CLIMBING WITH ZEN

CLIMBING WITH ZEN from onward films on Vimeo.

I have worked on several projects this past year, and all have provided me with so many cherished memories, but the short film I recently shot with Zen was perhaps my favorite--mostly because I think I really connected with this piece on a deeper personal level.

For more than a year, I had wanted to film a young boy climbing to the top of the mountain. I have always been drawn to the metaphor of climbing a mountain, not to mention a love I have for hiking and climbing mountains (that I am currently trying to reconnect with).

In so many ways, I saw my own childhood in Zen that day, and it just reminded me of how short our life is and how the decisions we make when we are young are so detrimental, so powerful--even though we don't necessarily know it at the time.

Life is a great mystery. Childhood is a wondrous mystery, and that is exactly what I wanted to achieve in post-production. This could have very well been a short 2-minute film, but I wanted to purposely stretch it out, to stay awhile. I wanted to see the bugs and the coyotes and I wanted to highlight those things we no longer pay attention to as adults.

I guess you could say I was just trying to relive my childhood through my camera. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed shooting it. Zen was such a wonderful actor. Truth be told: He was just being himself (with a little direction), and his dad Greg went along as well. He second shot for me and I'm pretty sure he had just as good a time.