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
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