A dog is walking on the bank of a river. He looks past a dark rock with moss covering the left side. When he looks past the beauty of the moss and the drops of dew that still remain on the surface of the prehistoric rock he sees a bone. He has never seen such a beautiful thing. Maybe this particular bone came from the leg of a small pig. The bone marrow peeks out one end. Good eating tonight the dog thinks to himself. He picks up the bone and walks further down the bank of the river. He sees a beautiful oak tree that has fallen right across the shallow river. He looks at it and decides that maybe life might be a little bit better on the other bank. He begins to cross. When he is half way he looks down at the water. The dogs brain is too primitive to understand that this is not another dog and it is merely a reflection. But the dog he sees has a bone too. Just as beautiful and perfect as the one he is holding. He growls at the dog in the river and in turn the dog growls back. He begins to snarl. Clenching the bone harder and harder in his mouth until his teeth become embedded in the bone. He salivates all over the bone and tries very hard to not let the bone go. He then thinks to himself how powerful he remembers his bark being, even though he has been wandering alone and has not heard his own bark in years. He opens his mouth and barks fiercely at the other dog. The other dog barks back and the bone falls out of his mouth too. They continue to bark at each other, getting louder and louder. The look of desperation and anger increasing with each bark. The dog on the branch stops. He looks down. He has lost both bones.
This story I believe is a fable I heard as a kid or I may have heard it a few years ago as a soundbite before a track on a Most Precious Bood album, I am not sure. I use this principle and this teaching in my film-making, my art, and the rest of my life. Not only do I believe this to be an important life lesson but also I think it is a very important part of how our art and our craft takes shape. We try and we try to get these films tht have been cast aside and ignored by so many onto the screen only to end up barking and growling at each other and the establishment which get us nowhere. My aspiration for this blog is to create a place where there is no idea and no film too abstract for anybody to pass judgement on. We love our art and without it we are nothing. I will try very hard to showcase as many filmmakers as I can and if you feel I have overlooked you feel free to send your work to realindieblog@gmail.comand I can review it and possibly interview you. I will let the blog speak for itself and enjoy.
This is so refreshing. I was left with a sense of openness and freedom and hope. Thank you.