This year's Evvy Award nominees have been announced, and in the category of...

Best Advanced Film...

Pellicle Pictures, Luis Dechtiar and Andrew J. Whittaker proudly represent...

THE HABERDASHER'S TALE ! <watch it here! (<overly euphoric self- promotion is never a good sign but I promise the film is pretty good)

The 25th Annual Evvy Awards will take place May 13th at the Cutler Majestic Theater. This category will be awarded during the afternoon show, starting at 2pm. So if you want to watch me potentially embarrass myself in front of a huge crowd (if AJ goes up with me I won't embarrass myself), I think you can stream the show online; or if you're in Boston, LA or NYC, watch it on TV. Or in case you can't watch it at all, I'll just write what I plan to say in case I do win:

	"As many of you know, or have read on my facebook profile, there's a quote by Pablo Picasso I like to mention all the time: 'If you know exactly what you're going to do, what's the point of doing it?' It could inspire creativity or spontaneity but it's also a good excuse to use if you don't want to prepare anything ahead of time, like a speech for an awards ceremony."
	"So I'll do my best to squint through the bright lights and sort through the audience right now to see if there are people here I need to remember to thank. Let's see... Sean, did you work on this film? ... Wait - what is this sign doing here? I submitted 'A_part' last year, guys. Pete, this is the third mistake of the evening, does that mean we can't compete with the Oscars anymore?"
	"Um... I suppose I should impress the parents of prospective students by saying something touching about my four years at Emerson, or casually mentioning the job I have waiting for me in LA once I leave here. Or at least mention the high percentage of people who do (which doesn't include me, actually). But maybe I should emphacize the collaborative nature of filmmaking instead, pointing out that competitiveness often stunts the creative process, although I humbly accept this highly competitive award anyway."
	"Oh, I'm running out of time, but I have to thank a few people including Mariel for sneaking this entry into the category even though it exceeds the time limit, and the Emerson alumns who are running in a couple of categories and raising the standards for the rest of us students, and my friend Ken for traveling to the future (specifically to the alternate universe where I DO end up winning this award) to grab stills from this webcast so I can post them ahead of time on my website- oh, AND the whole cast and crew of this movie!"

These are the screening dates for PARADIGM SHIFT. The planned Premiere on May 1st is pending confirmation from the school's facilities management agency:

May 4 - Screening with Films From the Margin Series - 7:00 pm - Walker Building, 120 Boylston, Room 233

May 15 - Screening with BFA Projects - 3:00 pm - Coolidge Corner Theater

Before I get too involved with the post-production of my thesis film, I want to mention another significant event of my last few months at Emerson.

	Last semester, after seeing the performance of Institutionalized, I knew I wanted to participate in whatever newfangled idea of activist performance this little group with a long name would come up with next. The Campus Conversations on Race Action Committee spawned from the dialogues on racism that were initiated last year by the Center for Diversity at Emerson. It was not long before I joined my long-time friend Anise Meccouri at the CCOR AC meetings, made friends with Katie, Zahra and other members, and was unavoidably thrust into their next, more ambitious project: The Displacement. The first thing I heard was that I would be playing the part of the Secretary of the Office of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. This was a "theatrical experience", a 12-hour-long audience-participation simulation of the events that took place when 30,000 citizens of New Orleans were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, were told to take shelter in the Superdome, and because of serious failures in emergency management, were virtually abandoned and uncared for during a period of 5 days.
One of several themed posters that advertised "The Displacement".
Trailer: The Displacement | 2:45 This teaser was assembled from audio-recordings of an actor's workshop and improvisational rehearsal that was held a week before "The Displacement". The performances are juxtaposed with real photographs of Superdome evacuees.

It took me a while to wrap my head around this idea, and it was not until our preview/rehearsal simulation that I truly understood the educational value and effectiveness that this role-playing experience would have. After doing background research, I also began to understand in what ways this was undeniably a race issue. There were so many political reasons behind why the help was delayed and inefficient. Had the population trapped in the Superdome been of the affluent class, every resource of this rescue operation would have been directed towards them, without hesitation, until they were out of danger. But the Superdome population was mostly black and from poor neighborhoods. They did not have vehicles and they were not provided buses for evacuation before the Hurricane swept over New Orleans.		The levees that protected their particular neighborhoods from flooding were poorly maintained. Ultimately, their plight exposed fundamental flaws in the socio-economic structure of this country. It only takes a small amount of research to come to this realization.

