BALLAST

Its not often that feature films are set in the Mississippi Delta, where I shot my short documentary The South Lost The Civil War. The new film BALLAST, directed by first time filmmaker Lance Hammer follows a young boy drifting through the spare flatlands of a wintry Mississippi township and a middle-aged man sits in his rural home, frozen in grief after his brother’s suicide. These striking images set in motion a riveting story of three people trying to reposition their lives after experiencing a traumatic loss. Lance Hammer won the best director award at the 2008 Sundance Film festival for his assured hand with which he tells a delicate, quietly unfolding story using understated means and non-professionals from the Mississippi Delta.



Upon watching the trailer for the film, I noticed right off the bat that this film also explores isolation and a certain mood found in the color and tone of the film. The film seems quiet, meditative and spontaneous yet confined and even features long shots of trains, a theme used in my film. Ballast opens in NYC October 1st at Film Forum. This is a must see for me, and anyone for that matter.

Share The Streets

I've always attributed my introduction to filmmaking to the skateboarding videos I made with my good friend Matt Webster. We grew up together in south Florida and got into skateboarding around the same time, quickly realizing people were documenting their skating and producing videos. Our first few videos were shot with Matt's father's old VHS video camera, shoulder mount style; and edited with two VCRs hooked up together to a TV. Over the years we upgraded cameras and moved on to non-linear editing on our computers. Our biggest production, Share The Streets, was completed in the summer of 2006. Shooting lasted roughly four years with Matt and I living in Orlando. We premiered the video at Cinema Paradiso in Ft. Lauderdale, it will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.

Below is a segment from the video, the introduction.