The Story of the Buddha of Bamyan in 3 images:
4/10/22
1/14/22
1/4/22
Another film: “unit.” I made this one throughout 2020-2021. No expectations when I made this one. I think one of the purposes -- if not the main purpose behind its completion -- was the fact that there was a film festival looming. So I needed something for the festival. (I’ll be putting the link for that as well.)
Anyway, I was arbitrarily shooting footage of myself doing mundane stuff. I guess that’s how you can put it. It was a sort of ping-ponging between me and Alicia. I was giving her the cameras I was using, and she was messing with them as well. And then she’d give them back to me, and we’d repeat this probably for a couple more times. Hence the term “ping-ponging.” I ended up editing all the footage together and keeping the semblance of some sort of linear narrative throughout, some type of discernable arc that the charatcers were going through together and individually. But it was more than that obviously...
What it’s all about, a sort of synopsis, I’d say... Well, how can I say it? I’m not sure. Film now for me is totally formalistic. Formalistic in the sense that it’s just the “pure” image and sound that I’m concerned with. (But hasn’t that always been the case? Furthermore, what do you mean by “pure”?) And the images and sounds are juxtaposed, whether in a traditional narrative plot type of sense or not, into something that’s about the images and sounds coming together to create some type of whole.
But that doesn’t do it justice. I guess I’m trying to make sense of it because of this festival I’m submitting to that requires a synopsis. I have no “statement” nor a synopsis. I’d prefer if you just watched it, and felt it. Or merely just watched it and were confounded by it... Or nothing really. Something. Not sure. It was an expression of the moment. It was the only way I knew how to express myself filmically. And for some reason we came up with this festival, which then required me to then have a movie for it. Becuase why wouldn’t I have a movie for my own festival? It was a motivation -- the festival -- to make a movie. And that I did. I was also inspired by Chantal Akerman. Specifically her film “No Home Movie.” You can say I bit her hard.
Here’s the link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adpFrTtSWQ4
Here the link to the festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui54-OYn-IU
“Aurelie’s TV (a film festival)” is the name of the festival. It premiered last father’s day. The impetus for it was to have a festival, a space, a place, where people could share their work. No submission fees. Everyone and anyone and anything got in. The word “film” was treated loosely. Anything could be considered film.
1/2/22
Working with decimals, improper fractions, and mixed numbers.
Here’s the link to The Christmas Journal or the Estrogen Film Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqGWLz4Lfyw
12/18/21
I made a new film titled “even tho it was a success.”
Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNYAHzZXpHc
I’ve become a builder of structures over the past year. Through that practice I’ve rediscovered the beauty of shapes and geometry. I guess this film speaks on that. But in a deeper sense, in a sense — if I were to be quite honest, still mysterious to myself — this film is about me trying to articulate or express the spirit of what I’m going through now and essentially how I’ve been feeling the past couple of months… or ever since I moved to LA (which was about 5 to 6 months ago).
It’s also a silent film (which is a first). I needed the absence of sound. Not because I needed “pure” images but because it was just right.
12/18/21
The Land Giant
12/14/21
Worked with the first graders again today. I’m tired. I’m a bit worried but it has less to do with myself and more to do with someone else. A specific someone whom I’m waiting on. How long can I wait? I wish I could just grab them and force them to get the damn deed done. But that’s not humanely possible.
Anyway, is it possible to focus on anything artistic in these trying times? It’s not that bad out here. It’s just... Well, it’s just that sometimes I can fall into a “default mode” agony.
12/12/21