Even during the preparations for The Displacement, it was disturbing to experience around us, the continuing apathy and disregard for the issues that CCOR AC was working to bring up. The school's administration showed no enthusiasm, offered no assistance, and instead placed roadblock after roadblock in front of the project, claiming issues of liability, insurance and safety. In reality, the administration was reacting on the basis of a stigma that had been created around the issue, ever since the Dean of Students made insensitive claims about how Katrina had nothing to do with race, during a Town Hall meeting. After pressuring the group to cancel their initial room reservations, the Facilities Manager overtly stated that "we don't want to do any more Katrina-related events." CCOR AC faced additional opposition on the part of Student Government, who were clearly biased against our activities. These are not just reactionary accusations; the evidence mounted day by day. At one point, Zahra was refused flyer approval from an employee at Student Life who had received a post-it note from a superior saying: "Do not approve anything for The Displacement." We were left only with the support of committed faculty members like Robbie McCauley, Maureen Shae and Smitty. Finally, after the group strained over a short period of time to meet every single imposed requirement (including an on-site Police Officer and EMT, four faculty counselors, a psychiatrist for pre-briefing and de-briefing) -- the Dean of Students simply decided to say "no". The event would not be approved by the administration, five days before it was to take place. Two reasons were given: the lawyers did not have enough time to process the necessary paperwork, and there was a concern that participants would suffer from "nightmares" after the experience. An impromptu meeting was held to decide the fate of The Displacement. We discussed letting the project fall apart, filming a post-mortem walk-through of the would-be event - and letting the evidence explode - using the video documentation of the whole process to demonstrate how an institution of higher learning can systematically reject a legitimate, constructive and forward-looking student initiative, while routinely approving expensive boat cruises and shows, events like Date Auctions, Speed Dating, the Kissing Booth, Sex with Janna, etc. Something I wrote last semester in my review of Institutionalized seems relevant now, when considering the gradual standardization of the available student activities on-campus. To me, the play pointed out that these activities represent "the privileges of a social class that can afford over-priced tuition, and who can enjoy a wide variety of escapist entertainment guised as higher education... If the students are convinced [that the college experience is worth the money]... the parents are willing, the demand is satisfied, and the market for the college business expands to reach more and more affluent Americans." CCOR AC's interest in current, relevant, and (apparently) controversal social issues was treated as a peripheral deviation from the ready-made, predictable set of safe extra-curricular activities. This is how diversity of thought is suppressed. After hundreds of hours of work, CCOR AC felt disenfranchised and marginalized. At the impromptu meeting I remember saying: "We must have done something right if we are facing this much resistance." Despite all this, that night at the CCOR AC general meeting, after much consultation, we decided to continue with our plans to hold The Displacement on Saturday the 25th, without Emerson's permission. This meant that we would not have access to funding from other student organizations that were helping sponsor the event, and that we would lose our off-campus venue. However, this also meant we didn't need to hire a Police Officer or an EMT (since they both had said the request was ridiculous anyway and that it was sufficient to call 911 in case of an emergency), so our costs were cut significantly. The question remained: where to hold the event? With only two days left, we scrambled secretively to find a place on campus that wasn't booked. Ironically, one of the only remaining options was the basement of the Student Union, directly below the office that rejected our flyers. Katie, Jeff and Anise, as individuals, booked two different rooms, under the names "Gumbo Ya Ya" and the "Louis Armstrong Experience". And before the Student Union had a chance to ask any questions, at 10 AM on the morning of March 25th, "The Displacement" had begun.

The results were incredibly moving. Once the participants were led into the space, and clicked into their roles as displaced people, nurses, FEMA workers, reporters and politicians, the developing storyline was completely unpredictable, and constantly informed by the stream of media we had been gathering.

Baton Rouge Conference | 5:30 This short movie was screened during The Displacement. It is a fictional recreation of a meeting that took place among officials in charge of managing the emergency in New Orleans.

