The Cow the Dog and the Crow

My latest short film "The Cow the Dog and the Crow" is available on Vimeo here 

I was filming this beautiful contemplative story in Puok village in Cambodia at the nearby location as I've been shot the The scent of rice. After I finished shooting The scent of rice and took some location pictures, I realized that I locked the ignition key inside my car. Until my wife who was the field producer of this shoot arrived back with the spare key I had time to look after another subject.

I was just such a lucky. There was a lonely house nearby at the edge of rice field with a cow. I thought this is quite interesting and maybe I can shoot another contemplative short until I wait. It was a challenge and just loved every minute. Every moment was a real surprise and at the end I've got a true zen film. Hope you will love it.

Middle Way / experimental contemporary contemplative slow film

From today my short film "Middle Way" is available on Vimeo. Click here to watch.  I dedicated this film to Gwendolyn Audrey Foster and Wheeler Winston Dixon for their continued encouragements. They gave me the power and motivation to continue filming and develop my experimental contemporary contemplative slow films.

behind the scenes 

Writing synopsis

I just finished writing a synopsis actually the"first episode" of a trilogy. The scenes will contain minimal dialogue and/or narrative, slow acting and more visual. The stories in a nutshell: The first episode is about a man who lost his will to live after his family died in a car accident. The second episode is about the last day of an old painter and the third one is about a lonely disabled or blind woman and her dog.

Sunday of Zen submitted to film festsivals

I just submitted "SUNDAY OF ZEN" to different Film Festivals via #FilmFreeway! Though I did't really find any festivals the genre of my film typically fit, but  maybe a few jury members understand the meaning and have chance to be  selected at least for screening. The film is a homage to Abbas Kiarostami and represents the "contemporary contemplative cinema (CCC)" or as most of the people know "slow cinema". BUT even there's differences between CCC and such a kinda films as Sundays of Zen or my other films as well as Karma, Invasion, Ways, Everywhere, In Search of Lost Time or my first Holocaust film Requiem for the Forgottens. The Still Life is a bit different, because I was working with an "actress" or let say someone who were following my instructions, therefor this film a bit closer to the so called CCC.  The other above mentioned films I made it could be rather a sub-category of CCC and call "Devotional Cinema". These films are closer to Peter Hutton and James Benning styles though when I was developing my style I have't heard about these two great filmmakers. I was influenced the most by Chantal Akerman and Jonas Mekas. Usually I don't use fix shooting time as most of the filmmakers. I mean my films start at a certain point and finishing at an other certain point.

The lengths of time between the beginning and the end is an important element of my films but as a director I have to be patient and wait for the right moment to start and finish the film within one long take even if I work without "actors" on certain locations only with natural elements, birds, trains, trespassing people, etc...

That not means I don't cut the final starting and ending point in post production but the story must have a clear beginning, a middle and the end. Using small and medium size digital cameras are quite convenient and much cheaper than shooting on 8 mm, 16 mm or 35 mm, but the colors and the outlook of the film is totally different. I'm not the only one who simply can't afford shooting with film cameras but maybe in the future this can be changed as I have chance to direct more formal slow films.

Making of Sunday of Zen

Making of Sunday of Zen

And about the Sunday of Zen; it was an excellent occasion to shoot this experimental short film and capture a moment close-up from a shy and suspicious dove's daily life. It took weeks to observe patiently the behaviors of the birds (titmouse, pigeons, doves, magpies) living nearby our apartment. They seek shelter in the trees and regularly are coming to visit us for food and some water.

The outdoor traffic sounds, the passenger trains recedes in background all part of our rush of everyday life. We must stop for even short moments despite pressure from powerful forces around us trying to persuade us to take other paths. One day we all will be able to hear the chirping birds and understand the Zen of life. Some of you could ask why the title is Sunday of Zen, ...not only Zen?Here the "Sunday" is referring to Yasujiro Ozu.