Tender Foot Revisited

I made a choice about the experimental documentary project, and just returned from the creek with Judy where we shot scenes of her trying to retrieve a bag out of the water.  Sound familiar?  It is!  Today was strangely warm and it occurred to me I could revisit the original 16 mm script from last winter that was scrapped for various reasons and we ended up pivioting to Kaching!  The original screenplay, you might recall, is Tender Foot , a story of a sixty year old man. He is stuck in a repetitive pattern, aware of the harm he causes but is unwilling to  feel the discomfort of change. The consequence of his disfunction reflects in the landscape  around him, and humanity’s unwillingness to address the climate crisis. 

Given that my actor is a woman in her late eighties I needed to make some changes to the script. Now the story is about a woman trying to deal with her baggage, if you will, but the pain of contact between herself and reality prevents her from breaking through.

I have not seen the footage from today and depending on what is workable the story may take a detour from the most recent outline. Lets just say its a work in progress.

You might be wondering, "Hey? I thought this assignment was suppose to be about nature." Well I reread the instructions and I think this story will absolutely will work.

Assignment:

Create a 1–5 minute experimental documentary that reimagines how we perceive the living world.

Choose a non-human being or ecosystem — a plant, animal, element, or material — and explore its presence through sound, image, and rhythm.

Challenge conventional film language to reveal unseen relations and hidden forms of life.

Let opacity, intuition, and sensory play guide you.

This is not about explanation but about listening and attunement — allowing another world to speak through your film.

I am so grateful Judy was up for filming today. It was tricky working with her in the creek environment but fortunately no-one was injured.  I am wiped out and she is home safe taking a hot bath.