Student Daniel Pinto-Teixiera hunkers down for a test

The following is recollection of the day’s events during my participation in the Go Public Documentary Film Shoot.  Each crew member was asked for their reflection on that day, and this was the document that I submitted to Producers Dawn & Jim O’Keeffe.  –S.

In retrospect of filming, I am left with a wealth of emotions related to the day’s events.  In the first place, a week prior I took the opportunity to sit down and meet not only with my subject Mrs. Large, but Eliot Middle School Principal Mr. Pannell, and two students, Daniel Teixiera-Pinto and Carter Robertson.  The brief time spent during my initial encounter was enough to leave me with an impression of the place and these people.  Add to that, the memories of my own time spent in Eliot’s wise old library as a former student, and it is safe to say that I was carrying around some very distinct feelings of this place.  Most tangible to me was the importance of this tiny segment of a very personal and human institution, and a sense of responsibility that I had as a filmmaker to reveal my impressions.

Prior to filming, I set myself into a certain mindset however.  It is the same as when I pick up a still camera to capture an image: I prefer to distance myself from my subject.  I do not want to be felt as a presence to the subject.  It is enough in capturing the things that I see, that I will imprint a certain impression upon an image.  It is unavoidable.  That being said, it might have come off to some of the people that I encountered on Tuesday, that I was somewhat distant.  The fact that I had the fantastic talent of my  D.P. Neil de la Peña, and sound mixer Richard Newton, allowed me that luxury.

Arriving at the Home of the Large family early in the morning, was like being tossed into the deep end of a swimming pool.  Mrs. Large had spoken with her family about what to expect on the day of the shoot. Most importantly, she had told her three children, Eric 8, Penelope 5, and Frida 4, that they should ignore the camera.  As you might imagine, it’s near impossible for three filmmakers to “disappear” to a houseful of excited young children.

The plan to shoot that morning was to go strictly handheld, and capture the frenetic nature of an early morning as Mrs. and Mr. Large got their brood ready for the day.  We captured that, and the loving, curious and outgoing nature of this family.

After arriving at school and settling in to filming, I was once again left with a little trepidation in capturing what I saw happening in the library, and doing so in a vérité fashion.  A quiet place, with quiet activity taking place; all in an atmosphere where your subject is likely to be suspicious of your presence.

When I met Mrs. Large the previous week, I knew that this small statured, gentle-natured person was someone quite special.  She didn’t need to be someone of large flourishes or grandiose personality to leave her mark on me, or the walls of the library.  The day of filming left me with concrete examples of what I already sensed of her.  A gentle, thoughtful way of leading students toward learning.  Deep caring not only for her students, but of what she does.  The more I was there, witnessing the day’s activities, the more I began regaining personal sense-memories of my considerable days hanging out in the Eliot Library.  Before long, I had the realization that the library of any learning institution, is not only a physical “mind”, but the soul of the institution.  Sanctuary.  Whether you are a child who gets straight “A’s” and sees all of a school as a place of learning, or perhaps someone who might dread going into a certain class because they aren’t achieving the highest grades, the library and her caretaker are there to offer safe haven to a mind.

If the Pasadena Unified School District, and indeed the entire State of California choose to cut these sanctuaries from their schools, what are we leaving for our children?  Cool factories for learning?  At the very least, an institution without sanctuary.  Even prisons have sanctuaries for learning. 

I didn’t have to worry about a lack of material, but what became more and more difficult for me, was my ability to watch from a distance.  The entire school was a field of activity, with people coming in and out.  As the crew extended itself out of the library, we were a draw for these curious, kinetic personalities. . . Not just the students, but the active minds and hearts that were there to keep the chaos of a State testing day under control.  Not utopian in any sense, but smiles were everywhere around me.

My crew and I returned from shooting a few exteriors to find Eliot being evacuated to the field for a fire alarm.  Students and faculty all baking in the hot sun.  We had the chance to tell that story, through the eyes of Mr. Pannell and his staff.  We would follow it as far as his dealing with the student who activated the false alarm.  Later, I would discover I had even more story captured on camera than I realized.

