Attention, our audience’s and our own — it’s a valued commodity these days. We struggle to command our audience’s attention, for them to discover our work and then, once they’ve discovered it, to actually focus on it. Meanwhile, we struggle to focus our own attention, to fight our society’s weapons of mass distraction so we can not just see our work to completion but fully discover the meanings within it. What role does attention play in your work? Can you discuss an instance where you thought about some aspect of attention when it came to your film? 

As a kid, I had troubles falling a sleep ’cause I had a sense that I might miss something important that may happen while I am asleep. I still have the same attitude towards both life and film. In my case, attention has a lot to do with being opened to be fully alive and present in the moment.

Can you discuss an instance where you thought about some aspect of attention when it came to your film?

I was thinking about the ability and openness of the audience to embark something that my be exhausting in its unreleased tension and overwhelming emotional intensity. In other words, I was questioning my ability to keep the attention during the journey through something personal that strives to become universally communicative and tickles others to get through their own personal journeys, not necessarily just to empathize with mine.

 

[PREMIERE SCREENING: January 20 at 9:00 pm – Egyptian Theatre, Park City ]

Sundance 2014 Responses