Too Long, Too Much Talking...So Much Potential

I've been covering the Independent Black Film Festival this week and yesterday was day two.

Admittedly, I don't know how the previous two years have gone, but so far I've been only partially satisfied with the films I've seen. Two shorts really got to me on Sunday and since then I haven't found any one work that has truly engaged me. However, buried under a mountain of excess dialogue, bad sound and stilted, flat staging I did witness the genesis of what should be great stories. Am I being fecicious? No.

Of what I saw (and thanks to a Professor from Howard for helping me open my eyes a little wider and to look deeper) some of the pieces were intuitively shot, edited and acted. When it happens once it's an accident. When it happens twice it's coincidence. When it happens three times it's potential.

I'll have to come back to this topic. But, I think we definitely have to consider not only the business of making films here, but the community aspect as well. Everyone has a story to tell and they each should have the opportunity to not only tell it, but to tell it well.