Today, our distributor put out the final trailer for the digital release of The Secret Art of Human Flight, and I’ll post it at the end of this piece. I’m thankful to everyone for supporting me during what is always the most important time for me: The release of another movie. Other folks have children; I have these films. It’s what I do. It’s all I want to talk about. It’s my passion, my insecurity and my pride. Even though it’s the first film I directed that I didn’t write, I poured myself into it and I’m proud that friends and journalists can tell.
“𝐄𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐚’𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠”
- 𝐎𝐥𝐠𝐚 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐲𝐞𝐯𝐚, 𝑺𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑨𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒚
"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 (𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 (𝐇.𝐏. 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐚'𝐬) 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡."
-𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐌𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝑩𝒂𝒚 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑵𝒆𝒘𝒔
"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐳𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝."
- 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐞, 𝑽𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚
In 2021, we lost Keiko, Gerry and Saville before I said ‘yes’ to this project and then the day before we started shooting, my father died. I entered this weird state of heightened empathy which was good for the movie and a warm, positive experience for the cast and crew who had also experienced loss (remember, this was during COVID Delta) but back in the real world it pushed a lot of people away. Friends and family didn’t know how to talk to me. Despite my warm and cheery disposition, I became “the death guy”.
And then Leah, the very friend who helped me through a lot of that death, passed away this April. Before she left us, she contributed her voice to the final song of the film as she was preparing to “let go”. (Coincidentally, tomorrow is the day we spread her ashes in the bay.) So when movie critics say I bring “emotional sincerity” or that I have a “deep understanding” of grief, I look at the programs for the two celebrations of life I hosted (Saville’s and Leah’s) and I say, “yeah that tracks.”
Three years of hard work and it all comes down to this. The release. Our baby is out of the house and out of our control and will occasionally come back to do laundry. I hope you enjoy the film. And if you do, please share and spread the word. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to tend to one of my other children that’s about to celebrate a birthday. :)
Love,
H.P.
“The Death Guy”