The actual period when Hurricane Katrina struck the Superdome was represented with blaring sound effects, and an ominous sequence of stationary video recordings that reporters did of the empty street corners of New Orleans, while the city was being shaken at its foundation. During all this, participants never ceased their role-playing, creating for themselves and for others, relationships and circumstances that none of us could have conceived until we put ourselves collectively in the shoes of the displaced. Leaving the room at the end of the event, I felt a strange mixture of relief, frustration, distress, enlightenment and melancholy. At this point I had abandoned my role as a politician and had re-entered the room fo an hour as a displaced person. Single file, we were released from the cramped, hot and dimly-lit room, and walked by a final slideshow of the aftermath of Katrina. The final de-briefing and reflection were particularly constructive. Around the room, we felt that we had just been part of a unifying experience, a truly unique collaboration with such profound social and educational value that it was difficult to remember what made it objectionable in the first place. During my four years at Emerson I had never seen a group of such diverse backgrounds and ideas, representing so many fields of study, interests and talents, all together in one room, discussing how their perspectives had been transformed, how they felt propelled into a mode of action, and how this degree of unity of thought and purpose would be essential for any major changes to occur in their world. Joining such an amazing group in this realization, and making some lifelong friendships in the process, could not have felt more fulfilling.

"It's Paradigm time." With these words, Assistant Director Sean Yopchick kept things moving on the set of my Thesis Film Project, which wrapped production yesterday at around 4:00 AM.

Paradigm Shift is in the can. Two days before the shoot, after realizing that the 17 page script translated into 108 shots to be completed over a 3 and 1/2 day period, I had sudden doubts about how well we could pull this off. But at the end of this sometimes-turbulent journey, shared by 19 crew members, 8 actors with speaking roles, and the stray cat inhabiting our dusty, machine-encrusted locations, I can confidently say that we have achieved something quite rare, and I feel so lucky to have worked with such a talented and dedicated group.

Here are a few brief glimpses behind the scenes. This maintenance room at the Saxonville Industrial complex, along with the adjacent boiler room, provided the perfect, ready-made atmosphere -- a free location that $500,000 budget production design could not have replicated.

Although different version of the concept for Paradigm Shift have been under development since 2003, the realization of this particular story within the Paradigm world actually happened extremely quickly. The philosophy and themes have remained the same from the beginning, but the outline for Jeremy and Hiroshi's characters and story came about this January, and the script was not finished until March 21, after the actors had already been cast (mostly without having needed to audition).
At that point Andrew J. Whittaker (Director of Photography) jumped on-board as co-producer as well, offering indispensable help in positioning all the elements necessary for shooting to begin on March 31.
This production, however, took on an unconventional form not because of lack of preparation, or because compromises had to be made. Neither did it conform to a restrictive set of circumstances that stilted the initial concept. Rather, because we allowed it to morph freely, and until the last minute, adjusted its comprising elements to make best use of the most current inspirational vibes, I think the story has taken on an energetic appeal that would not have been there if I had stuck to a script that was written a year or even six months ago. The film has adapted. Like a species, it has not simply surrendered to its environment, it is in unison with it. And to feel so dependent on, yet embracing of these unpredictable realities -- those perhaps shaped by chance, perhaps design -- is quite humbling. Thus has my perspective about the nature of filmmaking changed. This... was my paradigm shift... Coming soon.

Less than two weeks from now, Paradigm Shift will begin principal photography. This means the film will begin shooting. We will gradually release photons onto pellicles of celluloid, in rapid punctuations of the shutter, 1/24 of a second in duration. Interesting to think that projects like these evolve from a gradual accumulation of intentions, slowly building the favoring circumstances for this one, sudden modification of the organic environment to catapult select members of a species into a state of completion, suddenly holding in their hands an alternate reality that must subsequently be reduced patiently into more and more refined versions of itself, presentable and favorable to life. This process is akin to the most widely accepted theory of evolution. We are about to prove it wrong.