By the end of the school day, I realized that we were only halfway through Mrs. Large’s day.  We followed her on her 33 mile trip back to pick up her kids, and once again to get the shot in the arm from their beautiful energy.  Drawing closer to the end of the day, I let the camera settle more.  Greater stasis, lock off shots with less movement.  A good idea that I think will pay off, but there was no keeping the energy of these kids contained.

By the time my crew and I sat down to dinner on the porch of Mr. & Mrs. Large’s home, it was clear that the modicum of distance that we strove for early on, was no longer possible.  Equal parts comfort and curiosity came from family and crew alike.  We managed to capture some nice impressions of them at the end of the day, and by the time we sat the family down to interview, it was dark and we had a tired but happy bunch on our hands.

After little Penelope asked me if the family could take a bow, Neil came up with the last flourish for the close of the interview.  Before it was halfway out of his mouth, I excitedly knew exactly what he had in mind.  But rather than spoil the moment, I’ll leave it for you to see yourself.

2011 has been a productive year for me as an Editor.  My partners and I have completed a new Sizzle Reel for our reality project based around Drift Alliance, and we expect to see it picked up soon for the 2012 television season.

My work also made it into live action feature and short films with Just Three Words directed by Graeme Finlayson and a documentary/narrative hybrid feature called Sweet Old World.

I’ve also completed trailers and viral marketing videos for documentary and narrative feature projects like the Emmy nominated Houston, We Have a Problem and Finding Hope starring Molly Quinn.

Much of the work is laid out in this new reel, but I’ve also been involved in everything from EPKs, PSAs and professional reels for a number of filmmakers.

I expect 2012 to be my biggest year of all, and I will be updating this website very soon with a new and updated résumé and expanded reel section with selections from specialized types of work.

For questions and inquiries I can be contacted via this website or directly via e-mail at:

connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

A couple of nights ago, I sat down to watch the recent and exceedingly limited release of the film, Colour Me Kubrick. The film stars John Malkovich in a very odd, but often fun portrayal of British con man, Alan Conway.

The film for me served as more of a curiosity piece than anything else. I’d read about Conway’s time spent impersonating Kubrick, and it was fascinating to me that a gay man who looked absolutely nothing like Kubrick could get away with impersonating the notoriously reclusive director.

Nonetheless, for a fair amount of time, Conway did just that, and managed to bilk his way around England claiming to be Stanley Kubrick himself. What was fascinating to me about the film wasn’t so much Conway’s story, but the fact that Conway represented an idea of a man, more than that particular man.

It isn’t giving too much away to say that the in the story, penned by Anthony Frewin, Kubrick’s longtime assistant, we’re treated to multiple episodes of Conway’s antics, each of which would leave any Kubrick aficionado laughing at the sheer ludicrousness.

Kubrick as a gay rake of a man? Kubrick was married to his second wife, Christiane right up until the end of his life. Kubrick with an English accent? Being born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx had left a notable accent which was clearly present even in the last recordings done in his life. It’s clear from the story and in the accompanying documentary, Being Alan Conway, that Conway knew virtually nothing of his “double”. Obviously, neither did his victims. But it’s fascinating to think that despite such gross disconnects from reality, Conway screwed over many an innocent victim. And to this day for many, Kubrick remains just as big an idea as he was a filmmaker.

And that is certainly true in my case. You’ll see that I owe my earliest memory of film to him. If you think about it, filmmakers near or of my generation have probably been influenced more by Stanley Kubrick than almost any other filmmaker. Especially, amongst young male filmmakers. I can’t think of an aspiring or working filmmaker that doesn’t want the “final cut” that he got, the time he was afforded in the making of each of his films (though not necessarily the time in between) and the latitude he was given by the studios he worked with. Perhaps more than any other, Kubrick was the quintessential independent filmmaker.

