North Carolina Festival & Filmmaking notes

I've traveled by myself before - a road trip LA to Colorado for a job, a few New York trips, OH I guess BARCELONA for study abroad, but never have I really gone somewhere where I don't know anyone, by myself. That was the North Carolina trip.  4 days. Treated like some strange VIP for the Film Festival, the lovely driver with the sign greeted me at the airport with my backpack and late night arrival straight from the NYC office. My hotel room in the old mill factory had a bigger than King sized bed and an old fashioned chandelier. Instead of stress for setting out on my own, I found complete calm in my slight anonymity. Days were spent seeing movie after movie, wonderful thought provoking films by filmmakers that I was able to meet and befriend. Films are no longer these long off goals, but concrete things that I can discuss with their maker. The whole trip was surreal.

A step back from the travel side to my FILMMAKING SIDE-

1. REWARD: From another doc filmmaker - "It seems as if we've all shown up to the Festivals from a great battle. Wounded and without sleep. We've all been through war and now we get to raise our glasses and cheers each other, swap combat stories, and enjoy." Here I was watching movies (I never do that!), I took a nap in the middle of the day, one night I slept 8 hours and in the morning went to a bakery and bought 2 danishes and read my book!

2. LOSING: Placement in a Festival makes some kind of statement on success, but as a fellow filmmaker said, "my friends / family often see me as this person successfully living my dreams and being creative, but what they may not see is me failing, losing, and being rejected every day, over and over." As thankful as I am for yes, being able to live my dreams, everyday I'm told no, told I'm crazy, told my film isn't good enough, and I think it's not possible. For every Festival acceptance, I've heard the good average is 4 rejections. Everyday we keep going. We are crazy.

3. CURB SATISFACTION?: I don't completely recall the details of this one (here I'll thank the Festival's alcohol sponsors), but something along the lines of....you should never be 100% satisfied or happy with your job, because that would be impossible, you should always be striving to improve. Perfection doesn't exist. Which, as an optimist, maybe is depressing. OR is it reassuring coming from an optimist, in that it can always be better. I'll say, there can be perfection in that moment, full of pure joy, but you can also know you can keep striving to make it even better. Now THAT is worth something. 
"no amount of money could buy security, and if it could, it would be a bad bargain at any price, since security was a form of paralysis, just as satisfaction was a form of death" - Tom Robbins 

All that is great, but I still feel...when is it really over, when is the film really done, done? We all may have been taking naps, watching movies, and taking full advantage of the parties, but we also were answering emails for both our day jobs and our films, applying to more festivals, and preparing to head back to work. 

For me, back to the pulsating city of New York where my blood flows faster and my speed walking falls perfectly in line with the ebb of pedestrian traffic filled with every variety of person and dream.

2013 Begins - LA, Seattle, VT, Florida - NYC in between

This is going to be an interesting year of travel. Never before have I had so much travel planned in advance, to so many US cities, for such short stops. A lot of that has to do with this being the first year I've had friends getting married - 5 of them. Plus my circus film is doing the film festival circuit. Plus my work trips and other random adventures. I'd say this year also marks the first time experiencing flights where I didn't think I was going to die. Considering the amount I fly, it looks like it has taken since I was 5 years old returning from Hawaii until now, 23 year later, to stop thinking the plane was going to crash on every flight. Hopefully this sticks, that would be a lot more convenient. 

First up this year, in February I had a weekend trip to Los Angeles / San Diego.  LA was sunny and warm. A quick stop at a circus convention in San Diego and then classic night time adventures with LA friend Lindsey. A great friend hand off happened in a strip mall parking lot in Orange County. Concrete and palm tress. I was dropped with my bag and winter coat to wander for 10min before another friend picked me up. I couldn't have felt more out of place. It was great.

Nothing like brushing your teeth in the office bathroom after a solid nights sleep on a red eye flight home.

Back to work for 2 days in NYC and then off to the PREMIERE of my "World Circus" film in beautiful red rock Sedona, AZ. A perfect festival to start it all off. Awesome movie watching, meeting fellow filmmakers, and partying with Ian. 

I think next was a Vermont trip home for sugaring. Maple Syrup making. The smell of the sugar house might be what heaven is. 

Then came my two weeks of craziness - 

Seattle for my job. 4 days of shooting, non stop days, although I managed to squeeze in a dinner with a wonderful friend and her new baby. As we wandered the streets of Seattle and landed in a loud and delicious Mexican restaurant, the baby slept and was no deterrent to a good time. Maybe babies and husbands aren't so bad after all.

