Again
It's Groundhog Day again, so I'm happy to relay that Again is now out for general distribution on Amazon. I couldn't be happier with the life this film had in festivals, and that now anyone can see it if they so desire.
If you feel like getting super meta and watch it today, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR.
Just click on my stupid face above to link to the Amazon page.
Since Again premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, it's received some "fire" reviews, that I'm sure you'll agree are "lit".
Dream Cage Vulture Hound London Tree
Movies Move Me One Film Fan Corriente Latina
I couldn't be prouder of this short. It was literally made by a group of friends and funded by their friends and family. Nearly all of the other shorts in our small section were funded by film councils from entire countries, which means this small group of friends went up against entire countries.
Out of over 4,000 films submitted, only 57 were chosen to screen at Tribeca. An even smaller number (20) was chosen for competition. So we were among the 0.5% in the mix.
I'm honored, I'm floored, I'm "wilding out" over this and all the kind things various blogs and website are saying about our short.
Thanks Tribeca, for honoring us with your selection and for being such gracious hosts! I have to particularly thank the young gentleman named Ben, who was our talk back moderator, who made me blush many times by carrying on about film, including a lengthy praise of the acting.
Stop it (keep going).
'Again' is premiering at Tribeca Film Festival. Can't wait to celebrate the work of our project and others. SO. EXCITED.
From the intuitive wizardry of director Alexis Jacknow, to the intricate emotion of my co-star Aubrey Dollar, to the gut punching sweetness of the script by my wife Bekah Brunstetter, to the inventive eye of DP Rick Diaz, to the effete swiftness of producers Stephanie Hall Marin and Tyler Evans, I think we've got something worth watching.
If you want to support this film, please go here - https://www.seedandspark.com/fund/again#wishlist
A while back my amazing fiance Bekah wrote three short films for me for Valentine's Day. They were based on ideas for characters I had, a few of which I had written monologues for. Bekah worked her writerly magic and crafted them all into gut punching narratives.
As luck would have it, one of her very talented friends, Alexis, wanted to transition from stage directing to film, and so asked Bekah for any shorts that she might have that she could direct. 'Again' was one of these three shorts, and Alexis chose it to be her first film directing experience.
Fortunately, Alexis is married to another great talent, Rick, who is a DP fresh off of a NEXT Audience Award win at Sundance 2016. As if that weren't enough, we were joined by a smattering of talents, including producers Stephanie Marin and Tyler Evans, AD Tim Astor, and crew Dan Adlerstein, TJ Yoshizaki, Sevell Bensen, Katie Moest, Ryan O'Hara, and Dan Siegelstein.
But wait, there's more! A stellar actor by the name of Aubrey Dollar joined in to play my better half.
And then there's me. It's been a hot moment since I worked on a film, so there was a little adjustment to make. But what struck me many times was 'what a solid team this is, and how fun it is being on a team'. One particular moment was towards the end of the shoot - I was off screen waiting for a queue from the director to feed Aubrey lines for her closeup. By this point the crew had gelled quite a bit, so the set up came together like clockwork. So there we were, hanging on the moment, myself waiting for a slight, wizardly wave of the hand of the director Alexis. Why she didn't drop her raised finger to point at me for the queue delighted me to no end. Instead, her finger melted into an embellished swish, which cast a silent spell that said, as she did throughout the shoot, "whenever you're ready." I am. For people to see this.