But one of the things that I was left with after watching the DVD were my own memories and the way they either inspired, colored or propelled my own impetus to get into film. Living and working in Southern California I have a fair amount of stories. Perhaps the only way I might have more stories is if I had lived and worked in England when Kubrick was active.

Mind you these stories are odd, random and sometimes so distant from Kubrick himself, it is only the connections that have formed in my heart and mind that bring them their overall significance.

Kubrick spent 1940 in Pasadena, California where I have spent the better part of twenty years growing up and pursuing my own filmmaking dreams. That still puts me about 46 years away from Kubrick’s whereabouts. Nothing too big there. . .

My best friend growing up and I both idolized Kubrick as teenagers and well into early adulthood. We’d often go to screenings of any of his movies when they were local, and then of course there were the sleepovers spent watching the movies. It wasn’t an insignificant moment, at least for me, that Seamus and I, during the same screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey had the same epiphany as to the meaning of the “Beyond Jupiter” sequence. But that’s another story.

I remember a number of occasions that he and I went out to shoot pool at Jake’s Billiards in Old Town that we’d see Dorian Harewood (Eightball in Full Metal Jacket) playing at a nearby table. One degree from Kubrick!

Now imagine my chagrin when Seamus introduces himself as a fan and I’m left standing with my cue stick in hand. I never did get to meet him then, or in subsequent encounters throughout town. But this isn’t where I get bitter, this is where the story gets funny.

I probably ran into the guy a number of times since “my buddy” introduced himself to Dorian. But the opportunities for me to say “Hey!” were always inopportune. Flash forward years later to a phone call on a brand new phone number.

“Is Dorian there?” Sorry, wrong number.

Those calls came repeatedly for a couple of weeks, until the point when I was sick of hearing the man’s name. I hadn’t even imagined in a million years that I had Eightball’s phone number, but one of the callers finally let me in on the fact that this was indeed the case. I shared a good laugh with the caller when related my little story. It doesn’t end there however.

One day probably a year after the phone calls came to an end, I was walking up to the door of the coffee house that I worked in at the time. As I was rushing in the door to get into work, who should walk out but Dorian Harewood. It was fast. Fast enough that I may have even startled him. At most I may have had a chuckle on my way in, but I never did say hello.**

I worked in the old Book Alley in Old Town Pasadena, when film critic Peter Rainer came in one day. Conversation quickly and easily turned to film, and next thing I know, he’s relating stories of how his father and Dr. Jack Kubrick were close friends in the Bronx.

There was also one of my film & technical theatre teachers, Bob Wilson @ Pasadena City College who had stories. Man, did Bob have stories. . . Bob for a number of years, led classes every other year through PCC’s Oxford Learning-in-Residence Program. One year, a few years prior to Eyes Wide Shut, Bob would be leading another group over. Furthermore, he’d have a number of his students in an independent study unit working on a series being shot at Pinewood Studios, Kubrick’s studio homebase.

Yes, I put all of this together at the time, and the possible one-in-a-million shot at proximity that it might afford me. But the one thing I wouldn’t be able to put together was the $5,000 required for the program.

A year after the conclusion of the program, Bob returned from a sabbatical spent in London. I went over to visit him @ PCC in search of stories. . . And stories he had. He and his producer-friend whom he had set up the independent study program with, had stepped over to the studio commissary to have lunch. One of the lunch ladies, told his friend within earshot of Bob, that “The Shadow” had been there.

“The Shadow?” Bob asked.

“Kubrick.”

“Kubrick was here? My God I’ve always wanted to work with Kubrick.” Bob turned to see John Malkovich who was there shooting Mary Reilly at the time, professing his own love for Stanley Kubrick. Makes me wonder if Malkovich himself ever had the chance to meet him.

There were other stories. . .

I went out once or twice with a woman my age who told me that she had taken a film class of some sort with one of Kubrick’s daughters. I figured it was probably the bushbaby coveting scamp, Vivian. Vivian had caught her father’s love of film, and in fact did a documentary on the making of The Shining.