2 days of work back in NYC and then off to Sarasota, Florida for the Film Festival. As I changed in the lobby bathroom, I couldn't quite believe it was dress whether. Really? People weren't wearing coats? 

Red eye home straight to the TimeSquare office for 2 days and then off to North Carolina Film Festival, which deserves a post of it's own....coming up next. 

2012 Travels so far: Colorado - CHI - LA - STL - Alaska - Nashville

Again, before I forget, let me catch up on where I've been. And mention my 1 year anniversary of officially living in NYC. Forgot how much I LOVE fall and all the seasons. 

I'll quickly mention my Thanksgiving in Florida (oh wait, that was 2011) and many many trips from NYC to VT. Living that dream of mine. 

Made it for my usual "whirl wind best friends / best city stop in Chicago on my way to something" trip this year. This time it was to film the final interview for my circus film in Wisconsin. Road tripped Chicago to Wisconsin and replaced a hotel for tent and quiet campground. Paused the whirl wind for a perfect 1 hour float, in the sun, in a canoe, on a lake. 

Spent almost 2 weeks in Breckenridge, CO in June. Mostly inside my hotel room & inside the production office trailer. But the views were beautiful and the air was crisp, although extremely scarce. I've been to Cusco / Machu Picchu and hiked mountains, but I don't remember having problems with the whole "lack of oxygen" thing. I definitely noticed it in Breckenridge. 

I escaped the NYC humid heat in August for a job back in Los Angeles. I had my first encounter with jet lag, leading to my first encounter of being a morning person. Who knew you could wake up with a smile on your face at 7am? The gleaming sun, blue sky, cat in my face, and amazing friends in the next room making breakfast may have helped all that. Was amazed at how I survived there for 5 years without ending up in an insane asylum for road rage, but didn't mind at all being back for a month. 

From LA, it was a quick family reunion in IL / STL and then I planned on heading back to NYC to finish, under a crazy deadline, my Circus film. Instead, I stopped in Alaska for 3 days. 

As the plane started the down tilt to land in Anchorage, AK, the pilot came on and laughed, "well, they're evacuating the airport due to high winds, and there is no one in the control tower, so I guess we won't be landing there." Instead I ended up on the Fairbanks airport floor for 8 hours. Over 12 hours late, I made it to Anchorage, without my bags (reminder to ALWAYS pack a spare set in your cary on). I headed towards my rental car in my shorts (I had packed for LA) and drove the 45min to "work". I have to say, as soon as I hit highway 1, along the water with the mountains as the backdrop, none of the travel pains mattered. Alaska is spectacular and I must return. In my few days there, even though 95% of the time I was inside a production trailer or my hotel room, I still saw a beluga whale, bald eagle, and a bear - AND drove an RV. Classic Alaska adventure. 

Most recently I spent a long weekend in Nashville, home of bachelorette parties, apparently. Awesome old friends, that are more like family, and 3 whole days without turning on a computer. I don't think I've done that in...years.  

2012 was the first time in 6 years that I didn't make it to Peru. Josh still went to see the amazing progress on the hospital, and see them break ground on our Yantalo International Volunteer House. Amazing progress! Definitely miss Peru, the people, and the language, and can't wait for next year. 

Chocolate & Cookie Filmmaking Metaphors

These just come to me as I'm working...so thought I'd share.

1.

When I finally get a scene translated that I have tried to edit into the timeline, it's like after looking at a huge delicious box of chocolate and trying to decide which ones to eat first, and then finally getting the little picture map of what is inside each chocolate. You have the answers and then you can really dig in.

2.

The whole long process of making my documentary is like following cookie crumbs through a dark, bleak, and scary forest. Every now and then I get a big cookie crumb and trudge happily ahead and then it's months till the next crumb and the doubt sets in. Am I on the right path? Is there even another cookie crumb ahead? Will all the crumbs actually even lead to a huge cookie at the end? No turning back now, I know there's no cookie crumbs left where I came from! So, we can just know there will be another crumb to inspire us and lead the way, and also know there will probably be many more dark spells in between, so strap on some comfortable shoes.

ARMED WITH CHOCOLATE (and maybe some ice cream and cookies), I CONTINUE THE EDIT ADVENTURE....THE SLOWEST ADVENTURE I'D EVER AGREE TO.

1 week across America!

This is actually my 2nd cross country road trip, but the last time was VT - CA. I also have done CHI - CA after college for my move. This time it was CA - VT.

