Noor Whoop
Password: Nooor

Making the films in our class allowed me to attempt to penetrate the soul of the people that I make films with. Most of it has to do with Tony's aura that pervades through the class, I think it's ridiculously contagious, I get high off it. He sees an alien unique quality to every person that most people are blind to (especially themselves), and that really rubbed off on me. As if each person is a universe in their own rite, and it has made me make films in this way. For this film, everything (a formation of rocks, swaying trees, cars passing, Noor's existence, her feet, her love, her accordion), they are all equally important or maybe unimportant depending on how you view life. The power of the film is how it can open you to feeling a sense of importance...human life is composed of rituals.

While Noor and I were preparing for the film she told me a story (she's PACKED to the brim with the most amazing stories(I get emails that I don't respond quickly enough to(soak))), that her mother went to the beach one day and started yelling in Arabic, "WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT IS THIS?!"...that was the jumping off point (pun intended) for the film for me. I was there to capture the soul of everything that is Noor, her mother included, everything included. The only thing I told her to do was to speak in Arabic to herself as she walked along with her Box. There is a ritual here...and I didn't even realize what this ritual stood for, other than it was true while making it (it was true while making it), and that's all that mattered. THEN, Tony, right after screening the film comes up to me and whispers, "I really felt the existential quality of the box Kouros...", and it couldn't have hit closer to truth...especially because while making this film, this existential BOX CARRYING was fucking aggressively hurting the soul of me, for weeks upon making this...I've been feeling like I'm dying every single second lately(and this feeling isn't true enough for me, another distraction)...right before making this I blacked out at 5AM while peeing (nyquil), and woke up laying on the floor minutes later to a concussion...
It's an interesting film, and it's my favorite of the bunch I've made as A FILM. On a simple level (unconsciously) I took the sensual cacophony of the films of the first half of the semester and mixed them together with the raw, still framed humanity of the last half. The previous films were experiments on opposite ends of the spectrum leading here...
Still, I have reservations of it. I'd like to perform this ritual with Noor again, under less time restraints, and make it more finely crafted if that is possible. Maybe it's not though, maybe that moment was a moment that cannot be reproduced.

I loved being able to explore my friends in our class, and to find out how they can just "be". I felt like Alan Lomax. It was a completely rewarding experience on so many levels, and has changed the way I'm approaching the moment-to-moment method of shooting film. I really feel like this semester freed me in this aspect.

Brother John
password: brother

By going through the Blues album compiled by Tony, a whole contextual tradition of blues from the Delta to Chicago was born that I previously did not fully understand. It shed light on a mysterious concoction of sounds that I always would emulate on my electric guitar, revitalizing the way I feel the Blues, but didn't consciously theoretically understand.
 
A white man going through the blues stemming from an unknown history, being put in a situation where he needs to help someone else in relatively speaking bigger blues, which may not even be the case. This is a little story of brothers, with familial bonds akin to a Faulkner piece, extremely connected yet full of contradiction and honest flaws. I don't believe it was executed as good as it could be, but as a rough sketch outline for a similar situation for a later film, I actually loved it. And picking Baylor for the part was particularly exciting, because like a handful of the worthwhile musicians, there is a true natural force that exudes out of his pours with or without his consent that is something perfect to capture in general, and especially for Brother John. Brother John is a man who loves with all of his heart and may even have problems of his own, but he'll help you how he can if you put him on the spot. But can he actually help? I didn't give Baylor any introduction before this other than he'll be taking drugs in a bathroom, walk into a restaurant and continue lunch with his brother who is contemplating suicide. There is something within this conversation between two brothers that I absolutely love. Brother John is feeling these extraordinary feelings while being sobered by the suicidal thoughts of his brother which alter his high immensely and maybe even create the feelings Stu has within himself, maybe even recalling the same feeling, and my character "STU" (Baylor named me on the fly, which I absolutely loved) being in a state vulnerable to any force that comes at him, which is a very scarily malleable situation to be in. In the end it results in an explosion of love within the two brothers instigated by cocaine. Is there hope for them? Does that matter? The fact that they exist makes me feel at peace.

Candy Man

password: candy

This film was a combination of many influences and ideas put into a contemporary lens. First starting off with the readings for Blues People, and the serious pain and agony of many of Mississippi John Hurt's & Lead Belly's songs. I was going through some of my favorites and realized I would never be able to live up to the serious brutality and reality of the situations and emotions presented in those songs. After absorbing all of this, I decided the best way to approach it would be through comedy, because most of the ridiculous absurdities of life can be expressed through comedy in a much truer and transferable light. I found Candy Man to be a hilarious song, and realized that it's extremely applicable to today's contemporary world. My friend WAS THE CANDY MAN. Rafael is the Candy Man. People call him "Big Dad", that's his middle name basically. So, there was no hesitation in the casting. I brought him over with him knowing nothing of what would happen, I had a general idea of where it was going, but the FINAL question that made this short all the worth it was completely in the moment. And I'm grateful of these accident/miracles that happen during filming. They make the work all the more interesting and beautiful and worth doing.

After the seriousness of the work below, this one was meant to be a change in direction.

Mary Don't You Weep

Password: WEEP

Feelings/thoughts gained from "Blues People", lyrics/allusions of "Mary Don't You Weep".
African Aliens. Lost Past. Forgotten Memories. Enslavement to Dance. Guilt. Repressed Guilt. Repressed Past. Creeping Heritage. Unknown. New Testament versus the Old Testament versus the Now. Contemporary Cycles.

It's extremely difficult for me to write analytically on these, and that's why I can express my deep feelings for these subjects in a way that makes me experience them as close to what "first hand" could feel like...first hand versus third-fourth...hand

Down In the Valley

Password : valley
 

Mama Butterfly - First Song

Password : BUTTERFLY