Hello, loyal readers! I apologize that it has been so long. I am involved in a great many projects. For one, I am finishing up the editing of Ezer Kenegdo, getting it ready for sound design, color timing and the works. I am also editing a personal essay documentary called Ancestral Avenue, about how the house in which I grew up is now an abandoned, vandalized building in what is now a high-risk neighborhood in Pittsburgh called Swissvale. I visited the grounds with my mother and father, and it was certainly an emotional experience. The film examines the fragile nature of the places in our memories, and how memory itself is ungraspable.
And as I am sure you all know, I continue to work on my book about filmmaker Sidney J. Furie. The book's new (and, I believe, final) title is Working the Angles: The Life and Films of Sidney J. Furie. I have interviewed many people with whom Sidney has collaborated, and have gone on more than a few research expeditions, including to the amazing Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills. I continue to be grateful that I get to chat daily with Sidney throughout this process, both as friend and collaborator. The book has been picked up by Patrick McGilligan's Screen Classics Series and will hopefully be published sometime next year.
In addition to all this, I am raising funds for my new film, entitled Raise Your Kids on Seltzer. Please go here to donate on IndieGoGo! The film tells the story of a middle-aged married couple, Terry and Tessa, who live in the Bay Area. They are exit counselors who have been forced into early retirement. An "exit counselor" is a professional who is contracted by families to kidnap people away from dangerous cults so they can "deprogram" them at a secure location. Terry and Tessa's cryptic motto during their often verbally and physically abusive deprogramming process: "Raise Your Kids on Seltzer, Bubble per Bubble!" They have fallen out of favor in this profession in the years since their 1970's and 80's heyday, when cults were "booming" the most in San Francisco. There is even a festering lawsuit filed by a disgruntled client following in their wake. For the last fifteen years, to make ends meet, they produce stylish, unintentionally humorous corporate media. However, they are soon called back to do some exit counseling for one last, very special case. Raise Your Kids on Seltzer is a tender, funny, certainly quirky, and occasionally frightening comedy-drama mainly about how people deal with becoming obsolete.