Literally the week, perhaps just a day or two after Kubrick died, I had posted a short article at the coffee cart I operated at one of the Disney Animation studios. The article was from Variety and it was about Kubrick’s death and the completion of Eyes Wide Shut.

Comedian Greg Proops approached to purchase a coffee that day and glanced over at

John Malkovich as Alan Conway

the article. He too had his story of SK, in this case auditioning for him. . . Sort of.

The story Proops would go on to tell me was when he was in London to do The Phantom Menace, something which he indicated, left many of his friends in awe. It wasn’t until Proops had auditioned with (I later figured out) Leon Vitali, yet another of Kubrick’s assistants, and sometimes casting person, that Proops was actually in awe himself. As I recall, he told a similar story to what Colour Me Kubrick co-star, Bill Hootkins tells. Vitali was a deep voiced man, British accent, wearing an ear piece, who videotaped the candidate as he auditioned.

What was funniest for me was in relating the story to me, Proops described the moment when he’s reading some lines from a script, and he’s interrupted by Leon Vitali’s booming voice exclaiming:

“Mr. Kubrick does not do sub-text!”

Proops’ accent and timing were perfect and left me rolling even during this sad time of Kubrick’s passing. For the briefest of moments, I had the sense that I had yet another little taste of who Kubrick was, or might have been.

There are actually a few other stories that I could tell. Third hand stories. People who could actually speak of working with Kubrick told to me by other friends in the business, but perhaps my most bittersweet of stories is the opportunity I never took to go after Stanley Kubrick.

Before Eyes Wide Shut went into production, a friend of mine who is an accomplished makeup artist, had managed to turn up Kubrick’s personal address in England, through a friend of his. Upon looking at the address, I knew it to be genuine.

I was quite young and had dreams of writing an eloquent letter in which I would offer to sleep on a couch somewhere and work as an intern on the set of his next film. It wasn’t quite a “hem-of-his-garment” sort of thing, but the opportunity to watch the man in action, to learn from him as if a fly on the wall. . . It would be the ultimate chance to learn from the ultimate filmmaker.

I never got the courage to even write the letter. Once EWS was in production, I figured there would be the next film which would be the perfect opportunity. Needless to say, that never happened either.

A part of my heart broke when Stanley Kubrick died. The man that crafted the initial spark which set this filmmaker’s heart on fire would never again set forth a new spark. We will all have those moments to look back upon the body of work he left behind, but somehow, I feel we really did lose Kubrick too early. It was just the idea of knowing that somewhere in the world, Stanley Kubrick was creating new ideas that made the world just a little bit more exciting.

I guess even amongst those of us who think we knew who he was: film fans, filmmakers, the ones who could have picked Stanley Kubrick out of a line up, even we only carry about a vague idea of who he was. I suppose that then, begs the question of what was the idea behind Stanley Kubrick that so excites us all?

I can’t say that I know, but I do have one more story.

A year or two ago, I heard at the very last moment, that one of my favorite authors, Umberto Eco, was in Los Angeles to do a speaking tour on his latest novel, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. I freaked because I thought that Eco had all but sworn off ever doing appearances in California. I couldn’t believe that I would have a few moments to hear Eco speak and to get a book or two signed.

The subject of Eco and the movies came up. It is fairly common knowledge that he’d been disappointed with the outcome of The Name of the Rose, and that limitations that he perceived in the adaptation of novels to the screen had made him leery of another film adaptation of his work. Eco however related a story to the audience of a rumor of Kubrick’s interest in adapting Foucault’s Pendulum into a film.

Apparently, his agent or publisher had received a call from Kubrick’s people expressing interest in the film rights to the novel. Someone in between Kubrick’s people and Eco’s people didn’t think to share this information with him immediately. No doubt this was due to Eco’s refusal of previous offers. Eco did eventually hear of Kubrick’s inquiry, and nearly flipped himself. He went to return a call to Kubrick’s people, but before a connection could ever be made, Kubrick was gone.

