On our way....again!

So here we go again, packing our bags and moving on back down to LA after a long stint in Portland since early September. While waiting for our visas to come through we moved up here to stay with Aleigh's mom where we continued to work on the project, raise money and enjoy the laid back life of Portland. Since we subletted our little place in Val Verde in June, we have moved a record breaking 6 times in the last 5 months. In attempt to save money and devote ourselves working full time on the project, we opted for the nomadic life of rent-free living at the cost of a permanent home. Pictured here is Sage hard at work at various places--during his waking hours he probably spends 98% of it staring into the glow of his screen, connecting to digital worlds and beyond. We will soon be in real life with our Cuban digital friends and all this will finally be a reality.
-aleigh

Happy Birthday Yasef!

So on the westcoast it's still Yasef's birthday. Perhaps he is still celebrating. He wrote to me that he had dinner plans with friends after a full day of working on our project. Vegetarian dinner plans. Sounds birthday sexy, right?
Food. It was a big relief when I learned before I even arrived that Yasef primarily eats vegetarian food too. (Agnieska not a big fan of vegetables-Agnieska and I differ often in our taste in food, although ice cream...)
In the past few years I've begun to eat fish and fish was a big staple in my diet in Cuba. Day 1, Laura had arranged for a delicious lobster dinner for her, Yasef, Agnieska and I. First time I ate lobster in my life. And, yes, I liked it. Oh, and I'll just say now, I love plantains! (And I have for a while, not the first time I ate those but had to give a little !!)
I took this photo of Yasef that first night, before dinner, just after Agnieska arrived at Laura's, a few hours after I landed. I love the colors of Laura's living room, she decorated it to compliment an enchanting painting that hangs on the wall, just to the right-a soft facial profile of a woman adorned with a few flowers, petals. This photo touches on the "magic hour" time of day. A time that we hope to figure prominently in the story and filming. During the magic hour everything in the world glows with a liquid radiance, like it could melt and fly at the same time. A truer skin, than what is exposed, worn on objects and living things during most of the rest of the day. The magic hour highlights a rich, stirring beauty; a welcomed path to mingle curiosity, passion and dreamy hope.
Many more stories to be shared, still only a beginning in the land of blog and CFA/EL and on and on. Happy 32 Yasef!

I begin to blog...

So. I’m going to dive into this blog and periodically share some of my musings working on The Closest Farthest Away/Entrañable Lejanía. The photo above is of Agnieska- my partner in crime on the writing scene (just in case you haven’t watched the video interviews yet.) We could not stop laughing taking this photo. Days when it wasn't raining or too sunny (it was August, so blaring hot sun) or there weren't some kind of renovations being done outside (a bathroom off of the patio got new tiles and a new toilet.) we’d eat (or take a break and Agnieska would smoke) on Laura’s patio. We saw these legs on Day 1, and every so often these legs would have traveled about from bench to chair to rocking chair. Sometimes we'd move them, sometimes we'd sit with them. We were always entertained by them. And one day Agnieska wore this white ensemble and came up with the idea for a photo op. Of course a different angle may have concealed the trick, but we were amused nonetheless.
This was during the first few days, we were figuring out characters and discovering plot points for the script and scenes set in Cuba, making them more specific. I've taken more photos that I will share from time to time, and always after a trip, one wishes she'd taken more. But my fingers were usually focused on my keyboard and not on whether or not I'd taken pictures that day. And when Laura and Yasef brought the camera around, I could get incredibly shy. And when it was as hot as it was, you don't really need a zillion sweaty pictures.
But Agnieska and I hope for more adventures, and yes, more opportunities for her and I to collaborate on future projects.
Today (October 2) Agnieska emailed that she is going to now begin work on the v4 Spanish translation - in addition to talking with the rest of the team, she and I have continued to send each other scenes and notes, going through another few drafts since the time we worked in person together. The script continues to tighten, but as we bring more realistic scenes into the mix, and crafted patterns within the sequences of time, we’ve wanted to keep a sense of our jumping off points, of a kind of dreamlike magic. Underneath all our writing and digging into the who, what, where, when, why and how is a whimsy that is captured in this photo.
-Joy

Fried Ice Cream is a Reality!

