I took a late day today sorting stuff out at home before venturing outdoors. I either arrive a good half hour before screenings or bang on time. Because I had to return DVDs in Brick Lane, today was a bang on time day. Trouble is, on arrival, there was another 20 people who were bang on time in the queue. After about 5 mins, a woman said, 'I have a spare ticket if anyone wants it'. I would have gotten a free one anyway but I called to her just before she went back it. She'd paid for her ticket and gave it to me for free. We ended up sitting next to each other.
The film, an animation about a girl growing up in Tehran and then moving to Austria and then back to Tehran was really good. Funny, tragic and touching. Extremely funny. It was the best thing I saw in the festival so far. By a long shot.
Went for a drink with my new friend who was from Israel. We had a discussion about the conflict (middle east) and about Hong Kong and China. She teaches film theory and is also completing a PHD. In the future I may help her on a lecture with cinematography.
It was nice to meet a new friend out of such circumstances and as she said, only in London can one perhaps do that, and maybe in New York. Diversity.
I have been taking snaps with my phone over the last few months. What I call, Phonography. Most of which I have taken on the fly, between work, while walking. It's a little like Lomography except with a little more thought in the framing. Also the other difference being the digital artifacting as difference to the vignetting in a lomo. Here are some...
South London
The South Bank
Central London
Compton Street, Central London
North London
West London
Tate Modern
cameras on phones are great. From a wider perspective, it allows anyone who has one to take images more than they previous would (not having a camera on them and/or not being into 'photography'). It allows photography to be an accessible, universal activity.
More to the point, the variety of views and people and experiences one can be exposed to in London in a day, a week, is one of the best things about it.
- J
More of the London Film Festival...
Yesterday I did something I don't normally at Festivals, I went to watch a film I knew was coming out soon. I think nothing else was on that i wanted to watch. So I got a ticket to go watch Grace is Gone starring John Cusack. I like Cusack in his downbeat everyman roles. As I was approaching the Odeon I saw a crown built up and as i got closer, saw a red carpet and bouncers. I went and said i had a ticket. As I walked across the red carpet i felt eyes staring me down. I was tempted to do the moonwalk and be on the cover of tomorrows Metro, but my sensibilities got the better of me. I asked who was coming and they said John Cusack. I got my seat and we waited for John and the debut director (and writer) James C Strouse. After the presentation, film and after questions I was walking out and John Cusack was walking about the same pace and ended up at the exit the same time as me so I was a few feet away from him, basically within spitting distance. I was tempted, but i didn't. He's very tall, I would say about 6' 3'. On stage he looked like a white Michael Jordon. On exit I could hear a man calling,
"John! John! JOHN!"
John ignored him and probably got in his car. I ignored him too, but that's more to do with because my names not John. But I would have ignored him too if even my name was John.
Briefly looking back at my brief red carpet entrance and exit I find the whole celebrity/star thing all so strange. I saw John Cusack leaving the theatre like us all but with people staring at him and wanting to catch up with him. So weird. I'd hate that. Most celebrities probably think it's wired that one has to step onto a red carpet to reach the theatre, like the pavement wasn't good enough. I have to admit though, walking onto carpet outside was comfortable, for about 5 steps.
I left the film Frozen today after 45 mins. Gratuitous cinematography, amateur performances (contrived), clumsy narration... i could go on. This film got good reviews too. But I walked out and ended up having a nice chat with one of the staff members who happened to be a cute French girl. I was tempted.
After dropping my DVD rentals I went across Lodnon again to The Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn. They said they couldn't give me a comp. ticket on the weekend. I was hot a sweaty. It wasn't sold out either and it was starting in 5 mins. I left the desk thinking I should chance trying to get one. So I went back telling the man I already watching something today and showed him my ticket. He ended up giving me a comp. ticket... So I went to see Saviour's Square which was a great Polish domestic drama. Although tragic, it hardly brought any tears to the eyes. The temptation was there, but i don't think i was supposed to.
- J
On Monday I went to collect my delegates pass from, the delegates centre at the NFT/BFI. At the end of a large room there was a desk. Above the desk was three signs, INDUSTRY, PRESS and FILMMAKERS. I went to the filmmakers desk and said,
"I here to pick up my pass"
"what's the film"
"erm...(whispering) mouth to anus...""Oh...." she smirks and she files through a rollidex.
Yesterday apart from meeting a snobby producer and a few girls who sorta knew Seamus McGarvey I spoke to an elderly lady whose son was a director. She asked me which film I shot.
