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aria3fishbone
at 07:26, 5 Oct 2005
Posts: 3
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will it reach you?... the athens premiere
Dear Ms. Sally Potter,
Saturday has been such an incredible day for me...I met you! So come to think of it, two people walking eight dogs, crossing by you simultaneously or children dressed as angels parading near a phonebooth are minor coincidences, diminisced so that they can appear truthful in a film. If I were to write a book and suddenly say you hugged me nobody would regard it as probable.
I was very tired and had a splitting headache, but a friend of mine had told me about the "Yes" projection at Danaos cinema, so I decided to go. She had phoned the cinema for directions, but they had given her wrong ones, so I had to ask about six people in the street for way and walk too. Thus I ended up about half an hour late. Nevertheless I got in. Watching the familiar, beautiful more than words can say, frames and atmosphere scented by your touch I kept thinking how much I would have liked to meet you. To say "thank you" and "I admire you". To learn from you.
I pictured myself years into the future, after many gallery openings, and work and travel. When maybe I would have a name of my own and thought that maybe then I would have had the chance to meet you. I also thought of sending you an email, with all the questions I have been wanting to ask you. But you must be too busy to answer cliché emails with questions that you maybe already answered all too many times, from people who think they know about art but donʽ¦t. I should have had to send you something special, and that special hadnʽ¦t arrived because ideas are always perfect yet imperfect themselves when they materialize. So you can see why I believed my approach would be hopeless.
I should definitely see "Yes" a second time at least, with a clear head. But this scene haunts me. He is lying in her lap in the room in Cuba. Their faces are serene, as in a painting, as if bound for an eternity. His clothes are the same cream colour as the bedsheets. Her night gown just a bit paler than the turkoise of the walls. The light falls in lines over her face from the right, also creating a light triangle just on the left of the bed. It speaks so much...
The end of "Yes". I sat in my chair for my end titles research of who was the same as in the last movie. And then came the voice "And now Sally Potter will answer any questions you have". My heart almost burst. I had no idea you would have been there! I had thought this to be just an average film projection. I hadn't even hoped that I would catch you in Greece! Even now I doubt it ever really happened.
About two years ago I was scaning the internet, looking for tango pictures. So on one site there were some suggested movies, which included the Tango Lesson, which got me making stories about the couple standing by David's fight even before I saw it. Eventually it got me in that cinema on a premiere night.
I am a second year fine arts student now, and studying in Bucharest. It felt like that's were my people would be. I used to draw since I was two years old, yet I don't know if that expresses me still. Art shouldn't be something apart from life; if you rarely enjoy paintings or go to expositions it would be untruthful of you to expect people to come to yours, wouldnʽ¦t it? I love Klimt and Bruegel and Escher and black and white. But what makes me feel over and over again are movies, and books. I have written stories since I can remember; it has always been the picture with the story. There are two kinds of people: the ones whose problem is that they do not want or like anything, and the ones that want too much because there is so much. I am unable to stay focused sometimes. And it frightens me to death that maybe I'm not good enough.
How do you get talented people to cooperate in order to make a film? Because they must have personalities and opinions of their own to be there, so you have to leave them just about as free to create their own art so as to not overwright your own dream and vision. This cooperation makes films look as a miracle of their own to me. What does it take? By the way, you must have liked Chocolat too, because one of it's songs was in "Yes".
What is so special about you is that what you create is not governed by fear. There is no fear of being exposed or being too much you. That's why I love you. Because the pencil that reaches the first page gets to the last one too. And what comes out on screen is always so personal that it gives you a person to look up to; you. Is it courage, or is it natural?
I'm looking forward to a word from you.
Gabriela
aria3fishbone@yahoo.com
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sally potter
at 03:23, 21 Oct 2005
Posts: 193
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Athens premiere
I would like to write many words to you for such a long and lovely message, but I hope a few will do…
Concerning your last thoughts, of course I have my fears, sometimes strong ones, but I try not to let fear determine my actions. I don’t know if that is courage. Perhaps it is just a habit.
About cooperation and collaboration: it is one of the joys of filmmaking, which is always a collaborative art (albeit a directed one) but it does take a while to learn how to create a space in which each person feels the film is also theirs. I try to see the genius in each of the people I am working with, to appreciate them (and their ideas) as much as possible, but also to be very clear about what I am looking for. To be inclusive is good, humanly and aesthetically. I try to invite others into my vision, and at the same time guide the process so that we are all seeing the imaginary film with the same eyes as it slowly (sometimes quickly) comes into being.
I wish you well on your path. Your enthusiasm is a blessing.
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