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REAL LIFE

REAL LIFE shows just that, 14 stories told by people of various ages, who have the courage to impart vital and personal information you rarely hear in the so-called ”Information Age.” They cover most the pertinent issues of our time; love and loss, happiness and heartbreak, ironies of all sorts. If you need to refresh your psyche, hope to better understand your stay on the planet, then this is the movie for you. It’s as refreshing as a summer walk on a leaf-blown mountain top.

  • A collaborative feature documentary by Zola Azevedo, Cynthia DuVal, Stephen Rubin, Mike Saliba, and Rick Schmidt.
    Director
  • A collaborative feature documentary by Zola Azevedo, Cynthia DuVal, Stephen Rubin, Mike Saliba, and Rick Schmidt.
    Writer
  • STEPHEN "JULES" RUBIN & RICK SCHMIDT
    Producer
  • Amy Johnson, Roberto Codato, Will Arute, Angela Damron, Aron Kalaii, Jennifer Miller, Zola Azevedo, Mike Saliba, Lisa Friedland, Raji, Stephen Rubin, Cynthia DuVal, Carrie Ronneau, And Alejandro Delgado.
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    55 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 7, 2008
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    DIGITAL VIDEO
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Rick Schmidt
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - A collaborative feature documentary by Zola Azevedo, Cynthia DuVal, Stephen Rubin, Mike Saliba, and Rick Schmidt.

Rick Schmidt is an American low/no-budget feature filmmaker/author, born in Chicago, Illinois March 4, 1944. Rick's feature filmmaking career began in 1973 when he co-directed "A Man, a Woman, and a Killer" with his then-roommate Wayne Wang (Chan is Missing, Joy Luck Club, etc.). ‘Killer’ won the ‘Director’s Choice’ award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1975, and secured Schmidt a $10,000 AFI production grant for his second feature, Showboat 1988-The Remake. Since that time, Schmidt has produced over twenty-five original feature-length works.
Rick’s books ‘Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices’, ‘Extreme DV’ (Penguin/Random House Books), and 'The Miracle of Morgan's Cake, Production Secrets of a $15,000 IMPROV Sundance Feature," have been considered ‘bibles’ by experts in the field. His filmmaking guides, revised/updated since the late 1980s, were based on the knowledge he derived from the field, from features Schmidt wrote/improvised, directed, shot, edited and produced. Schmidt received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, bestowed on Schmidt by Rome International Film Festival, presented by writer/director Kevin Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNM6ZFJZpis

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Director Statement

Like most all of my previous features, REAL LIFE was a collaborative affair (co-produced with Stephen “Jules” Rubin, in Santa Fe). I consider it futile to try and script real-life stories like are presented within the framework of this movie. So you've got real people telling it like it is, cut between improv fiction scenes that are also favoring non-actors delivering their real-life observations. For over 35 years I've been mining the real-life aspects of filmmaking, trying to offer the special information that only 'normal' people can share. 'The more real and truthful the better,’ has been my mantra. There’s a lot to be learned by the fragile humanity around us, especially in 2020. ––Rick Schmidt, ILFELD, NM