I don’t want to change the world. I don’t want to “push the boundaries” of citizens today. I feel just as bad as anyone about the atrocities of the world. I hate that in today’s world things like Darfur happen. I'm saddened by the genocides of Rwanda and Myanmar. I cry for the orphans in Rio De Janeiro, and the homeless on the streets of America. I worry about cancer, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and sexism. Life is rough.
What I want, is to give people a couple hours away from that. I want to take audiences to another place of our creation. Somewhere different than the world we live in. Whether that place is funny, scary, or just beautiful, it is a break from the world. I want audiences to laugh, cry, and fall in love. Not write their congressmen.
I want to tell stories. From when man crowded around the campfire and told stories about the Gods, we have always depended on the storyteller. So this is a manifesto, of sorts, a creative credo, because as I’ve look around at opportunities for filmmakers; grants and funding opportunities, each one describes films looking to “push the envelope”. That’s not what I want to do. I want to make the world disappear for a couple hours, while you sit in a darkened room listening to my tale. The only world I want to change, is the one of my own creation.
-eli
