Filmmaking Is Better Than Therapy
Why I keep making films about real life, and what the process helps me notice, remember and understand.
Introduction
Some things are easier for me to make than to explain. A thought might stay with me for weeks, turning into an image, a line of narration or a piece of music. Filmmaking gives it somewhere to go. It has become one of the ways I process faith, memory, family and the simple fact of being alive.
Making something out of an experience
A film starts long before I pick up a camera. I notice an ordinary moment, come back to it, write a little, and eventually discover that the act of shaping it has taught me something I did not know when I began.
The people close to me
Some of the most important work comes from people whose lives intersect with my own. I can make something intimate without needing a huge set or a production budget.
A place stays with you
Travel gives me new sights, but often it is the feeling of a place that survives the journey home.
Why I keep going
Each film is a record of where I was when I made it. My technique changes, my cameras change, even my idea of a good shot changes. The act of making remains a way of paying attention.
Sometimes I don't understand what something means to me until I try to make a film about it.