesome partner in crime, I’m excited for the future.

Those people above (and many not pictured) are what I will miss most about this place.

Tonight I chuckled a true chuckle and realized it was from something I was writing. This makes me very happy. 40 something pages may not seem like a lot but to me it’s epic.

My biggest struggle so far is control. With short films I know the story from beginning to end, climaxes, funny moments - no worries. With this [feature] script it’s different. I’m learning to trust myself - to just write, open up and be excited to fail and try again.

I think it’s finally starting to work…

It’s been almost two weeks since the Sarasota Film Festival but I wanted to do a late recap of the wonderful weekend. I have been to a handful of festivals but my experience at SFF was different, magical in a weird kind of way. Tom Hall and Holly Herrick are incredibly sincere and passionate programmers and basically curated my dream line-up of a festival. It also didn’t hurt that the fest is on the beach and I hadn’t seen sun in too long.

It wasn’t until two minutes into the film - playing to a full audience - on a real movie theater screen - looking incredible on DigiBeta - that I finally felt proud. Through this whole process and the handful of screenings I’ve had I have felt a myriad of emotions. It’s difficult to watch the film for what it is instead of picking out the flaws with my overly critical eyes. Making Widow was my own cheap version of film school in every way possible and the minute we wrapped I felt like I had instantly become a year older. Now I am forty pages into my first feature and seeing Widow on the screen was refreshing. I watched it and I liked it, despite it’s flaws, and was proud to see my name in the credits.

So here’s to good film and family and lovely, lovely, Florida.

This is clearly the future of it all, folks. After Ophir Kutiel watched some music tutorials on youtube he had the idea to mix them together and create music. Sasha Frere Jones explains it best here.

one of my favorite tracks - the rest is here.

Ah.

Tomorrow WIDOW has it’s world premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival. I’ve been so busy I haven’t given this much thought. But, now that I sit here, in a mound of clothes, I’m excited.

Rejection stinks (obvious statement #1) and I’ve had my share of it over the years with every film I’ve made, including this one. But, it’s part of the process, it makes you stronger, and blah blah blah, you get the point.  However, having worked for a film festival for the past year I hold no grudge and have come to realize that it comes down to finding the right festival for your film.

Sarasota has a reputation for being an amazing party festival that showcases good up-and-coming filmmakers (two things I would gladly partake in) and I couldn’t be happier. Plus it’s on the beach and the programmers are amazing and have programmed like every movie I’ve been wanting to see but haven’t been able to! Um, and did I mention they are having a Hal Ashby tribute?!?!? Amazing.

I’m rambling. And I should really figure out what I’m going to wear.

If you’re in the area come check out WIDOW tomorrow and Saturday — here’s the info!

I saw three wonderful and very different films this weekend.

The first, and pictured above, is Sin Nombre. I first heard of this film when it won two Audience awards at Sundance. It quickly left my mind as I knew it would be a few months before it screened anywhere close to NYC. About a month later, I randomly met the Director/Writer Cary Fukunaga on the dance floor of a club in Berlin at 6am on a Wednesday. That night I learned he was a sweetheart of a guy and a good dancer, but what I didn’t know is that he he had made one of the most disturbing, incredible and effective first-feature films I have seen in years.

“I want the audience, after an hour and a half, to feel like they have gone on a bit of the journey themselves.”

And that is exactly how I felt. After three years of researching, taking trains with immigrants and studying gangs in Honduras and Mexico, Fukunaga had done enough research to make an incredibly realistic immigrant and gang film. This film blew my mind, and made me completely afraid and saddened by the insane journey many immigrants make to come to the United States. Using mostly non or beginning actors, the film captures a time and place that most people opt out of thinking about or even reading about because it is downright scary and devastating. I’ll be the first to admit that I know little about gangs and gang violence and how it effects the lives of the people in and around them. Fukunaga does an almost perfect job of glimpsing these sad realities and strong individuals with a clear knowledge and respect for the films subjects and cultures.

It’s an incredible film worth a watch. A million steps above all of the “poverty porn.” Plus…his next film is a  musical.

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not wait to see this.