Sundance Excitement

I suppose now is as good a time as any to look back and reflect on the almost five years that I've been in Los Angeles leading up to this very exciting week with the Sundance Film Festival coming up in two days.

You know how some people look back and say "If I knew how much work this whole thing was going to take to get here, I don't know if I would've been able to pursue it"? Well, I don't think I can relate to that, primarily because as much work as this whole intense five-year period has been, I really enjoyed every moment of it. And I think that's the key in any career-path one picks for themselves. With all the ups and downs, it's all about how you deal with the journey. I remember when I submitted my first screenplay to the Sundance Writers lab back in 2004, it made the semi-finals short list but never made the final selection. I said that's okay. I'll just hope for the next opportunity and keep making short films in the meantime. And so a few months later I made it into AFI. So you never know where the opportunity shows up, but you have to keep taking shots and creating the possibility for another opportunity. And when it comes, you jump on it. I milked my education at AFI. I was always thinking about Captain Abu Raed while learning new methods and techniques. Especially the abstract things like extracting real performances from people and finding emotional truths in fictional situations. I would think about that stuff while rewriting the script. Using physical action to create subtext. That's the beauty of film.

So here we are now. I can't wait for the first screening. Our premier has been sold out for a while now, but we have a special event double-screening for 1600 high school kids the morning before the premier. I am so looking forward to that experience. At this stage, I've seen the film at least 300 times in one form or another (not to mention the two trillion times while cutting each scene), maybe more. And I still am moved by it. Yet now I watch the film for the audience's reaction more than anything else.

I've learned so much from life over the past five years. From the people I've met and worked with. If I die tomorrow, from a selfish standpoint, I would feel okay with myself because I've left a stamp in time with Captain Abu Raed. Now my focus is on taking things to the next level and making an even more challenging film. More complex, more difficult, and just as good.

Until then... see you at the movies!