Not too long ago I ran across a contest.  I was looking for something to collaborate with friend in NY and this seemed to be the thing.  I sent Mimi an email and said “let’s do this!”.  It didn’t really matter if we won or lost, but that we finally would get a chance to collaborate 3,000 miles apart.  98% of the stuff she shot in NY, then she sent it all in DV files and my job was to cut it together.  In any case, it was fun and became the first creative project of many to come.

Today we found out we are in the finals.

fingers crossed x

Last week I got a chance to go check out the Animation Shorts alla Oscars 2008. I was pretty happy with most of them, however, what I wasn’t happy with was the line-up for “Honorable Mention” that didn’t make it. Namely, a beautiful and extremely creative gem titled Skhizein. The story and the animation were beautifully done…..the concept was simply brilliant.

Basically the central character is struck by a meteor and is displaced from himself exactly 91 centimeters. Ok. Just stop right there. How friggin’ beautiful is that?

The entire short explores the relationship he finds between himself and this newfound displacement in the world. After discovering ways to exist (chalking his new existence into reference!), he finds himself seeking another meteor falling to the earth in hopes of “correcting” himself.

I love this idea because I’m a HUGE fan of displacement. The ways in which we interact with our world, the ways in which we are to begin anew, the ways in which we find ourselves out of our own normalcy and yet find a way to continue, these always fascinate me. (Check Valerie Pirson’s work below)

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In any case, although I really enjoyed the short that did win La Maison Petit in Cubes (below), I have to say that Skhizein really won my heart this year.

(here’s the link to Part 2)

Here is another short that I liked quite a bit. Naturally, I’m still a sucker for the Buster Keaton-esque.

“Fidelity”: Don’t Divorce… from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Ok. So admittedly it has been some time since I posted. This is primarily due in part to a physical change of space, but I I’m not unwilling to admit it has been something more cerebral than that. So much has changed! So much is about to change on the horizon. So raise your aperitivo to new things, new friendships…. and old ones that have come back.

_Must Read After My Death_

On with the congratulations. A few days ago I ran into an old friend via one of the ominous social networking sites. His name is Morgan Dews and I met via Sundance a year after I stopped working there. The short film he arrived with that year was a provocative experimental doc that was as beautiful as it was graphic. Very revealing on numerous accounts.

A few years later, I had met with Morgan in a coffee shop in New York on my way out of the country. Once again, he had kind and inspiring words for me that lit a fire under my ass. It was in NY that I learned he had been working on another documentary -about his grandparents and his family.

Here is the link to the film. It opens in NYC on Feb. 20th. For those of you in the area, I recommend a night of “the real feelings and hidden problems lurking behind the horn rim glasses and happy dinner parties of prosperous post-war America.“

Congrats Mr. Dews.