La Haine - still haunts...

After last night's ranting and stirrings of cinematic inspiration, i felt a need to push through my own jagged creative blocks because i know that on the other side, the pain will be worth it...

I was completley "bouleverse" (damn you mac keyboard - I can't find an accent aigu when in need it!) because the writing in La Haine was so exquisite, perspicacious,  and the depth to which the characters were fleshed out made me think of the astute complexities of Becket or Williams, and how, essentially, the whole film could have been a stage play (albeit the logistics of gunfire would have created many a bleeding eardrum for the audience members...). The testament to the strength of Kassovitz's written word as well as the power of a well rounded actor reciting that eloquent and prosaic prose, spurned me into moving forward with turning my play into something that would surpass my own dreams and expectations.

I met with D - a truly beautiful soul, delightful photographer, prolific writer, and society conscious documentary film maker. We talked for hours at a local cafe about everything under the sun, stars and moon. We 'get each other' and as an artist, there is no greater comfort in knowing that somebody out there "gets you" and your vision.

I told him about this play that had been pushing through my (un and) consciousness. Something so prevalent in every waking and sleeping moment - it was as if the letters from the sentences in my mind were falling from my pores when I stopped moving. Complete scenes, monologues, ideas for stage direction, fast and furious - so quick i could not write them down. But brilliant ideas.

"I know this play will make people nervous, angry, laugh, become sick to their stomach, weep, and rise to their feet. I see it. I feel it. This project is bigger than me. I have only notes on paper, but a dream in my heart and head. Mark my words, this is gonna be huge."

And with that - D began to work with me. Brainstorming. Fast and furious in his excitement. He saw my vision with his own eyes. It was fucken brilliant.

And all this brings be back to a summer day in 1995 - "Le Festival Des Films Du Monde - Montreal". Taking my seat in The Imperial, the year before, still fresh in my memory, i sat down to watch a young man's film from France that would change the trajectory of my creative life.

And as I type this, I know that these new projects - this play, this conceptual photo shoot will mark a new chapter in my life. Or perhaps it is the new book. A new journey, a new life altogether...