IN THIS LIFE...

I wear about as many hats as any small business owner. We all do. In the corporate world it would be called “cross-training”. My crowded calendar and to-do list would be my “dashboard”.

But it’s independent film. It’s a documentary. No remuneration whatsoever except what feeds our souls. It’s about making our own rules and building our own road on which to travel. It’s a heck of a lot of work and, at the same time, the corporate world would call it “goofing off”. I work in the mornings, over my lunch hour, and usually late into the night or early morning hours.

I attend an awards evening.
I sit in a friend’s back yard and watch squirrels and listen for garbage trucks.
I watch people arrive at a rodeo.
I empathize with a couple closing the doors on their dreams.
I walk onto a newly developed college on a hot Sunday afternoon that used to be my friend’s backyard.
I learn to Salsa at a Hookah Lounge.
I listen to struggling poets.
I watch a friend perform in his band before flying to Liverpool.

All the while I listen to people’s long string of words on which hand fancy baubles and crystal beads, polished bones and misshapen clay blobs. Then, unexpectedly, a priceless jewel gets strung on. I smile to myself and at those working hard alongside me because my partner has coaxed something amazing out of our patient interview. What have they given us? Not saving blood or money to fund a change in the world; they’ve given us their thoughts and wishes and experiences and impressions, and what else can be as valuable as what makes a person who they are? And, we've captured it to share with you...

Christine

What is a city?

... at moments like this, the city goes soft; it awaits the imprint of an identity. For better or worse, it invites you to remake it, to consolidate it into a shape you can live in. You, too. Decide who you are, and the city will again assume a fixed form round you. Decide what it is, and your own identity will be revealed ... We mould [cities] in our images: they, in their turn, shape us by the resistance they offer when we try to impose our personal form on them....

The city as we imagine it, the soft city of illusion, myth, aspiration, nightmare, is as real, maybe more real, than than the hard city one can locate on maps in statistics, in monographs on urban sociology and demography and architecture.

--From Soft City by Jonathan Raban

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH “HOOKER”

Day Five of “Fresno – The Documentary” was at the May FLYP event. Through an unexpected SNAFU (as they usually come), Brad and Kristy had to move their event at the last minute to Ghaleb’s Grill and Hookah Lounge. Now, with Jaguar present, one might confuse the term and think “hooker”, but no, alas, it was “Hookah”. The smoking kind of “hookah” – picture a harem with its sultan at the center among colorfully, diaphanous clad, petite and beautiful young women on a floor of pillows with their testosterone chief, in gold adorned silks, smoking from a tall, fancy and aromatic hookah.

So, the lounge did not exactly look like that, but now you’ve pictured a hookah. (I really like the word, so I’m going to keep finding ways of putting it in!) It was a large “room” in the middle of a strip mall: absolutely Fresno! Candles and “Harry Potter Goblet of Fire”-like miniatures, with middle eastern artifacts were set about the room, which might have once been a Mexican restaurant. It was dark, very dark, which Jeremy (our DP) did not like. Even though the venue had changed last minute, the turnout was great. Everyone enjoyed the salsa lessons and people were up dancing as long as we were there. When we left, at around 8:30, newcomers were still arriving. (Hint: women tend to outnumber the men.)

Brad and Kristy have managed to create an atmosphere where all ages are welcome, though the younger set seems to be more prominent. Everyone talks to everyone. Everyone dances with everyone. Drinks flow freely as does conversation. It’s a good mixer which welcomes all from the shyest middle-aged office worker to the most outgoing redhead in Fresno (BTW, that wasn’t meant to be me). People admired the hookahs, jello shots and oxygen bar, but tended to stick to more mundane habits – drinking inside in a nightclub setting and smoking cigarettes outside in the parking lot.

On film we’ve caught Jaguar dancing with the other Christine, a couple smoking a hookah, lots of great interviews with Fresno’s diverse culture, the wall of hookah, candlelight, dancing and fun!

See you on Day Six, Friday at the Fresno Filmworks presentation of “La Última Mirada” at 5pm and 8 pm at the Tower Theater!

“FRESNO” PRODUCTION DIARY

Day One - “Fresno” Begins Production!

Entandem’s latest project is “Fresno,” a documentary film that questions whether a city with an ugly reputation can grow to become a major metropolis. Filming on “Fresno” began April 26 at the Fresno Arts Council’s Horizon Awards ceremony, held at the Fresno City Council Chamber. Entandem co-founder Jaguar Bennett tortured nervous award recipients with hard-hitting questions like “State your name for the camera.”

Day Two – On location in the back yard of Jaguar’s glamorous Tower District residence! In a bucolic atmosphere of birdsong and garbage trucks, San Francisco artist Mia Paschal shared with us her views of Fresno’s arts scene—and her opinions will surprise and shock you. (A snippet soon to be up on our web site!)

Day Three was hot! Our soles stuck to the sidewalk – felt just like summer in the Valley. The smell of horses and cattle wafted through the heated, dusty air. The Clovis Rodeo was in full swing as we rustled through parking lots to capture the wonderful characters. Clovis, as a neighbor to Fresno, is an integral part of the city, with an invisible border and even interrelated schools. Also, we visited Jaguar’s former home, now a new giant school complex.