We have been chatting via yahoo messenger with Yasef a couple of times a week to discuss production plans. But this past week has been particularly hard to communicate since Yasef's internet wasn't working and there was something funky with his messenger. Three times we all logged onto yahoo, but couldn't see each other. Eachother's names were faint, meaning they weren't online. But we were! How frustrating. Anyways, we had another chat date for this past Friday...and an hour went by without hearing from Yasef. Thinking that it was just another internet failure we gave up hopes of having another meeting. But suddenly we heard a BUZZ!! from my computer--is was YASEF!-he had logged on. This time--Yasef had been going up to his apartment to have the meeting with us--when the electricity went out an he was stuck in an elevator for over an hour. He said that he took a little nap and read the Granma newspaper. (This picture isn't the same elevator that Yasef was in but it is an elevator in Cuba.)

Between two waters
This is an excerpt from Agnieska Hernandez, co-writer with Joy Tomasko, from an interview done in Havana regarding what The Closest Farthest Away is about.

The Closest Farthest Away has a great theme, which is in the title in English and Spanish....I think that a text like this, like a cinematography like this, what exists in the themes is a series of ideas that are very interesting. All the paths that The Closest Farthest Away has, or in a different light, The Closest Farthest Away is talking about a big emptiness that the Cuban family has suffered, it is talking about Cuban friends who have been separated and they prefer to say "we are going to stop writing so much because I need to forget" and I am talking about the famous Coca-Cola, the Beatles, which is a big part of this American friend. It is talking about a level of speaking against our war, which is a little bit stupid, that there are two countries so separate and a big part of the Cuba population is in the US and the US is always waiting for Cuba. I think that it is talking about a theme of love, the impossibility, and it is talking about this beautiful limit that exists between the two waters. This limit where the rafts have arrived to and are no longer in the waters of anyone. And in some way it is a momentary liberation--for a second--they still haven't arrived at American soil but they are no longer in Cuban soil. I think that it talks about this limit, that isn't ruled by anyone, not by any country, nor any politic. I think that if you were to choose one place, one location, to film this movie, it would be to choose this water that belongs to no one--I am not in your water anymore and you are not in my water. I think that if we had to pick one place to shoot this entire video, I think that it would be in the middle of the ocean, beyond the limits of any territory, of nobody's sea. this is the idea central to the piece. And when we can get there, to a middle and free situation and look with critical eyes, with distant eyes, but in some way very caring eyes. And we will be looking at the great separation that can be seen so much at a social level, by the people in the US as well as the people in Cuba.

Que el entranble lejania, tiene un gran tema. que esta en el título en ingles y en espanol. incluso la tradduccion a ingles, yo creo que dice un poco mas que hemos conseguido en espanol. pero sin embargo, creo que un texto como este, o sea, como un cinemgrafico como este, tiene, lo que sucede en sus temas, una seria de las ideas que son muy interesantes tambien. todos los caminos que tiene entranable lejania. o sea, ese entranable lejania, es de alguna manera esta hablando de la gran faltura que ha sufrido la familia cubana. estan hablando de los amigos cubanos que se separan en algun momento y prefieren decirse---vamos deja de escribirme tanto porque yo necesito olvidar que esta hablando de la famosa coca cola de los beatles que es un gran parte de este amigo. esta hablando a nivel contratestario de una manera de esta guerra, como es decir, un poco tonta, que han sido dos paises que al final un gran parte de la poblacion cubana está en los eeuu, y el eeuu siempre esta pendiente de cuba. you creo que, que esta hablando tambien del tema de amor, de la imposibilidad. esta hablando tambien de ese limite tan bonito que existe entre dos agua. o sea, que es el limite donde digamos los bolseros han llegado a ese limite no estan en agua de nadie. y de alguna manera es una libertad momentaria por un segundo, o sea o aun han llegado a tierra americana pero un poco pertenece a tierra cubana. yo creo que habla de ese limite y que no manda a nadie, que no manda a ningun pais, no manda a ninguna politica. y creo que si tuviera escoger un solo lugar, un solo locacion, para filmar la pelicula, creo que. por lo menos, escogeria ese limite que es agua de nadie. no estoy en tu agua, ya no estoy en di mi. y creo que eso es el idea central de la pelicula. cuando hemos conseguido, ponerlo en el medio de alguna manera en la situacion y mirar con ojos, pueden ser ojos por momento ojos criticos, por momento ojos distanctes, pero de alguna manera, ojos entranable. y estan mirando la gran seperacion que pueden ver al nivel social tanto, las personas que vienen a los eeuu como el pueblo que vivir en cuba.

