Skipped a period

Although these posts are meant to be monthly, last month's was merely a list of upcoming screenings. Her Magnum Opus has now had 4 of them: two at the Port Townsend Film Festival on the Olympic Peninsula, one at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, and one at YoFiFest in Yonkers. I'm happy to report that after 4 viewings, I don't twitch at every transition. I can almost see what's actually there instead of what existed in an earlier draft.

Certainly audiences see what's there - and they seem to be very moved by it.  

Delicious and whimsical. 

Stunning. Blew my mind on a dismal afternoon.

People have commented on how the toys dance, on the house-within-a-house, on the music, on how Opus makes them want to dance, how it allows viewers to receive the narrative at their own pace. One dear woman was crying too much to speak!

As well as a local screening coming up on Wednesday December 13 at Rivertown Film in Nyack, Opus is an Official Selection in the Borrego Springs Film Festival, where it will screen over MLK weekend, January 2018.  Now that I actually believe in it myself, I'm daring to submit to film festivals again, so there will be probably be more good news soon. I look forward to getting so jaded that I go out for dinner during the screening and only return for the Q&A, like a real filmmaker.

Below is the latest my latest short film, in search of lost time, which had a preview at BAAD! last month, and is already a semi-finalist in two festivals: 

- the 37th Black Maria Film Festival - where I have a 30-year history starting with Mountainview

 - Midwest RAD Fest.

One a dance/film fest, one not  : just like I like it.



In December, when I would be writing the next post, instead I'll be in Sao Carlos Brazil, where I was a guest artist 3 years ago during their Sao Carlos Videodance Festival. Over the course of a few weeks, I'll concoct a dance film, based on the work of choreographer Francisco Silva and his URZE companha  de danca, and shot by a local cameraperson.  

The plan: trust. The storyboard: a dream. The budget: love.  
And whatever magic does or doesn't happen, there's always the editing - what dancer Andy Chapman calls "editography".  To be done back here in Nyack, over the winter with images of summer in Brazil to keep me warm.

As Thanksgiving rolls around,  I have a lot to be grateful for.