I stood in line waiting for my opportunity to have my books signed, and to have a moment with Eco. Standing there, I couldn’t help but imagine what Stanley Kubrick’s production of Foucault’s Pendulum might have been like. When I got to Eco, I said my few words of appreciation and then I told him “My heart broke when you told us the story about Stanley Kubrick.”

He looked up at me briefly and said to me “Mine too.”

**As of 2011–

About a year or so ago, when crossing Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena, CA., I FINALLY had the opportunity to Dorian Harewood my story.  At the time, he was pushing his Mother-in-Law in a wheelchair across the street, and it couldn’t have been an odder moment to give him the “quick-and-dirty” version of all of my near brushes with him.  No surprise, he couldn’t have been kinder or more approachable and I was happy to say we both got a good laugh out of it.

technorati tags:stanley kubrick, dorian harewood, art, culture, cinema, new era, john malkovich, filmmakers, filmmaking, pasadena city college, musings, umberto eco, 2001: a space odyssey, entertainment, full metal jacket, colour me kubrick, vivian kubrick

2008 presented a great opportunity to direct this music video for Wil B. & The Billionaires.  The video marked my contribution to the electoral process outside of the voting booth.  The rapper, Wil B. was quick to get our piece submitted to CNN’s iReport.com “Campaign ’08″ online film festival, where it soon became a selected finalist in the competition.

What thrilled me about making a rather outspoken jab at the “recycled bodies” that have come to be our political representatives and the media machine that perpetuates them, was the fact that we had folks from all political perspectives participate on this film shoot.  Each committed to preserving the sanctity of the electoral process and the power of the ballot box.

A shout-out needs to go to all the cast and crew, Executive Producer for The Billionaires, Clifford Tasner, my Co-Producer and partner-in-crime Eric Mofford, long-time collaborator & D.P. David R. Hardberger.  Without these people, this project would never have come together.

Today in 2010, I finally got around to a re-cut which is as close to a final vision as I have for the project.  It’s my goal to get a second music video under my belt this year to help build momentum on continuing projects as a music video Director.  Still under wraps is a project that looks to be coming together in the next month:  a full-length music performance video that I’ll be cutting for another filmmaker who will be directing a pioneering New Age artist on his next big endeavor.

If I were to come up with a short wish list of artists I’d love to work with, it might be as follows: Michael Franti and Spearhead, The Mars Volta, Porcupine Tree, OVIDEO, Ben Harper & Relentless 7, OK Go, Bill Laswell & Method of Defiance, Toledo Diamond & The Toledo Show, Sigur Rós, Jamie Catto of 1 Giant Leap,  Pat Metheny, Peter Gabriel and David Sylvian to name just a few!

As with my goals as a filmmaker, I have the goal of creating music videos which are innovative and indelible.  The sort of concepts and images that set the artist apart as much as the image and vibe. Creating the next Sledgehammer, the next Afrika Shox, the next Glósóli. . .

More to come,

–S.

With the launch of my 2010 Editor’s Reel, I am announcing that I am currently available for editing projects.  I work on the Final Cut Pro editing platform and have not only the experience with the music video format, industrials, TV pitch videos, but with my background in marketing, I am more than a simple cutter.

For Intention Products, I created a series of teaser videos (as seen in my reel) intended to promote the BrandU Conscious Entrepreneur Experience, as well as a ten minute digest of the complete Conscious Entrepreneur Experience.

For Unconventional Media, I created the pitch video for the Drift Alliance Reality TV show which is making the rounds with production partners and cable networks looking for its home.

As you can see from my résumé, I have worked as a film professional now for over a decade.  But as a self-professed “process junkie”, editing suits my temperament and I find it to be a very rewarding and creative process.  I am eager to work with individuals and companies who will help me grow my reel and create dynamic works.  For this reason, I am able to offer very competitive rates, and as my clients and colleagues will tell you, I am the guy who is constantly who looking to exceed expectations and deliver the best possible end result on whatever project I work on.

