Today, lazy Saturday, March 23rd, I just watched The Invisible War. I had a physical reaction to this film. It is absolutely moving and incredible. As the credits were rolling on my laptop, I searched NotInvisible.org, signed a petition, wikipedia'd the main participant, and sent text messages/emails to friends and family encouraging them to attend a screening in their city.
Amongst all of this - I typed in the old url of this blog and here I sit. The first time around writing this was so hard! I struggled with what to say, how to be witty and smart, profound and intellectual and to find the words to wrap up the films I was watching in a way that would encourage and inspire other people to watch them. In other words, I set no expectations or pressure on myself.
Since the blog was originally started, I have entered a new decade and with age comes wisdom, right? I realized I was trying to write the blog for the followers or legions of fans, I was obviously, bound to receive. I wasn't sure what I wanted it to be, I just knew I was passionate about film in general and that over time my love of documentaries was steadily growing. I had already thought of a fun blog name and figured the rest would be easy.
What I didn't realize - blogs are just supposed to be what they are. The writer's thoughts, emotions and feelings on whatever the subject matter is. Whatever the writer feels, that's what should be said.
In the "year off", I was watching documentaries like they were going out of style, and LOVING them. More importantly I was loving talking about them and encouraging friends, family, and anyone who would listen to go out and watch, whatever the latest doc I had watched was. I attended the 2013 Sundance Film Festival for the first time as a paying patron, not a volunteer. Of the eight movies I saw, more than half were docs, and I loved every. single. one. of. them.
Re-reading the above paragraph reignites the passion I originally felt in starting DocuMIRNtary. The writing's on the wall, or in this case, the screening's on the wall. Time to fire up the old blog again. Only this time, no rules, no expectations. Just me.