In other news, I've been experiencing a nostalgic return to my adolescence in the last couple of days. There was a time when I used to play computer games... I know what you're thinking, not those brainless 3D shoot-'em-up games (well I played some of those too, but not as much)... but my favorites were referred to as Adventure Games. The term has slowly been distorted by the entertainment industry, but it ironically described the more contemplative, story-oriented, episodic puzzle "talkies", where you encountered vivid characters in richly layered locales, picked up dozens of crucial or unessential commonplace objects (rarely any weapons), and patiently unraveled the novelesque story of your character, advancing the plot by discovering major clues, figuring out how to reach an inaccessible area, gathering enough information to know what to do at the right time. They were atmospheric, meditative, intellectually challenging, even educational, not to mention cinematic. Those were the real interactive movies, not the endless movie-based 3D games that are now all created with the same template, and mass produced so that the Spiderman character is easily replaced with Harry Potter, in time for a simultaneous game and movie release for maximized profits. With the advance of computer graphics, the industry has deemed the slow Adventure Games unprofitable, since they are usually painstakingly produced over 2-3 years, and the ones with unique storylines have no guaranteed audience base. Some of the last real Adventure Games to be released were Grim Fandango (1998), Gabriel Knight III (1999), and Escape from Monkey Island (2000) ... after that, the respective production companies, LucasArts and Sierra, have morphed into unrecognizable corporate monsters, churning out diluted forms of every kind of game-play imaginable, except traditional Adventure. Just check out their main pages and, if you know what you are looking at, be horrified. Sierra, ever since it was acquired by giant media conglomerate Vivendi Universal, does not even list the Gabriel Knight series on their site, instead boasting titles such as Barbie: Horse Adventures Mystery Ride. I recently discovered that LucasArts (George Lucas' company) even attempted to profit from its most financially successful Adventure classic, Full Throttle (1995), by creating a sequel subtitled Hell on Wheels, BUT adapting its format to modern-day 3D fist-flinging action, a complete and utter departure from the puzzle-oriented original, even though its story did involve motorcycle gangs in a near-future mid-west. In a smart move, LucasArts discontinued Full Throttle 2 in 2004 because they "didn't want to disappoint fans of the original". Watching the trailer made me feel like I was in an parallel universe where human beings had devolved and lost their capacity to rationalize, and the once-cool and monotonic character of Ben had been created as a grimaced head-bobbing, chest-beating maniac to reflect this particular characteristic of the species.

But, as I recently discovered, not all is lost. After years of non-involvement with the video-game industry, I happed to be randomly searching on the internet movie database and came across the name Tim Schafer -- the genius behind some of the best Adventure Games ever made (The Secret of Monkey Island, LeChuck's Revenge, Full Throttle [the one and only], Grim Fandango) -- and realized that, after a 7-year hiatus, in 2005 he released another title, under his own, independently founded production company: Double Fine. For financial viability reasons, I'm sure, he has not started with full-out Adventure Game production, but has realized what appears to be an action/adventure hybrid with puzzle-elements, and most importantly, a deep universe from which to draw hundreds of storytelling possibilities in a manner unequalled by any current videogame producer out there. I have not purchased the game yet because I must not be distracted from work for any longer period of time than it took me to write this entry, but with certainty I can say that this Summer, dorkily enough, I will be giving myself one graduation present: Psychonauts.

All hope lies in independent media.

3 March 2006

In Loving Memory of Alex Rehayem 1954 - 2006 Alex was the first person to accompany Mark Cabot during the "Bunny Hop" down the Green Acre steps, which later became the traditional closing of every Green Acre Newsreel to follow. He will always be in our thoughts and prayers. The Green Acre Newsreel Volume I (1998)

Trouble behind the scenes: Ken Cabot producing one of the video segment for NEBY Fest 2006.

I just came back from this year's NEBY Fest, and thanks to the Youth Committee, the Baha'i youth of the North East, the many volunteers, performers and presenters, I had an amazing time. It was a lot of hard work editing (even up to a couple of hours before they were to be shown) the four video segments that Ken and I filmed, but incredibly rewarding to see them screened to an audience of up to 700 vibrant and youthful youth. It was also fun to hang out with the friends I rarely get to see, so, thank you for being my friends - you know who you are.

Some updates on the production front:

For this year's North East Baha'i Youth Festival, Ayneh Films produced short profiles of the two youth being awarded the Dr. David S. Ruhe Champion of Humanity Award: Gabriella Alleva and Michelle Grohe. The video announced, for the first time, the names of the youth being honored. View the Dr. Ruhe Award segments on the Ayneh Films page.

Also produced for NEBY Fest 2006 were two "city profiles", of Boston MA and Rochester NY, entitled We Are Walking. They are snapshots of what Baha'i youth have been doing in their paths of service to their communities and their world.

Andrew J. Whittaker's video field production segment, a dark comedy entitled 4 Shots About 4 People, has also been completed, starring Will Drinker, Alexis Mayer, Scott Stap, and myself.

