Creative Buzz

It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end but alas, the seasons must change. Here in the Pacific North West summer is too short, cliche I know. I must lament, many of the creative projects that I intended to work on or wrap up this summer simply didn’t happen. Though in my failure beauty emerged, beauty in the form of unscheduled spontaneity that resulted in amazing time with family and friends, beauty in the form of downtime that allowed a very deep and profound ancestral healing, the type that you cannot command to happen or schedule in. I feel so deeply calm and focused and although I crave more sun, as we all do, I feel ready to embrace autumn.

summer sunset

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Here is a teaser from the documentary END:CIV directed by Franklin Lopez of submedia.tv based on the works of Derek Jensen. During the winter and spring I had a ton of fun doing some post production on this project.

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Meat consumption is a significant contributor to global emissions, primarily beef and pork. The larger the animal, the heavier the footprint. If you are not vegetarian, consider going veg one day a week to do your part. If the whole planet stopped consuming meat one day a week emissions drop considerably. See if you can go to two days from there, and stick to poultry and fish, although it seems that salmon is not really an option anymore. When I think about how we can carry our existences and pursue our dreams while reducing our footprints on the planet it kicks in my creativity and I get a little buzz from it. Riding my bike around, growing food, consuming less, it has been fueling me as I discover little details that make my day more sustainable, and more magical.

 

TRANCEending the ordinary

See the world from fresh eyes,
you are the alchemist.
You have the ability to transform a painfully mundane moment
into pure magic.
Enter the flow…

…find that inner spark,
blow air onto it,
and allow it to burn.
Feel the warmth, the bliss.

Listen to that song, the birds, the traffic, the people, to that voice from within.
Feel the wind, the heat, the raindrops, the vibrations, your heart.
Look at the view, the colors, the light, beneath the surface.
Touch your feet to the ground, the textures, the hearts of all the people around you.

It is contagious and irresistible and a potent remedy.

 

moving for words: a short film

Last month I wrote about Enlightened Cinema, a monthly gathering at the Chai Gallery hosted by Winston Rekert bringing together a community in appreciation of independent film making. That evening in January, local performer/actress Lisa Petrucci expressed that she had an idea for a short film. That film idea turned into a script, then Winston drew together a crew to help Lisa’s vision manifest into a short film. He introduced me to Lisa and when she read her script to me I resonated deeply with her theme of dreams, and how a dream can give us insight on important events in our lives, or important people. The dance between the conscious and the subconscious. Desire, do we act upon it or suppress it out of fear of being hurt, or our minds getting in the way.

crew of moving for words

So, from Lisa’s beautiful vision and script I got to work on my first short film with actors. I got to direct along side Winston, which was an insightful process. I also produced and edited the film and enjoyed working with cinematographer Ahmed Badawi. We shot the film in two days and I had to co-ordinate the musicians to record the score in between my mad schedule and busy family life. But it happened, this project had a synergistic flow to it and it all came together in time for the film to be showed on the second ever Enlightened Cinema on February 3rd, although I had to connect my laptop to the projector as I had not yet compressed and copied it onto a DVD.

Lisa Petrucci

We filmed in the beautiful Pacific Spirit Park, and were a frozen bunch by the end of the day. The second day of filming was in the most wonderful second hand bookstore, Bibliophile, at 2010 Commercial Drive. If you have not been there you should go check it out, it is loaded with charm. I managed to scoop up an incredible book on traditional Indian textile patterns, which is a major passion of mine. Scott, the manager, was super hospitable to us filming in his store. I also have to give props to actor Aryo Khakpour, he was very helpful on set and did such a great job acting.

Bibliophile - best used book store

Solen enjoyed being around the set. At Chai Imin Shekere a few days after we finished filming, he had my video camera and was quite the little director with the patrons and performers! It was so cute seeing him interview people and directing shots throughout the evening. I am sure he will be mighty useful on future sets.

Solen on set

Do it people, get your ideas onto paper, collaborate, get the right people together and set a deadline. Voila, in one month a finished project.

If you are curious about the project, I’d be happy to show you the 10 minute movie. Short film and tea and conversation.

moving for words/moving forwards