"It's erm... the shortest piece in the festival..."
Today I was at the delegates centre and was booking a DVD screening (we can watch things we've missed on DVD stations, for me today it was You, The Living). When I was asking about the booking she wasn't very helpful. When I came to book I showed her my pass and she suddenly said to the guy next to her,
"Oh, there's your favorite title, this guy directed it!""No, I just shot it"
She was more smiley after that.
I also was speaking to a nice lady, a film critic at the centre for on and off about 30 mins before she asked,
"Are you a student?"
"Er no... I'm a Cinematographer"
"Oh really?"
Yes really..........
I'm also an official FILMMAKER, because that's what it says on my badge... and then below my job title is a description of my other specialty...
-J
After weeks of solid working hours with little sleep I got a break this past week. Without the intention of going out much, I ended up going out a lot, having conversations and drinking copious amounts of red wine finishing up this morning at 7am.
A new friend of mine from Rochester came up for the day. First we went to buy Varlhrona (chocolate), if heaven could be tasted, this would be it. For the first time since I left Wagamamas I popped in and said hello to a few people I haven't seen for about 4 years. Next was the Apple store where my friend got to check out the new iTouch with the possibility of getting a MacBook and free iPod Nano. Then went around the corner for a Beard Papas. Yum. And then popped into Wasabi for a box of sushi. Hopped on a bus to St Pauls and walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern to see Louise Bourgeouis's big spider and Doris Salcedo’s Shibboleth, the big crack. We had our sushi on the riverbank. Over Waterloo Bridge to Embankment we settled at Gordon's Wine bar for a bottle. The rugby was on so the bar was relatively empty. It is normally packed out, even on weekdays. We polished two bottles between us and left at closing. She had to take a midnight train back so we rushed and dodged human and motorized traffic to Soho to grab a meal. But it was sure she wasn't going to make her train. Another friend was having a birthday do around the corner on Frith street so we popped along to that. "I'm not staying long', I said. But when we got there they were DJ'ing 80's pop. A small dingy joint that looks more like an underground bar in Old Street, not smack bang in Soho. But the music was fantastic. Once we started dancing, that was the end of going home early. We danced non stop until closing which was about 3am. It's been years since I did that. It wasn't full at all and the dance floor was fairly empty but we didn't care as we dominated the floor! We stumbled out and walked to Tottenham Court rd and grabbed a cab home. We stayed up till 7am this morning chatting and drinking more wine.
A great day out was topped off by endless dancing to 80's perfect pop. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun.
I got word from The London Film Festival that I have a now have a Delegates Pass. Fogeddaboudit.
In the film, Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino's character says, 'We'll taking a tour- of pleasures'. There's nothing more complicated and life affirming than that.- J
About this time last year I came back from The West Bank, Hong Kong and Beijing. That trip changed my perception of the world and my direction in life and work ethic. It continues today. Funnily enough, this past year I have gotten offered the standard of work I was aspiring to. And also the entry into festival all around the world, over 25 this year. I've shot documentaries and music videos and shorts which I found all rewarding. I didn't pine for them like i used to, I got offered to shoot them.
Yesterday I found out that a piece I shot years ago was screening at the London Film Festival. My home festival I had been attending for the last decade. Despite the work not being my best, it is a nice feeling. I am trying to get a late delegates pass as I did manage in Edinburgh. This would be grand.
I take none of this for granted and appreciate this opportunity to see so much work out there. It's a privilege. A celebration of film. I do have a small inkling of the prestige that comes with a 'round the neck' free pass and I admit it is nice to have ( if i do). But what is important is the work that people produce and a lot which i can't afford to go to see all unless this pass, comes to pass.
What I am getting at is that from that trip I reached a point in my life that I realized that life wasn't about film but film, that i make, should be about life. And the possibility of making that happen was within grasp.
I have been doing community and small projects recently and also a spot of teaching and it's all about something i always wanted to do. Not to shoot big productions. Just the simple yet meaningful shoots to educate, raise money and have fun with making films. It is partly, what it is all about not just in theory, but in practice.
It was great to be sitting in the audience seeing your work at the NFT (National Film Theatre) knowing you shot that and no one else knows. You are in your home town where you grew up and your work is on the cinema screen (my third time at the NFT). A discreet smile rolls around your face while everybody watches...
At this point, one wonders if at this point one can do this, what can one do in the coming years?
