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.