Blowing Winds

hey yall. Sorry I’ve been mute. My plan was to go to Paris this summer, meet some critic friends and see the Godard exhibition. I pulled the necessary bootstraps up and quit my job  but capriciously decided to stay home and try to make a film with my bootstraps. Brian (et al.) was kind enough to offer all sorts of help and advice and now I feel bad for not making it there.    At the moment  I am trying to make it here (!), my idea of making it being a film (on dv) about talking dogs.

One reason I decided not to go to Paris is that my friend Wael, with whom I was going to stay, lost his apartment —  then  Israel’s assault on Lebanon began and he immediately flew back to where he grew up, Beirut, to make a film of the war. He has returned safely, I’m glad to say, but is now essentially homeless (but with thousands  of feet of  exposed film stock under his arm, waiting for editing). Last year Wael completed a film called CA SERA BEAU (FROM BEYROUTH WITH LOVE) and has since been travelling to festivals with it. Ironically he is now living on the comps and free hotels that such festivals sometimes provide to filmmakers, and he is now in Locarno, Switzerland. I mention all this because in lieu of the outrage over what’s being done to the civilian population in Lebanon, my film-programmer friend Gabe Klinger and I have mounted a 2 film screening, including Wael’s film,  in Chicago, in solidarity with the Lebanese. Look here for more details: www.kinoslang.blogspot.com

yours, andy

PS- the picture is me in Nederland, CO. from last May,  contemplating unbombed phenomena.

PPS- good to see you up on this site Masha! Uncle Marc, you go on with your bad self (bad meaning good)!