Lima, Peru

After a restless night in the Orlando airport, listening to the organic sounds of airline announcements, I made it to Miami. I went to the baggage claim and my bags were not there. When they searched their computer they discovered that they were in South America...in Peru. Woops!

On the bright side, I found out today that American Airlines will be dropping their baggage weight allowance by twenty pounds per bag tomorrow...I’m sure glad I’m flying British Airways the rest of the way.

Packing tape...

100 pounds of carry-on bags...who would have thought? Another 138.5 pounds of check-in luggage – I was a bit nervous as to the accuracy of our home scale – it proved to be quite precise. I was afraid to fully tape up my boxes not knowing if they were over the weight limit and if the airline would make me reopen them in order to pull a few items out...they’re quite strict these days. I felt as though I was the in-line entertainment, as I passionately taped up my boxes. When I was done, an unnamed airline ticketer made me aware of the fact that some of my packing tape had found its way into my hair…the lady I sat next to before boarding confirmed that she too saw the tape in my hair. I’m not sure how long it was there, but I felt good knowing that my personal humiliation provided for some sort of relief to those in line who watched as I hurriedly wrapped my suspicious looking luggage...all the while hoping that the airline employees wouldn’t peek over their podium and see my 100 pound array of carry-on bags.

It’s 4:30am in Orlando, Florida, where I am writing this blog entry. My flight from Seattle to Dallas filled up (I’m flying standby on a free ticket), so I had to take the next flight out, which was delayed 1.5 hours...so I missed my connection in Dallas, so I flew to Orlando, where I’m waiting for a flight to Miami, where I will connect to London Gatwick, and then from there to Kosovo. So, after months of delays, I’m sort of almost their. Besides getting a little packing tape in my hair, and the iron-man like walk through the airport with my carry-on bags, I’m feeling pretty good...

Well, I best find a comfortable place on the floor to sleep here at the Orlando International Airport. I’m thinking of strapping my bags to me in order to detour thieves.

On a scale of 1 to 14...

On a scale of 1 to 14 – is this a good idea?

I was talking with a new friend from our newest sponsor, Ex Officio, yesterday. We were discussing the Kosovo project, when our brains collided, resulting in, what I think to be a pretty interesting idea.

We take one script or outline and have three or four directors tell their version of the same story. I think it would be interesting to see how different their visualization of the same story would be. With the differing world views, opinions, and struggles, I think it would be a unique way for audiences to see the diversity of perspectives…how the same story can be viewed and told completely differently from three people reading the same script or the same outline.

Would we base these short films on one script…or would we have a detailed outline of a story, allowing each group to create their own script?

What do you think…could this work? Where else could we go with this?

"Project No Light"

Are there enough adept filmmakers in Kosovo, let alone the town of Mitrovica, to create compelling short films for use in our documentary? In some ways I don’t know that we’re looking for polished, Oscar nominated short films (although one or two wouldn’t hurt). Instead, we’re looking for raw story. I think it will potentially make for a more compelling story – not necessarily a more entertaining short film. My buddy Jonathon mentioned HBO’s “Project Green Light.” I guess you could call ours “Project No Light.” Most likely there will be no lights, because there will be no electricity, no budget, no experienced crew, no polished actors etc…which, should make for an interesting story, especially as we are documenting them tell theirs.

So, what do you think…do we set this up as a film festival, where we have an open call for entry, asking for short films that share a to be determined theme? Or, do we have an open call for script submissions, then choose the best scripts and match them with local filmmakers we feel could best tell the selected stories?

As for a theme for the short films…what should it be? Reconciliation, redemption, hope…? Would the song idea work as well? I agree that getting the rights to license a song can be expensive, although we don’t really need the song in the films. U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” is 4:36, which could be longer than some of the short films. Of course it would be great to get the rights…so that we could use the song in the documentary...and maybe we’ll have Bono as our narrator while we’re at it! (I just spoke with U2’s management company in New York, and they told me to fax them regarding the song…you never know – does anyone have an extra million dollars lying around?)

Music...

I spoke with a filmmaker in Kosovo on the phone the other day. We talked about the possibility of creating “The Mitrovica Film Festival” in Kosovo. We would be accepting short films, most likely fifteen minutes and under. We’d set parameters, and then let the local filmmakers tell their own stories. We would then capture the filmmakers as they tell their stories – following them as they create their films, and then implementing their stories and their films into our documentary.

The films would include drama, documentary, horror, comedy etc… We would also have a common thread in all of the projects...we could also think about requiring all projects be multi-ethnic, Serbian/Albanian productions.
Hmmm, maybe the common thread could be a song…or just a line from a song - from Bob Dylan or U2, and then having all the filmmakers use the lyrics as a theme to their production. An example of this could be:
“Every Grain of Sand” Bob Dylan -or - “Where the Streets Have No Name” U2
Hmmmmm….