Two years ago this week myself and a group of friends set out to make our first movie.  We did it over spring break, since most of us were still in college (myself not included.)  We shot in a beautiful and quirky house donated by the Housers of Moorsboro, NC.  We borrowed our cameras from Gardner-Webb University.  Everyone on the cast and crew was volunteer, and some drove an hour in from Charlotte every day to be apart of our film.  It was the best and worst week of my life but it showed me what I want to do with myself.  I want to make movies.

We wrapped and I flew out to Seattle, my new home, the next day.  Our director, Amber, flew back to Texas to continue grad school.  The rest of us scattered to various parts of North Carolina.  For over a year and a half my production team struggled to complete the film.  No one was getting paid and too many times our movie was put off for a task that could help pay the rent.  Nevertheless, we continued the collaboration from across the country: I was in Seattle, our director in Texas, and our editor in Charlotte.  Finally, the film was finished in October of 2008, the eve of my immigration to California.

The movie didn’t look the way I had envisioned, like any piece of art in its creator’s eye.  Every amateur mistake we made was magnified in my sight.  I was confused and discouraged and trying to make a life for myself in a new state.  So the movie sat idle for four months.

Until my friend and collaborator encouraged me and urged me to get it out there.  “It’s good!” he said, “We were just too involved to see that.”  I promised him I would have it entered into a festival by the end of the week.  The DVDs go out tomorrow.  It feels good.

Hopefully soon I can put together a trailer to post online.  Until then, here’s a video from the artists who inspired the story.