{"id":1016,"date":"2014-04-17T14:41:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T18:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stephaniesilberwordsworks.com\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2014-08-07T17:09:56","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T21:09:56","slug":"everything-is-forever-premiere-worldfest-houston-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hometeamproductions.tv\/wordsworks\/everything-is-forever-premiere-worldfest-houston-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"EVERYTHING IS FOREVER PREMIERE: WorldFest-Houston 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"airplane<\/a>Vic and I were Houston-bound this time last week, headed to the premiere of EVERYTHING IS FOREVER<\/a>, which is the culmination of a fifteen-year-long process of documenting the life and times of Croatian\/American composer and rocker, Nenad Bach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the usual stress around boarding an airplane in today’s difficult times, we settled into our seats, filled with feelings and memories of our journeys to past festivals.\u00a0 Those seats happened to be a row ahead of where we were assigned to sit, an indicator of the inevitable anxiety that hits when we’re about to exhibit our work publicly for the first time.\u00a0 Due to that happy accident, we met a genial fellow named Rob, with whom we chatted for the remainder of the flight.\u00a0 Rob was headed to a photography workshop.\u00a0 A man of many talents, he is not only an excellent photographer, but also a jazz drummer and a pediatrician.\u00a0 It is perhaps needless to say the conversation stuck close to the joys and rigors of making art.<\/p>\n

We’d just started the descent when turbulence struck.\u00a0 The plane rattled and bounced.\u00a0 I could feel my face heat up as my hands automatically gripped the armrests.\u00a0 I do better with take-offs; I have a little ritual that I perform.\u00a0 I picture brightly colored silken scarves which represent my troubles and woes, and I let them fly away in my imagination.\u00a0 As the aircraft soars upward, the scarves drift down, fluttering\u00a0 madly, away from me, finally gone completely at the moment we break through the clouds into the endless blue of the sky.<\/p>\n

But now we were about to land in Houston, and all the pre-show jitters were back, along with the sense of utter loss of control that comes with severe turbulence (whether in flight or in life).\u00a0 I noticed that Rob was gripping his armrests too, his face noticeably paler, and though he continued to talk about matters art, it was through gritted teeth.\u00a0 For some reason this comforted me, and we began to share near-miss airplane stories and theories about the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, no doubt to the consternation of our fellow passengers, until we finally touched down with a jarring series of bumps.<\/p>\n

Houston was warm, a great pleasure after this long, cold, snowy New York winter.\u00a0 Jackets \"Houston\"<\/a>were doffed.\u00a0 Our spirits were high.\u00a0 Anything could happen and we were open to all possibilities.\u00a0 Festivals are a buzzy whirlwind to be plunged into like a warm sea.\u00a0 People to meet, movies to see, seminars and workshops to attend with kindred spirits.\u00a0 I’d even arranged to meet my Texas cousin Greg, whom I’d not seen for 45 years, and that was one of the highlights of our trip.<\/p>\n

On Friday the simmering undercurrent of anxiety was ratcheting up.\u00a0 By the time we arrived at the screening venue, Vic was sharing his terror about how EVERYTHING IS FOREVER, shot in the nearly obsolete standard definition, would look on the giant screens of the multiplex, and how in the world would we even get close to filling the auditorium.\u00a0 Anxiety, of course, is contagious.\u00a0 I admit, Reader, I was really scared.<\/p>\n

But at that point I remembered: We are always scared before a screening.\u00a0 Comes with the territory.\u00a0 A friendly fellow filmmaker<\/a> coaxed me into a couple of cleansing breaths, and then we were in the theater with our subject, Nenad, and showtime was upon us.<\/p>\n

It was magic.\u00a0 The film looked great on the big screen.\u00a0 The audience was feeling it.\u00a0 Nenad’s journey played out richly, filled with nuance, his larger-than-life personality winning us over from the first frame.\u00a0 You didn’t have to be an artist to relate to the shimmering highs and the crushing lows, and everything in between.<\/p>\n

Afterward, we were drained and happy, and a\u00a0 lively Q&A ensued with the hugely diverse audience.\u00a0 They got it, because EVERYTHING IS FOREVER is ultimately a human story, with all its attendant heartbreaks, striving, winning and losing and loving.\u00a0 It makes me cry every single time, and I’ve seen the film many times.<\/p>\n

WorldFest-Houston<\/a> is a venerable festival, at 47 years old.\u00a0 It is astonishing to me that such a sprawling project can actually attain lift-off, but it did, gracefully and seemingly effortlessly, thanks to\u00a0 terrific Program Director Kathleen Haney and Chairman\/Founding Director Hunter Todd, and all others involved.\u00a0 As Hunter might say, “Simply amazing!”\u00a0 Well done, WorldFest-Houston.<\/p>\n

On the flight home Vic dozed, and I was lost in thought, replaying everything.\u00a0 We were taking home two awards, so unexpected that I let out a scream when Vic’s name was announced at the closing gala.\u00a0 More tears then, of joy and affirmation.\u00a0 I thought about the spiral notebook I’d brought along to make notes in, and how I lost it the very first day, after writing five not-too-shabby longhand pages.\u00a0 With my lucky Caneel Bay Resort pen, likewise lost.\u00a0 That loss had been transformed, of course, upon take-off, to a coral and turquoise scarf which fluttered gently earthward with its fellows.<\/p>\n

\"airplane<\/a>Now, New York, my hometown, lay spread out below us in the last rays of the setting sun.\u00a0 My hands were relaxed on the armrests. I laid my head back, and then we were down, on terra firma with nary a bump, a landing as silken as my brightly colored scarves.\u00a0 EVERYTHING IS FOREVER<\/a> was launched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vic and I were Houston-bound this time last week, headed to the premiere of EVERYTHING IS FOREVER, which is the culmination of a fifteen-year-long process of documenting the life and times of Croatian\/American composer and rocker, Nenad Bach. After the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n