This enduring treasure
This enduring treasure
a letter from an audience member
Deirdre from Massachusetts wrote on Facebook a week ago:
I am old ( 75) and severely immune compromised…stuck pretty much in since 3/20…I crave to see your beautiful film. I play kaval. It has been so hard to be stuck, old and sick for three years… I have my kaval, my husband and my friends.
Deirdre wrote in response to “Kaval Park” not being available for viewing online. Our commitment to show the film in a communal setting continues as the World Tour expands. We’re doing so with showings in Orange County tonight, Las Vegas on Wednesday, San Diego and Phoenix this weekend. Then, the day after Thanksgiving, I get on a plane to Bulgaria for more showings there. Tickets and details at the end of the text.
We sent Deirdre a private link to watch the film this Thursday. With permission to share, here is what she wrote back (we marked in bold a few phrases which really moved us, CAPS are as originally written):
“Dear Bogdan, I loved the film…it presented the man as he probably would have presented himself…it was like having a conversation with him over time. You really couldn’t predict where the film was going next...only his own voice, the scenarios and the threads of those who knew him made the whole cloth. The film was not overly saturated with music…it was more THE MAN and his music.
You portrayed yourself as a gentle observer, admirer and friend…peering into the workshop of his life.
There were no hard edges to the film. It was more like a kaval itself. Dipping from one melodic contour to another…
I would have loved to talk with Alex while he was alive. Your film was like a poem which allowed that type of interaction through the breaking of conversations in scenarios. Alex the person comes in and out of the contexts. If we go with the flow of the film we can be taken in and out into our own artistic psyche. We wonder what disease Alex dying from…where is the rest of his family? What do his finished instruments sound like?
These questions rise almost unconsciously from the surface of the film. We start asking questions in our own contexts. Like what did your film evoke in me that I am writing you this now?
God knows. Art knows…if art is also a persona and a presence. Like why am I drawn to Bulgarian culture and music? Why was my very first job in Paris from a note scribbled on a subway bulletin board. To work as a 22 yr old for Marc and Bogdan (law students). I was a tour guide in Paris employed by them to guide French-Canadian students around Paris and the city’s environs!
Why do I have Bulgarian neighbors? Why is my kaval calling me to be played now? I have no visions of shepherds…I am just me, DEIRDRE, stuck in my house except for walks and my visits and, yes, I bring my kaval with me and I am not a very good player! Maybe never.
THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH FOR THIS ENDURING TREASURE.“
TICKETS USA
TICKETS BULGARIA
See you at the movies!
Bogdan