poster + grants + cinema
1) the poster above is from my friend Amanda who had outgrown it and asked on a whim if I would possibly be interested. I reacted swiftly. It serves the dual purpose of inspiring me and frightening people away from my office. I am in love with it.
2) season 2 of Microaggressions continues to form itself. Most of the casting is locked up, w/ a couple voice roles outstanding and one role outstanding. (note: very excited to work w/ this cast!) Need to work on finalizing locations next, along w/ and finding local resources for food and beverages and the minutiae of daily set life. I should probably get some help but I always find myself doing everything up until some breaking point a couple weeks before the shoot. This is an area I def need to improve upon. The project is shooting in September. Also, trying to slowly work my way back to shooting 2nd half of Sister/Brother, trying to put short film Child Care together, and waiting to hear from a few festivals about the fate of Man of La Mansion.
3) Started to apply for a grant this week and got a couple days in until I realized it was for 2020 and didn’t extend into 2021. Oh well. The good part is working on grants is always helpful to refine what you are doing or aiming at. River water polishing stone. Speaking of grants, there was one I applied for recently and apparently got close to getting (got a nice email from the organization to tell me so) but didn’t get. In fact someone I know ended up receiving. That dynamic - you losing, someone else you know winning - can be a very prickly enterprise. Been thinking of tattooing the phrase Don’t Compare Yourself To Others to my eyelids b/c it bears repeating and b/c it comes up all the time in the arts. or at least it does for me. (see also: Don’t Ponder Others lojong). Very destructive and eats up a lot of time. Honor the success of others and leave it there.
4) Been to the movies twice this week, in the theater. Even though I abhorred one of the films and mildly enjoyed the other, being in a cinema is a reverent space and sitting in the dark (even while watching pre-show corporate offal) I felt something inside me click back into place, something profound and elemental center itself. GD, that feeling I had missed. I don’t want to get too goofy here but I have spent much of my adult life in movie theaters and, with a few exceptions, there is nowhere I would rather be. I understand myself and my life much better from that spot. Watching at home or on phones or elsewhere are pale whisper facsimiles of this experience.
5) And yet I do watch things at home. This week watched No Sudden Move (which I loved esp the continued bravado of Peter Andrews), Body Double (a rewatch, not perfect but so damn good), and The American Friend (which I had never seen and adored, esp the Müller/Wenders pairing and the Ganz/Hopper one). The latter 2 movies are part of the CC neo noir series which I have decided to bathe myself in until every last one has been consumed.