It's all about the journey...blah blah...but no, really, it is. Sure my car is loaded with all of my belongings (except 2 shipped boxes) and sure the goal is to move my home base to a new city, but before that huge new chapter begins, I had a week of pure FUN on the road. A perfect vacation. Being stuck in a car forces me to do nothing and enjoy.

In the words of my road buddy, oldest college friend, and DJ GPS,

"We have to hit the road to get somewhere tonight."

Somewhere was along this route....

THE MAP

I started the trip up CA HWY 1 to San Fran and then the "official" trip began...

The first day was an adventure, which is what we asked for, but we quickly learned to ask for maybe..."a little easier adventure". After Yosemite, Day 1 was an amazing roller coaster road that caused extremely high pitched screams to echo across the empty desert in the middle of no where.

After considering sleeping in a very creepy casino desert town (ALL hotels were booked - what??), considering camping at a rest area (rest area = epitome of bad ideas), and considering camping by a recommended crater (crater ended up being created by a missile, proven by the missile next to the road and the "testing area" sign), we instead drove into the night imagining the other worldly desert landscape around us and ended up a the nicest hotel we could have hoped for!

The 2nd night was camping in Flaming Gorge, mostly chosen for the name, which provided amazing water front views and fields of grazing antelope. An old man in a pickup came at dusk to collect the required $10. The 3rd night the landscape changed as we

climbed in elevation to Rocky Mountain National Park. A view of spectacular yellow aspen leaves, and yes some snow, met us. Our fire was shared by a friend who I made 2 years ago on a show I worked on, time means little on the road. Night 4 & 5 were a hotel night in Des Moines and then couch in Chicago, for time with the best of college friends. We barely made it through Indiana on day 6...but did...and then just one more night on the road before the destination.

Wondering when all this will set in....because this isn't real life.

work hard, play harder

Endlessly am I amazed at the group of people Luis is able to pull together to one table in the jungle of Peru. After a FULL day of complicated surgeries, holding cameras and filming, painting, and teaching kids and adults (all with no time for food, in between down pours of rain, and often lacking a common language) each person is still standing - or sitting - at the table at midnight clinking their full glasses of pisco sours and laughing. Thank you Luis and happy birthday, may we all be half as amazing as you when we are on the "other side" of 70 years.

Only two more full days in the Yantalo area - the fastest trip here yet. It does feel like the right amount of time though, since really all the film needs now is a finished clinic, fully functioning. But - isn't that what everyone needs?

But, this trip was made 100% worth it yesterday. Sometimes when filming a documentary for over 5 years, you loose track, or wonder what the film will look like. Other times, it is perfectly clear. Yesterday as the group of over 20 volunteers / visitors saw the construction

site for the first time, Luis got a call that parents with a sick baby had flown all the way from Lima to see the visiting physicians. When they arrived in Moyobamba, they heard the American doctors had just left the hospital to go to Yantalo. So, the parents drove to Yantalo - came to the constructions site - and there, among the blue prints, mud floor, and construction material, the doctors performed an examination. The Yantalo clinic's first patient.

Now this is the film.

Peru Trip #6

After over 24 hours of travel from Los Angeles we landed in the jungle. We had to stay thenight in Tarapoto (where the airport is), since we landed in the dark and the drive to Yantalo is not safe at night. We got a good 4 hours of sleep and then climbed in the van at 5:30am for a sunrise 3 hour drive to Moyobamba. We arrived at the hotel with 10min to unload before heading to Yantalo for a full day of filming. Welcome to the jungle. The arrival was made complete by ice cold Cusquena beers and a cold shower before bed. Always a reminder here how much less people,including myself, can live with and how much we have in the US.


Day 2 was AMAZING due to stumbling upon a circus in a town we had followed Luis to for ameeting at the city hall. I got up the guts, after filming the outside of the tent, to wander in and find the owner. We had the most wonderful interview. Even in the jungle of Peru when asked what circus means he replied, "it is art, it is culture, it is in our veins."

On the way back to Yantalo we passed fields of pineapples, I don't know why they made me so happy... just the FUNNIEST thing I had ever seen. Think of small plants in a huge field with a whole pineapple just sitting on top of them. It's like someone went out there and glued them to the top of each plant in a HUGE field.

I also ate a fried ant, actually really tasty, kind of smokey, salty, crunchy snack. But as soon as I thought about what I was chewing I gagged. Just don't think. Nothing like post meal turning to your friend and asking, "do I have ant legs in my teeth?"

Mis amigos. The best of the best. :o)