Manifesto

The process of a film should always be a healthy balance of fact and fiction. My goal is to learn how to utilize this balance, remaining true to both. And while fact is constrained by rules and elements of reality, the fantastical can be bent in ways that are just outside the realm of relative probability, such as the spiritual, the mythical, and the fictional. This knowledge should be used not to create an alternate reality, but to travel just beyond it. For instance: an event may be filmed in a current day city with current day issues, but can be a story told of another city, at another time, with an entirely different group of people. Since films are not truly ever fact unless they are documented as the actual day and place, all films that are not documentaries are really fiction, even if they are based on fact.

The job of the filmmaker is to document, to expand, and to understand. How can an audience understand if the filmmaker does not?

To speak about the issues of society and culture, and neither research them, nor dig deeper than what can be reached with simply your bare hands is not only irresponsible, but death. Too often, filmmakers skim over the content and the truth, and replace it with their own vision.

Having a vision is not altogether bad. But a vision is only useful when it is coupled with responsible action, research, and imagination. The truth of film doesn’t lie behind its content. Any story must also begin and end correctly. To end in the middle before the story is done, even if a sequel has already been put on the table is no real story at all. Even sequels must have a temporary ending.

Most of all, movies should not be bound by time or culture. Films are not here to say, “I was created in this time period, by this country, so, I can be understood by no other.”

To make characters that respond like real people is a blessing. A character needs to think. A character needs to learn. An excuse of invincibility or a massive ego will only go so far. As a result, the filmmaker must also think and learn from her own experiences.