For questions and inquiries I can be contacted via this website or directly via e-mail at:

connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

It seems like each and every month, I struggle for the first few days to establish the theme to my work.  December and January are no exception to the rule.  This month, the only direct artistic influence can be found in Japanese Edo-era artist, Hokusai. Although many images depict literal lines, I tried to venture outside of literal interpretation and draw deeper lines within the work.  Amazingly, the theme appears in the work before I know that I am doing it.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

Lines by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

AloneTogether by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

On my birthday this past October, I began a year long project of daily photos taken and posted online.  In just a few months, I have already taken a couple thousand photos, and as of this date, posted less than 80 photos.  My original intention was simply to take these photos one by one, but eventually, I was seeing themes developing in the work, and thus I began shaping the themes of the work once I identified an underlying current.

Recession was the first theme and the most natural of themes.  Much of my initial inspiration for the photos came from the countless signs on empty businesses that dot the area everywhere around me.  Soon other forms of “recession” began to emerge in the work, less literal and I leave it to the viewer to judge for themselves.

My underlying rule to all the work has been that all photos are exactly they happened. No posing, no setups.  A moment captured, and sometimes stolen,  in time.  By the end of this project, I very well may come to be known as the poet laureate of shopping carts.

Before the end of the year, I will be catching my galleries up to the current date, and then they will be published monthly thereafter.

To view higher resolution images of these and all of the 365 photos, you can view them here via Picasa.

Recession by Stefan Rhys is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.  Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.facebook.com/new.era.artist or by e-mailing me directly at connect (at) coffeecartproductions (dot) com.

I remember when I saw the above clip from Orson Welles‘ still unfinished final film The Other Side of The Wind. I would have been in my late teens or early twenties when it was screened as a part of a film festival in Santa Monica, just blocks from where Welles shot his final film appearance in Henry Jaglom‘s Someone to Love. Gary Graver, Welles’ long-time friend and cameraman was present to talk about this footage which was a part of Orson Welles: The One Man Band, and the Wind project itself.

My heart had long since been captured not only by his films such as the ubiquitous Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai, and The Trial, but I also had probably finished reading This is Orson Welles not too long before. (Truth be told, I probably carried my paperback copy of the book to the screening.)

I really thought I knew Welles and his work.  The good and the less so.  I remember I had met a writer one day working at Kinko’s in Pasadena who told me something of a book he’d written on Welles.  He (like many others, including Peter Bogdanovich) indicated that Welles’ greatest work, had yet to be seen and that it existed in the form of his unfinished feature, The Other Side of The Wind. What Joseph McBride never told me was the fact that he was IN The Other Side of The Wind.

And so, this scene which features Welles’ muse and companion, Oja Kodar completely floored me.  THIS was Orson Welles?!

If you are seeing this footage for the first time, you’re likely thinking the same way.

The film is in lush color (not unheard of in Welles’ repertoire, but certainly unusual).  For a filmmaker known for the way he opened up the expanses of the frame,  a filmmaker who was quoted as saying that he was resolutely against the use of close-up, this scene is incredibly intimate and sensual.  It evokes a level of intimacy, beyond the sexual, not usually a part of Welles’ palette.

Sadly, I think it’s the case that many aspiring filmmakers of today, and even current filmmakers know little about the man, even as a filmmaker.  Why he was significant.  Why he was the ORIGINAL Indie and guerilla filmmaker.

Welles was certainly no different than any human being with his share of demons and foibles.  At times, he very well may have been his own worst enemy.  But if you look at the body of his work that he made as a filmmaker, whether he started it, completed it, or dreamed of it, his vision was singular and unmistakable.  Citizen Kane was the film where he learned from the rule book, and immediately went about breaking the rules.  As significant a film as Kane was, I’ll be bold enough to say that 50% of the credit should also go to the man who showed him the rule book, and chief rule book breaker, Cinematographer, Gregg Toland.