Day Six McAllen, Texas

Saturday, July 14th. McAllen, Texas. Today is the day when every single box is taken out of each bus and truck, opened up, and taped back up, and put back on the bus. Each box needs to be checked for expired medicine and correct contents. It 101 degrees and 50% humidity. Apparently cars have been circling the church all day, some form of intimidation. I am bummed I am leaving. This has been an incredible learning experience. Later at the airport I become even more depressed--watching all of these people coming and going to and from comfortable vacations while knowing that 150 people are working in the ungodly hot weather, preparing for a humanitarian mission to Cuba. Everyone I met on this trip has such a huge heart and dedication to global change.
You can see a slideshow of the trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/fotocubano/Caravan/photo#s5088054826451630258

Day Five in Caravan

Friday, July 13th. Route: San Antonio to McAllen, Texas. Now the weather is hot and there is no escaping it. We arrived in McAllen in early afternoon. Here is where all of the caravans from around the country and Canada meet to organize all the of the aid gathered on the trips and to prepare for crossing the border on Tuesday. Dinner that night was delicious and so fun to be in the presence of all these new people, young and old. There is so much energy and good will. I am sad I will not be on this journey till the end. This is Ishmael who has been cooking for Pastors for Peace since it began 18 years ago. He is Cuban but hasn't been back. Many people have been working with Pastors for several years.

Fourth Day in Caravan

Thursday, July 12th. Route: El Paso, Texas to San Antonio, Texas. We got off to a rough start with several repairs throughout the morning. And then to save time, Woody opted to not get gas until our next pee break. We didn't make it and had to pull to the side of the road to fill up with a 5 gallon reserve. This was our longest drive, about 12 hours. Thankfully we didn't hit major heat until around 5pm. We arrived tired and hot around midnight to a Unitarian Church but stayed up late laughing hysterically as Hans entertained us all.

Third Day of Caravan

Wedneday July 11th. Route: Tucson, AZ to El Paso, Texas. I awoke at 5:30am. There was only 2 bathrooms and 13 people so I figured I should get in there before too many more get up. When I was fixing the window last night, I left my phone in the rain...not working now. Woody, Gerry, and Larry fixed the electric window. You take the two wires from the window and touch them to the battery and it will roll up, and if you reverse them, it will roll down. How genius. Sharon with the prius is staying in El Paso in the ICU. We are down to two cars and added two people. Drive to El Paso was pleasant because there was surprisingly cool weather the whole way. We picked up two amazing women from Tucson-Rebekah and Teresa (you can see them dancing in the ceremony pics). Rebekah wants to go to Cuba to look into the Latin American School of Medicine. We talked a lot about border issues as Rebekah crosses the US/Mexico border everyday for work. We all stayed up late that night talking more about politics and Hans was cracking us up.

Second Day of Caravan

Tuesday July 10th. Route: San Diego to Tucson, AZ. We all met at 8am to hit the road but since we were going to drive through deserted areas, decided to go grocery shopping to prepare. Hit the road at 10am. The caravan consists of three cars at this point: the bus, the mercedes, and the prius. The mercedes and the bus both don't have AC. It was very HOT driving thru the desert. Sharon, who owned the prius hadn't been feeling well for days and was taken to the hospital when arrived in Tucson. The rest of us were greeted by a ceremony in Tucson right around sunset. The leader of the ceremony talked about the necessity to have a hard journey in order to really understand what you are doing and why you are doing what you are doing. He talked about bodies being disposable but ideas solid. An idea will live on past the life of a body. We are portals for ideas. At the end of their dance, he invited us to make a circle and walked us through their dance. A good workout! We stayed here at this house and had a very relaxing evening. Earlier that day I rolled down the window to wave to the bus when passing it on the highway and then it wouldn't roll back up--broken! We tried fixing it at a rest stop but wouldn't budge. Later that night before bed I went to go tape up the window because it felt like rain. Just as I was putting on the last piece of tape, it started to pour, but just for five minutes.

