A new approach

this past week, there were two very different events that had a profound influence on my general outlook, and a new way of approaching PRAXIS and the American Film Market. on saturday, i got a chance to go see a screening and performance of Bob Mould and his film Circle of Friends at the Lincoln Theatre as part of the Reel Affirmations Film Festival. initially, i was very indecisive about going, since it was a relatively odd time slot, saturday around 11:30. anyhoo, the crowd was very small and intimate, but it made the film and performance all the more enjoyable. after the screening, i got a chance to formally meet bob, and he was very kind and he signed a copy of the dvd for me. needless to say, i found the music and performance absolutely incredible - there was so much heart and straight up raw emotion in the music. there was no posing, or bullshit. bob was up there pouring out his heart, and it was incredible to share this event, and feel such a connection. it was beautiful. because bob used to be in the bands husker du and sugar, his music has always been rooted in the punk rock ethos. it reminded me where PRAXIS came about, and really how i should look at the film and the AFM. PRAXIS is an incredible film, and i shouldn't be pandering to the potential distributors at the AFM, it's the other way around. anyone who doesn't take notice of PRAXIS is losing out. it's their loss.

the other event was that i got a chance to watch NO RESTRAINT, a documentary about Matthew Barney. up until this point, i had never got a chance to see an on-camera interview with Matthew, i had only read interviews in magazines, seen some of his work, and read reviews in newspapers and such. in any case, this documentary was about his process of making his new film/performance/exhibit with bjork on a whaling ship in japan. this was incredibly beautiful, and so visually compelling...it's hard to describe in words. but i think that the coolest thing about this documentary was that Matthew seemed like a genuinely nice guy, very personable, very passionate and focused about his art, but also no pretention or ego there. he just makes things, and has been fortunate that other people have supported him throught out his career. but i think the main thing that i got from the doc was that matthew's work has always been about disconnecting the analytical mind to reach a higher state of experience. basically, it means that people should approach his work with an open mind, and not one that is purely there to make specific sense or reasons for what things represent. instead, let the work speak for itself, and let the experience take you to places that you couldn't attain without letting go of the analytical mind. i totally feel that PRAXIS is like this in it's experimental narrative - let go of the analyical mind, the need to make specific sense of it all, and let the visual experience take you to higher states of experiences.

Both bob mould and matthew barney have reminded me what PRAXIS is really all about.

thank you bob for reminding me about the punk rock ethos and that PRAXIS is all heart.

thank you matthew for reminding me that film is art, not science.