Day Four was spent at Koffeeheads! (See the previous blog.) Jack and Kari Weldon are closing their fabulous and unique chain of local coffee shops after being obliterated by the public’s interest and eager consumption at the Starbuck’s drive-through. This was a fantastic interview with two wonderful, kind and creative people. We will miss you!

We’ll keep you updated on our adventures with pictures and video (up soon, we promise, on our new, soon to be unveiled redesigned web site – www.EntandemProd.com).

Cheerio for now,

Christine

RAISON D’ETRE – Christine’s personal view

Koffeeheads is a locally owned chain in Fresno. They are beautiful coffeeshops with dramatic colors everywhere – on the furniture and on the walls, fun and interesting original art, coffee knick-knacks, fun music and darn good coffee and egg-scrambles-in-a-cup. Who could ask for more?

Well, apparently some of us, as citizens of Fresno, chose to go across the street to the less tasty, out-of-town ownership, homogenized, don’t know which outlet you’re in because they all look and sound the same, Starbucks. As four of us sat having coffee and eggs during our meeting at the Koffeeheads in River Park, the kind owner, Jack Weldow, apologizes profusely for making us move to another table because ours has been sold. Everything must go!

I’m heartbroken. I’m heartbroken for many reasons. Firstly, because this was a “mom and pop” operation: locals who put their money and hearts into a local business for locals, to keep the money locally. Secondly, because it makes it seem as if Fresnans prefer to support a mass produced, soulless chain more than something authentic. Thirdly, it was my favorite hang out; it was where I conducted so many of my meetings that led to this wonderful company called “Entandem Productions”; it was where I introduced others to this fabulous place, and they told their friends… but not enough! Fourth, as a small business owner, former and present, I hate to see small businesses go under, because I believe they’re the future; large, faceless conglomerates will end up owning everything if the small business isn’t allowed to remain.

Now that I’m off my soap box…

This is just one of the many reasons why “Fresno”, the documentary, is being created. It captures life in Fresno as it happens, good or bad, happy or sad, beautiful or hideous. It will make you laugh and cry, anxious, angry, happy and question your reality. In so far as Koffeeheads, we were the lucky ones to have been able to sit inside among the colors and aromas of coffee and tea, or to have sat outside under palm trees or awnings in the morning sun, or at night with our friends and loved ones sharing wonderful conversations.

That is change. It happens whether we like it or not. But, in Fresno, there are incredible people doing amazing things, some of which you might not agree with, and for some, our hearts go out to them, and we’re capturing them on film to share with you.

OCD, Meeting and Film

No one invited him, the scruffy man with the two-day beard and large, black glasses. He finds his seat, his regular seat, no matter how many people have already claimed the aluminum tables at the rear, and begins. He ignores us, dressed in suits, not smelling at all like him or his belongings, and much more flowery than the brewing coffee and baked goods.

He leans to one side to slide his hand into his fatigue jacket pocket and pulls out his prize: a small bottle of hand sanitizer. He shakes three, four, five times close to his ear. Yes, it’s still quite full. He prepares as if for a magic act, stretching out his arms so his sleeves will pull up a little, showing us he has nothing to hide. But it’s more than that. It’s the ritual that will pacify him, but only temporarily.

He holds his head tall, throws back his shoulders, and with one quick movement releases the cap and pours a liberal amount of the transparent gel into his hand. Then, without pause, he briskly applies the gel between the palms of his hands, the insides of his fingers, the back of his hands, and then between, in masterful movements that are smooth and virile like a conductor in front of his symphony during a particularly energetic piece, lyrically allegro and forte.

Then, the final measure: he quickly presses his folded hands against his nose and takes in a deep breath that drowns out the steaming and frothing of milk, and takes in the perfumed alcohol and collapses giddily into his chair.

Now, he can take another bite of his yogurt, but only after stirring it robustly, letting the spoon clank against the white stoneware bowl at least fifteen times before taking the overflowing spoon into his mouth and sighing, “Aaah”, because it is a wonderful tang and he licks his lips to get every droplet of nourishment from it. We ignore his little grunts and his occasional laughter at something none of us heard. We ignore how he opens his banana, so unlike anything we’ve ever seen – from the middle.

He clears his throat when one in our party hits a particularly dry patch in the conversation, sounding just like him. But we never look at him. We ignore his repeated rituals, his joyous play with the two wooden sticks he keeps close by or folds into his hands when doing nothing else but thinking. We ignore his multiple gulps of water after every sip of coffee and his many trips to the trash. We ignore the many times he looks through his old man’s sun glasses, black and wide, and cleans them in his shirt. We ignore the flipping of his hat, releasing the stale air beneath it, and out of our periphery catch how he quickly crushes it back down on his head.

But at the end of the meeting when all rise and say farewell and “thank you for your time”, “it was so nice to meet you”, the man finishes his ninety minute rigid breakfast ritual and clears his throat in a most persistent manner, mumbling his services as well, asking for our card.

It’s Entandem’s meeting with the Fresno Film and Entertainment Commissioner completed and we’ve learned much from a fascinating and elegant man with much experience. Fresno has such a wonderfully enticing future and we can’t wait to delve into it! Thursday we launch our documentary…