Paradigm Shift, my finally thesis science fiction film, is scheduled to shoot March 30 - April 2 in Framingham, MA. The Casting Call is now under way. For information email paradigmshift@luisdechtiar.net

And finally, one new piece of writing.

23 January 2006

Thanks to everyone who has checked out the site so far (and to you who are checking it out right now). Let me know if you run into any glitches or problems I should fix.

A special thanks to Andrew J. Whittaker, (Director of Photography, The Haberdasher's Tale) for teaching me Dreamweaver and hosting me while I was building the site. Check out his website, and his reel.

22 January 2006 - The Beginning

Nine months in gestation, erelong this site is born, during a period of transience, turmoil and traverses cross metaphysical mine-fields, one semester remaining 'till such time as commencement cometh, and hence, a graduate, left to unforgiving winds, ariseth alone, facing a fate uncertain and a destiny distraught.

Of course, there couldn't be a more exciting time. May 2006 I will finish my studies at Emerson College, in Boston. After this I decided to do a period of service, or volunteer work with a Baha'i community somewhere abroad, where service is needed. No telling yet where I will go - Brazil, Australia, Israel - the search has begun for the right opportunity, where I can make good use of my training in the visual and media arts, specifically film. On the meantime, these pages will record the infant stages of my travels throughout the occupational world. Even though the definition blog has now been listed in the dictionary, I will now invent a different pretentious term for internet space, in a conscious attempt to add my own word to the dictionary: Dawtnette. So, LuisDechtiar.net is my dawtnette. This might sound awkward to you at first, but I assure you it will catch on.

What you see in these pages is mainly the result of a couple of years of movie-making work (digital and film). Alot of times I collaborate with Kenneth Cabot, so we co-founded Ayneh Films, to represent various works that somehow reflect the worldwide Baha'i community we are part of. My independent, more eccentric creations, of various subject matters, have been labeled Pellicle Pictures. These and other works, for hire or for high school, can be found under the Film Archives page. There are short fiction pieces, there will soon be photography, and gradually, more films, as they are one by one exported from timelines immemorial. (I considered posting here my school essays and research papers, but I decided to wait a couple of decades before revolutionizing western academia.)

Let us not forget to mention what most important event coincides with the origin of this website: the birthday of my dear sister Miriam Leonora Dechtiar ~ Happy Birthday Leonilda pequenilda!

Explore everything there is, on these pages and in life.

-Luis

Entries from the old website:

1/22/06 - The new website has launched. Go to www.LuisDechtiar.net.

1/14/06 - Unless there are mass protests as a result of this announcement, istead of January 17th, I will be launching the website on Sunday January 22nd. This will give me some extra time to upload movies. Obrigado pela paciencia.

1/11/06 - I'm back in Boston! In less than a week I will be making an official launch announcement about my website, with improved artwork, many films, hopefully a Demo Reel and DVDs for sale. It will not be absolutely complete, of course, as there is always work to be done. There is much writing awaiting me this semester due to final school projects, so I will be thus burdoned for the majority of the time. Expect an explosion of work, however, once graduation rolls in and the Summer settles me down - who knows where. (I can't believe the decade is more than half over). Salam.

1/1/06 - Another Green Acre Newsreel (volume VIII) was completed with success, filmed and edited between Dec 27 and 30, at the Winter session of Green Acre Baha'i School, Eliot, Maine. It was finished about an hour before it was to screen, and the running time, because we had no chance to choose what material to cut, is a little over 30 minutes. I think it is mine and Ken's favorite so far - and certainly the first to stir up controversy (to the extent possible).

12/19/05 - My short documentary In Our Lifetime was finished and screened for my Cinema and Social Change class. Soon on the Ayneh Films page.

12/18/05 - The Haberdasher's Tale premiered today, coincidentally the same day when in 1865 the 13th Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution was proclaimed, abolishing slavery. Watch the film here.

11/22/05 - The Official Launch of www.LuisDechtiar.com will be January 17th, 2006.

11/18/05 - I updated a bit more artwork and loaded a couple of film clips under Pellicle Pictures and Ayneh Films.

11/14/05 - The Haberdasher's Tale has finished production. It is my project for film 3 class, shot on 16mm color negative. I wrote and directed, AJ Whittaker was director of photography. Thanks so much to all the crew and actors. It was alot of fun. If everything goes well it will be screening at the end of December and soon will be on this page.