My first feature long contemplative Avant-garde film, production the title "The Gardener" is getting close to the end of production period. It took more than a year to shoot on locations in Cambodia and Thailand. There was no script and neither the story-line was written advance. I developed the story in my head step by step, sometimes at the location right before the shoot. The entire shooting period was a real experience with the unpredictable time on certain locations. Regarding to the circumstances I decided to shoot without assistance, it means I was the only crew member. There was no meaning to look after freelance crew. Neither the shooting days nor the production period was scheduled in advance. I used my own basic camera, sound and lightening equipment, car, rented properties, etc... I used natural lights on locations, except when I shot the interior scenes and the lights were not adequate.
Shooting and acting in a same time was more than challenging. I have no previous acting experience, though most of time was not needed any acting skill just had to be in the right mood. A little meditation always helped to tune the soul to the right frequency. There were no rehearsals only concepts, but I had to record the scenes multiple times if something went wrong. That wasn't easy. Usually pre-production process took longer than the entire shoot.
The (fiction) story in a nutshell: an expatriate man (who is happened to be a gardener) somewhere in South East Asia is struggling to survive emotionally the tragic loss of his family, meanwhile loosing his job as well. The film is very contemplative, so I hope the audience will have enough patient to watch till the end. Each shots somewhere between 10 to 30 minutes. The entire film can be a few hours long at the end. I can't say anything about post production yet, but probably will take a few months to finish.
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