Redmoonbiz.com

There are so many stories to tell. You own ones to get started. Don’t be shy. There is someone willing to watch and that makes it deserving. You might not have the resources or the technical knowledge, but yours is the true spirit of life. Simple or deep slices into the sloppiness of life. Regular people’s life. Probably the one and only source left to regale us a good lesson.

We are living an incredible era in which mass medias of communications are available to anyone. You can make your own film, your own statement, with just about nothing but basic equipment resting lazily in a closet waiting for your next vacation. And people can watch with no restrictions. You tube. My Space and hundreds of others that blossom on daily basis.

Our film industry utilizes obscene amounts of money to put together, most of the times, terrible stories and plots that depict the worst of the human spirit and the reign of fear. And we allow them to do so with our apathy. We pay them to do that. And they tell us they are helping us to escape from daily struggles and routines. And we believe them.

Is there a better way to enjoy the latter days of our live than making a meaningful contribution to the world. Speak up.Tell your stories and your fantasies. Grab that video camera and use it. Learn how to edit it. It is easy and you can do it yourself. Don’t Believe them when they tell you that computers are not for everyone. Use your brain because you are smart, you have always been. Make a film and get a new life.

I have spent my entire life behind a camera. I took my first picture when I was nine years old and that very same year I was paid for my work. I kept that old 35 mm camera and still take it to work when the occasion calls. As I grew older, I fell in love with moving pictures and made a life out of that wonderful trade freelancing my way around the world to seal, in photographs, something so hard for me to explain in words. I have seen perhaps too many things. Some of them meaningful, some of them brutal. Some of them, perhaps, too much for a man that always praised himself to be part of a civilized world.

Four years ago, I turned 50 and, for the first time ever, I thought about the end of the road. I never balked at danger for I lived my life dangerously, but that day, I thought about my time left, about retirement, about what I had not done. It did not take long to figure it out. I thought I had seen it all. I had film and photographs to remind me but realized that I had a few things to say and I have always been so silent, bewildered at the repercussions.

It was the perfect retirement plan: to make a feature film with no money, no help, nothing but my own screenplay, sliding in between lines, conviction and reflections that shared and discussed with good and bad people that I had the fortuity to meet in my journey. So far its been two feature films and one short. Always the same drill. No budget. No support. Nothing but the true spirit of indie film making pumping my heart and keeping me going. This is how I am going to live my golden years. Life starts when you decide to take over your fears and your conveniences.

Today, I am planning a new film and as always, I can’t get any support. The other day I was watching Sunday Morning and I listened to Mr. Robert Redford talking about the Sundance initiative and it was so compelling to see that there is someone willing to help young film makers to get started with their careers. Pity, that no one cares about old new film makers. I could use just a little bit of help.