Audition

I entered Straight8 for the first time this year as a technical challenge to myself to see what kind of creativity was sparked under the constraints of the competition - one three-minute roll of film, in-camera editing only, and sound you could only record after your film was already shipped off. I was inspired by the retro, home-movie connotations of Super 8 to make this project personal, and I decided I wanted to pay homage to my dad by giving him the opportunity to star in a film and perform onstage - two things he would have loved the opportunity to do for real, had life not got in the way first. I wanted to see what the two of us could produce with next to no money or resources. The result was a beautiful and poignant conversation that I whittled down to under two minutes, and a series of vignettes of my dad's life, both real and imagined, from the point of view of his daughter as she reflects on the meaning of creativity, collaboration, and following your dreams. It's at times sad, wistful, and funny, but above all I hope that it's the creative swansong my dad deserves after a lifetime of both putting his own dreams aside, and supporting mine.