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Director's Statement

My stories are inspired from personal experience-- incidents that happened to me, or that I witnessed, or occasionally anecdotes I heard through the grapevine. I like stories that I’m instinctually attracted to-- stories that I don’t completely understand at first, but that have a magnetic pull.

I make a type of film that might be described as “open-frame” or “pragmatic realist,” relying on non-verbal, behavioral forms of communication, rather than dialogue, and a dogmatic approach to the written word. Together, my actors and I try to create rounded characters that live and operate in the real world, which I believe contains endless fascination. I want to capture truthful performances and am highly tolerant of variety and inconsistency. If the actors are focused on their actions and their interactions, if they are being and doing, and creating authentic behavior under imaginary circumstances, as Sanford Meisner suggests, then straying from the dialogue in the script can actually be a good thing. Since film can be edited, the greatest moments of various takes and tangents can be re-woven into a meaningful whole.

Visually, I believe in the maxim that “form matches content.” If the story is about a broken-down old man, the film should look a little rickety. If the story is about a woman haunted by her memories, the visual style should connote those feelings. Rather than forcing a style onto the world, I let the world and the subject matter fashion the style, so that I blend in with my environment. You should never see me.

As an artist who makes films, I have a strong desire to connect with audience members who are sensitive to subtlety and who are open to new challenges. I know of no greater feeling of accomplishment than to affect like-minded strangers on an emotional level, to make a handful of friends in a single screening.

 

 

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