New York / NewFilmmakers

 

The trip to New York was short and sweet: in Tuesday evening and back Thursday night.  But it was a trip worth taking, as much for the time spent with friends and in the city as for the screening itself, which was a moderate success.

Every time I visit New York I am fascinated.  I could spend hours watching: the streets, the people, the lights, the energy of the place.  It is such a bizarre, distinct existence (made up of so many bizarre, distinct subexistences).  For some, it is all they know.  For others, a choice they make.  Some will say that it is here, in this enormous anthill of a city, that you find the true nature of humanity in all its naked beauty and ugliness.  I would argue that it is just another example (albeit an extreme one) of culture creating its own reality that is no more or less real than any other cultural existence.  Ah, but still, there is so much to see and observe.  I find myself loving every scrap of the city one moment and slightly despising it the next.  It would be wonderful to be surrounded by so much diversity, and so many creatively minded individuals.  The city has a way of seeping into you, and even as an outsider in touch with it for but a few days, one can sense it creeping its way into your way of thinking (for better or for worse).

We arrived in New York on Tuesday afternoon.  Alli and I took the very long train ride into the city from JFK, where we met up with my good friend Marcia from the Notre Dame days.  Her husband Matt and I were PLS brethren and roommates in London.  We stayed with them in Manhattan.  We met up with Adam Kepler and Brett, went to a splendid German restaurant, drank liters of beer, ate various wursts (Adam, regrettably, chose fish.  Never choose fish when eating German food).  Afterwards we went to a small bar that had a wide variety of games including both shuffleboard and Scrabble.  Needless to say, it was a nice evening spent amongst friends.

The next morning began with a walk through Central Park, coffee, and a trip to the Guggenheim Museum.  There is a fantastic exhibit of work by Cai Guo-Qiang that I highly recommend.  The artist primarily works with gunpowder, creating both live exhibitions of fireworks and some incredible "drawings" that blend precision and spontaneity in a rather spectacular and unique fashion.  I fell in love with a few of the gunpowder pieces (above).  He also had a number of intriguing installations, most notably one of a pack of wolves running into a clear wall (see my illegal iphone snip below), and one of tigers pierced by hundreds of arrows.  There were a couple of installations I didn't care for (one in which the viewer is led around a room-size "river" simply reminded me of art's capacity to lead people to do very silly things in the name of intellectual engagement), and I wasn't sure what to make of Cai's professed affinity for Maoist socialism.  Still, it was amazing to see such unique work in person.  See more of the exhibition by visiting the museum web site.

That evening was the first public screening of Backroads that I have attended outside of Austin.  We had dinner with the filmmakers behind BENT-BACK, the feature we preceded.  They are a wonderful group of people.  I must say that the pairing of our films was spot on by NewFilmmakers (though nobody knew what to make of the trailers nor the first short film shown that evening), and you can tell that there was a lot of passion put into the film.  Some wonderful cinematography and a dark, looming, but lyrical plot.  Hopefully we'll see more of them in the future.  Our film was well received by all in attendance (which included many friends who now live in NY), and was a good start to our festival run.

Tracy and I paused for a photo opportunity at the amazing old projector they had at the Anthology Film Archives, where we screened:

The rest of the evening was spent celebrating with friends and fellow filmmakers, and the next day consisted of roaming and exploring the city, lunch in the park with Adam and his friend Leanore, and a quick trip to China Town before heading back home.

I returned to Austin exhausted, and ready to make another film.