His films often were self-referential, and self effacing.  One need only look at the role he chose to play in Touch of Evil.  Look closer at the role of Mr. Arkadin in Confidential Report, even Kane itself has a certain level of tongue-and-cheekness which one could interpret as a finger pointed in his own general direction.  In fact, The Other Side of The Wind is often stated by some to have a certain level of autobiographical intent.  In it, Director John Huston plays the lead role of Director Jake Hannaford, an aging Hollywood filmmaker trying to revive his career by pandering to the audience’s taste for sex and violence.

For real insight into Welles as a filmmaker, I can’t recommend highly enough the Criterion edition of F for Fake.  In it, you’ll realize that Welles was way ahead of his time, not only in terms of technique, but really, Fake could be called the first mocumentary before anyone else had thought to coin the term.  The Criterion edition also contains Orson Welles: The One Man Band, the documentary co-directed by Oja Kodar, and other great supplemental material.  It’s as complete an introduction to Welles as you are to get in a DVD box set.

It’s one of my hopes that we’ll finally get to see the completed piece in 2010.  The word going around from Peter Bogdanovich is that we will finally get to see the film premier at Cannes next year.  Showtime Networks will likely carry it on cable shortly thereafter as it has been said that it is the key financial backer of the film’s completion.

Until then, I’ll wait and continue to let his dreams influence my own.

In reality, I am like so many other filmmakers from all backgrounds and experiences these days, looking for the next opportunity to get the next project off the ground.  And really, many of us who consider ourselves “Indie Filmmakers” are trying to figure out how to bring our projects to life and paying the bills.

In the meantime, as I continue moving forward toward those projects, I’ll be sharing a number of things that inspire and move me, other creators who fascinate me, and who knows what else.

Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman

First up is the 1 Giant Leap project. The multi-media project created back in 2001 by musician/filmmakers Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman.  The double-Grammy nominated project started coming to light in the States right about the time I was exploring Brazil in the hopes of getting a similar project of my own off the ground.  I mention this not so much to draw attention to my own adventures, but more to illustrate a level of kinship that I feel with these guys.

The original 1 Giant Leap project consisted of a CD and DVD release which chronicled a six month journey in which they recorded music, filmed talks with writers, teachers and every day people.  The result is a multi-part filmed reflection on the human experience.

Catto (one of the original members of English Trip-Hop band, Faithless) and Bridgeman had the opportunity to create a work in which a diversity of talent such as Faithless band mate Maxi Jazz, Michael Franti, Ram Dass, U. Srinivas, Cosi Fabian, Asha Bhosle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Brian Eno to name just a very few.

But really, it’s best to let the work speak for itself:

“Music to me, is proof of the existence of God.”

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Now in 2009, 1 Giant Leap has released its long anticipated follow up What About Me? I have yet to hear either the new d0uble CD album, nor see any more than bits and pieces of the new DVD, but both are most definitely in my future.  One very cool little toy that I have been playing with quite a bit on my iPod Touch is the iKlax “re-mixable” version of “How Can I Be A Better Friend to You?” It’s a free app available from iTunes, and is definitely a shiny and fun toy, and the song featuring Maxi Jazz and Jhelisa Anderson is definitely as good as anything on the 2002 album.

That song’s companion chapter “Bombardment” can be seen here:

I have such respect for what these guys have set out to do, and have accomplished. . . This typifies New Era Artistry perfectly.  The work uses music, imagery and ideas to explore themes of culture, spirituality and the human experience in all of its diversity.  It does so not by illustrating our differences, but shining a light on our similarities as a global culture.

As someone who believes firmly that art of all sorts not only can, but will help to launch humanity into its next phase, I believe 1 Giant Leap serves as a model and inspiration for more work like it, and the artists that create it.  It’s also worth pointing out that the music and films do so without an air of “New Age” crunch, and you never feel as if you are being preached to.  This is music at it’s infectious best, and cultural exploration at it’s most inspiring.  I can’t recommend it highly enough!