First Day of Caravan

Monday July 9th. Route: Los Angeles to San Diego.
I didn't know for sure until Sunday night whether or not I would be joining the Pastors for Peace Caravan from Los Angeles to McAllen, Texas. A very generous person, John Pokrajac donated a 1984 diesel mercedes for us to donate to our Cuban collaborators. Having to ship this car ourselves would have been financially prohibitive, so fortunately we were able to team up with Pastors for Peace, an organization of interreligious pastors who make humanitarian missions to Cuba and around Latin America each year. (visit their website: http://www.ifconews.org/) We were able to fill the car with video equipment to use on our shoot in the fall and also for our Cuban collaborators to start using such as a video projector, vcrs, diffusion gels, etc, generously donated by Theresa Chavez and Steve Gibbons. Here we are leaving LA on the freeway, the hippie bus making its way thru traffic. Larry Parrish will be the Mercedes driver from La to Texas. The car is stick so I can't drive it, but Larry offered to take on the responsibility. The car is packed full of donations, everything from a video projector, to 2 VCRs, to diffusion gels, electrical wire, tape, 2 laptops and 2 desktops, and toys all donated by some very generous people!
A few hours into the trip, Woody the driver, pulled into a weigh station because he saw the porta poties from the road. Driving thru a little bit too fast, he was pulled over and asked to show license and registration. He wasn't up to date with his medical card so we waited at the weigh station for 3 hours while he went to get a physical. We slept in comfortable suburban San Diego digs. Still a little bit in shock from going on such an unexpected long trip but getting to know everyone. You can see a slideshow of the trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/fotocubano/Caravan/photo#s5088054826451630258

Thank you for hitting the webwaves

Dear Viewers,
I looked at our stats for hits on our website and we have received over 6,350 hits since June 19th. On Sunday we received 1,900 hits alone!! Thank you for tuning in.

Sr. Rául Pérez Ureta

Great News! Sr. Rául Pérez Ureta will be joining our team. We just got confirmation today that he will be the cinematographer for The Closest Farthest Away. He is by the far the most accomplished of all us. He has shot over 40 features and shorts around the world, most notably for Cuban director, Ferenando Pérez, such as La Vida es Silbar and Suite Habana. La Vida es Silbar won over 17 awards such as the Special Jury Prize at Sundance, the C.I.C.A.E. award at the Berlin International Film Festival, a Goya for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film and Best Cinematography at the Havana International Film Festival. One of his more recent films, Madinusa, a Spainish-Peru co-production, won Best Cinematography at the Cine Cear Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at Sundance Film Festival.

Our first non-family donation!!!!

Our friend Kirin gave us our first non-family donation(aside from foundations)! It was so heart warming to see one of our good friends support us, and so unexpected too!! Kirin makes good music which you can listen to at: http://kirinkapin.com/

Still Going

Barely out of bed, and at it again. Emailing away. That was Sunday morning and it is now Monday afternoon, West Coast time, and we still haven't emailed everyone.

While you were sleeping

Sage was compiling lists to email to people around the world, letting them know about The Closest Farthest Away and sending them our website. 2am.

Midnight oil

Me (Aleigh) up late at night, 4am, working on the website. Never again will I make a website in photoshop. It looks real nice but the logistics are painful. When I wanted to take a break I documented my growing insanity!

You send it

Monday June 18th 2007 I signed up for the $5.99 monthly you send it account. You can send up to 2GB of information. I emailed Yasef telling him he could send the digital material this way. He says that Cuba's internet is too slow, would take years to upload to site.

Missed Connections

Saturday June 16th Yasef's friend missed her plane going to Japan. Naoko has now left for the states. The handoff didn't happen. Tape is now being sent from Japan to US.

Cuba-->Japan-->Us

Sunday June 10th, 2007 Yasef is going to send dv tape with a friend going to Japan where Yasef's wife is, Naoko. Naoko is flying from Japan to the US and will send it to us when she gets here. This tape will be more well traveled than me by the time it arrives

Getting Started

Friday June 8th, 2007 Trying to do anything with Cuba is a lot of work. You would think that a country just 90 miles from the coast of Florida would be easy enough to collaborate on a project with. Here is an example: our Cuban counterpart, Yasef Ananda, recorded interviews of himself and Cuban Co-writer Agnieska Hernandez speaking about this project. We want to use it for promotional materials to fundraise. He tried sending it today through DHL from Cuba to US but DHL does not send dvds or cds from Cuba to US. We are exploring other avenues.