"THAT'S A WRAP!" - Day Forty

its night time.
the right time.
we just finished filming the last scene of EL HUASO on the beach and for our mini WRAP PARTY we went to BURGER KING on the main strip. i ordered a double whopper XTREME with a PEPSI. i asked for a diet/lite one but i think they gave me a regular... and now... i'm hyper! it went really well though. the whole shoot. the last week has been incredibly productive.

we ended the day with a three-way high five.

Day Off - Day Thirty Seven

Los Andes - Day Thirty Three

The Jib - Day Thirty Six

possibly one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my life as a director. a RODEO created just for us so that we could get the shots we needed in order to call this film: EL HUASO. at the end of the day, having shot what we needed in the can... one of the best moments happened today of the two years and 80 hours of footage we've filmed. the sun was setting and the sky was a magenta that could only be taken copied from a GROUP OF SEVEN painting. my father in the frame, with a wide shot in a pitch black silhouette, far in the distance... i gave him the sign to come forward. like a pro and tired as all shit from a VERY long day, he walked towards the camera and i shot my hands in the air violently yet quietly holding everyone in position. my father exited perfectly off frame to the left and we held our positions. the camera rolled for fifteen perfect seconds and the camera cut, finishing what was left, at the most precise moment. i screamed elated, pumping my fist in the air in victory. i yelled "THAT'S A WRAP!" in SPANISH and ENGLISH... we all hugged. everyone excited and relieved that we accomplished what we set out to do.
our small crew of seven packed in the pitch dark and made our way home.

i will never forget this day.
brown as sin, i can't sleep with all the excitement and only four hours of the sleep these past two nights.

tomorrow... another beast.
four more days and the boys go home.

me siento duro y sano.


(pictures taken by my sister DANIELLA)

My Sister - Day Thirty Five

when i was a kid, daniella was one of my best friends.
yesterday i sat down with her and had a long conversation. she is wise and although she is simple, her wisdom gives me a sense of direction and hope. there are those times where i think she is a complete brut and her aggressive way of joking or making a point makes me cringe... but i love her. i wish that we had more things in common and that we spoke a similar cultural language. having said that, i am grateful that she is still my friend.

there are times when i am beside myself because of my big sister and i feel small. in the most modest and genuine way possible, i feel like i'm learning. i've seen the world and been to therapy and she has it together. she doesn't push the issue or herself to the limit because she doesn't have to, because she doesn't want to. i admire her for that and feel humble. to spiral, to feel anxious, for all of my twenties i've learn that those are choices. it is not a sickness the way professionals seem to diagnose them. it is not a condition where your only choice is to throw your hands up in the air and submit to medication. you can consciously fight to keep yourself from going under into that dark place where you obsess over one singular issue and spiral. depression is not a disease, its a condition that anyone can get themselves out of. it is up to the individual whether they make the choice to pay attention and cultivate what is bringing them down. i am trying to not even plant the seed when i know the result will be instant weeds and ruins.

RECUPERATING - Day Thirty Four

yesterday was an 18 hour day of rodeo.
we finally have our RODEO rhythm down. the key is to focus on one goal/task and do it all day. if there is time for other things... then we do those. the boys did a great job and i'm proud of them.

today i am feeling really jittery because of yesterday and what is ahead. DANIELLA and PAULINA leave on friday and i am trying to organize the days so that i can get the footage we want. its difficult because they have their plans and i have mine. we have another day of RODEO ahead on wednesday which is going to primarily focused on the jib/crane.

the other night i finally got the time to put up my pictures of LA PAZ from my last day in BOLIVIA.

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x128/cpphatz/La%20Paz/

New Years Day - Day Thirty Two

today is our day off and we're going to the beach again to try and forget, or at least heal from, the disaster that happened last night during our attempt of capturing an epic fire works display.
CARLOS FERRAND always tells me "documentary is all moments of luck" and sometimes you get unlucky or you simply can't predict the future, no matter how much you try. we did get footage of me and my family watching the fireworks. we were all in silhouettes but because of so many variables that i dont want to get into, it didn't work out and the scene didnt have the "ANNIE" impact that i wanted it to have. after the shoot we found out that my uncle was rushed to the hospital, while we were on the roof filming, with a kidney stone that he was passing just as the clock was striking twelve. my aunt went with him to the hospital and we took care of the little ones. i did my part by taking my borderline-gay 12 year old cousin, after everything died down with PABLO and BEN, to the RINACA strip in order to check out the party that was spilling onto the street after the NEW YEARS EVE fireworks. it was as i usually predict, uneventful and boring but we ran into my sisters and ILIDIO (my older sister's husband) at some bar that was smokey and playing very loud rock music. we went in there for a drink. i had a club soda and my little cousin a tall glass of pineapple juice. he was dead bored and wanted to go home. he was almost in tears about how tired he was and the cigarette smoke that was stinging his eyes.
finally we took a bus home at around 3:00am and and he settled on our couch for bed.

this morning my aunt woke up the apartment at 9:00am and fetched her son. as she thank us, he stumbled out of our door he mumbling something about "thank you" and they were on their way.
after about an hour BEN and I were up, while PABLO slept, and we went to the gas station down the street for some morning sun, coffee and fresh bread. we had a nice long talk about the film and our lives as film makers. i started to get excited at the idea of re-hashing THE HARTINGS but in completely different light. not re-shooting or anything but just editing a film, with my voice over and experience, talking about trying to make a documentary about this family. i really started to get excited about the idea of just putting some of that footage together and trying to construct something interesting without attempting to make anything super clean and commercially successful. just tell the story of my attempt to make this documentary; THE HARTINGS. i just really got excited by the idea of putting those scenes i like together that work without the restriction of HAVING TO MAKE A REAL LIFE DOCUMENTARY, but instead just making a document about the journey following this blind family around the continent.

i'm looking forward to coming home and doing some serious editing, on both projects.
i want to have a rough cut of EL HUASO by the end of SPRING.

time to literally, get off the shitter,
and start my day.