J
Mouth to Anus@ The 51st London Film Festival: http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/lff/node/2488/more
these are whom exist, friends, individuals, connected by things they are unaware of...
i know a deep sense of grief, passion and strife lives in her. A person who cries for others. A person who you sit with and while you speak, she can form tears in her eyes. Frustrated and always moving, she is a best friend.
Her large eyes and kind demeanor. Cute and striving she recently left her boyfriend of 10 years to be with a girl. A surprising and painful journey.
She can talk forever if time allowed. Kind and considerate, honest and always alive, i can stare and listen for hours. She knows what to do and how to speak to people.
He is married to her and will wait for the bus with me at 3am while stoned and drunk. He makes you feel warm and at home. He nearly made me cry by his kindness.
She asks about you first. She is private. She says 'fucking hell' like nobody else. She talks highly of you and knows whats right and wrong and sane and adventurous and she cares. She is a life of a party but she is grounded and trustworthy. And she is beautiful.
He is caring yet alpha male. His views are skew but we care about where is going and what he says. If you fell, he would catch you.
She will challenge you in the cheekiest of ways and smile all the time. She tells you straight and supports you. She works hard. She cooks well. She never pretends to be anything else because she's great the way she is.
He is lethargic and talks monotone. He means what he says. He's the most reliable person i know. He is a very good friend. He's a floater. He's not complicated and he has a good heart.
She is a vat of energy. Smiling and pushing and understanding. Knowing how to get what she wants but kind and considerate. She is a buzz of sparks and adorable. When she speaks it's like lighting a match, it flies and you feel the remnants of something special.
Her strength for someone so young. Her bubbly self and hope of the future. Her laugh. She is a the hope.
Despite that i haven't seen him for years. He has the potential of everything. Kind and considerate. Energetic when he feels to be. I miss him.
we think she will be the future of India. An Arundhati Roy in the making. Beautiful in speech and language and phyisical stature. For someone so young, she is the future.
always happy in your presence and considerate, she never fails to make me laugh. Despite problems with her family, she strives.
He helps with film projects i do without asking anything back. He ismore charity than he thinks. He has kind and thoughtful heart.
Looking for a different life. She wrote a manuscript for a book over 5 years. She is a painter. She is an artist in mind. I remember the way she folded a towel, neat and proper. Her demeanor so traditional Japanese ye with a modern edge. A dreamer. A doll like physicality, she has something to say.
If consideration was personified, it would be her. Kindness and selflessness has become. Warmth and silence came with meaning. Grounded and sensible with dreams.
Strong and forceful. She is can move mountains with her words. Her actions and words are loud and bold. And her heart is gold.
Fun and curious. Passionate and serious. Considerate and caring. With a good sense of art and social activity, she is gold. we shared bohemium rhapsody over karoake.
Hard working and caring of family, She showed me kindness at a point which changed my life. Deliberate and to the point. I found my roots thanks to her.
she's got involved in local art projects that have expanded domestically. She is kind and considerate. She was a good friend. I haven't seen her her 7 years.
she is passionate and alive. She speaks her mind and struggles for the deeds. She loves horses. I haven't seen her for 7 years.
Fun and young. Raw passion and excitable. A smile that would melt your heart. Opinions that you would laugh at yet adorable at the same time.
A sense of adventure yet not to calculate. Young yet hard working and kind and warm. Beautiful if physical stature and speech. Surprising and silent.
Kind and silent. Painfully silent. A dreamer who needs the push. Something lives inside. The best dresser i ever knew.
Full of pain and passion she is compassionate towards animals. The only person i have known to have eyes filled with tears at the sight of a bird in pain. Angered me greatly in the last 10 years but nonetheless I see beauty in the layers of anger she exerts and the beauty in how she puts down a cup. The way she fidgets when nervous and a heart as open as one has ever seen. To be in her presence is to have lived a different life. The way she sees what i do and beauty in all her little tiny moves.
these are my friends/people i know and i love them all so very much. apart from my family, work and the world around me which i have so much to say about, this is what my life is about. Beauty is what we see. As Arundhati Roy said, 'explore beauty to it's lair'. My words to describe them are pale in comparison to who and how they are. I hope i live up to who i am to them. I am lucky to know each and every one of you. A short note.
In the words so expressed by Elton John...
"I hope you don't mind, that i put down in words, how wonderful life is, while you're in the world..."
J
South London
The South Bank
Central London
Compton Street, Central London
North London
West London
Tate Modern
