And the world turned upside down
We blinked, and somehow it’s the end of June.
If you’re anything like us, the last four months have felt like either no time has passed or like the longest decade ever. Like many other creative endeavors and other film productions, our world has been rocked not only by the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also by the ongoing protests demanding change for unjust, inequitable systems and policies. A documentary about a little-known cultural scene that took place in the middle of the desert 25-plus years ago seems simply irrelevant in the face of this moment in which we’re living.
The time forced to basically stay at home was helpful at first. Even though it somewhat waylaid any additional filming or content gathering we needed to do, your humble director was able to take the bit of extra time afforded by the shutdowns to roll up the sleeves and claw ever closer to a final edit of the film. With a fine edit finished and feedback received from a small number of test screenings, we moved to the next stages of post-production: sound design, audio mixing, and color grading.
We also took time out to do a live Q&A on Facebook and Instagram, during which we also premiered an exclusive 5-minute excerpt from the film, featuring the origin of beloved record store Benway Bop!, which is now available to watch online:
Even though film festivals were cancelling left and right (or moving to a fully “virtual” format) due to the pandemic, we were preparing a package to submit to festivals in 2021 while also short-listing potential distribution partners. Everything was moving, even as the world felt like it was stuck in molasses. But then we hit another wall.
A major loss in the family forced a hasty departure across the United States for ye olde director, 3,000 miles away from the editing bay. That was May 31, and it probably won’t be until mid-to-late-July when we’ll be returning to California and earnest work on the film.
But we’ve been slowly getting things back in gear, updating our film festival options based on the pushed-back post-production schedule and the rescheduled festival dates, catching up on legal paperwork, doing more distribution research, updating social media feeds, and, of course, writing this blog post. Even if we can’t work on the actual film itself right now, we can make sure everything is in place to make sure it’s ready to push out to the world when it’s finished.
As always, thank you for your continued support and interest, and we hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy during these crazy times in which we’re living.