How long have you been doing movies? How did you decide to start making movies?

I’ve been making films of various types and lengths for over fifty years. Almost all of my works are documentary or personal essay type films with a focus on travel, nature, and philosophy. My first effort was in 1975, titled “Swiss Trails–An Alpine Adventure,” which chronicled my personal climb of the iconic mountain, the Matterhorn, in the Swiss Alps. In those days, there were no small handheld video cameras like we have today. I took 35mm still photographs of that trip and climb, and blended them into a montage with narration and music. I created an award-winning hour-long program that ran on local television and was shown “live” as a slide show with produced soundtrack to many groups and individuals in the 1970s and beyond.

 

In more recent years, I have made many video based films, including ones on the impressive desert landscapes of Big Bend National Park in Texas, the beauty of Hawaii, the waterfalls of Costa Rica, the Mayan ruins of Belize and Guatamala, a tour of England and Scotland, and of the tribes and shamanic visionary plant medicines of the Amazon Jungle with which I have personally worked for some twenty years.

 

Why did you do this project?

My current and first feature-length documentary film, “A Circle in the Desert,” started with a reflection about my relationship to the amazing landscapes of southeastern Utah, a marvelous and grand desert landscape I consider to be my “spirit land” where I have returned for over fifty years to contemplate and photograph its impressive red rock canyons and magnificent natural stone arches.

 

As I sat, meditating, in a stone valley surrounded by thousands of stone goblin figures, I decided I needed to make a film about my relationship to this special landscape. I realized I already had a rough outline of the yet unmade film based on an old website I had created some twenty years earlier. That site was called “A Circle in the Desert” and was centered on my very real experience of creating a medicine circle to sit within and then asking the universe for a Vision. It was the story of my personal Vision Quest! This was all I needed to begin a formal script, pulling from more of my own written resources going back many decades.

 

My film became an analysis of and tribute to my literally life-long relationship with this grand and mysterious landscape. The shamanic aspects of the film also reflect my deep interests and adventurous pursuits of knowledge and spiritual experiences later in life that have taken me three times to the Amazon jungle and other wondrous places.

My intention, then, was to sing this song. Relate this story. Speak these poems. Take others with me on this journey and, perhaps, inspire or teach or show an open doorway that might otherwise remain unseen. If nothing else, I hoped to inspire people with that incredible and fragile landscape of the high desert with all its amazing natural formations and its senses of vast space and infinite time.

 

(If you can say). How much budget did you have to do this project?

“A Circle in the Desert” is a deeply personal film, made entirely by myself. I did not plan any particular budget for the film, knowing that I could and would simply make it as I went along, shooting on location as needed and employing my personal resources within my own existing professional broadcast editing and post-production studio. I also knew I could provide the narration and original music, as I am a professional voice talent and an award-winning film composer.

 

I actually do not know the exact costs I invested in this film, but I would estimate it as between 5 and 10 thousand dollars. One of the major external purchases I made for this particular film was for a high-end cinematic camera drone that cost over $2,000.

 

I drove over 7,000 miles in two dedicated cinematography trips in 2021 and 2022 for a total of seven weeks on-location shooting in Utah.

 

Was it self-funded or did you get budget/producers/investors?

“A Circle in the Desert” was entirely self-funded.

 

How long did it take from the initial idea to being able to release?

The initial idea was conceived in the fall of 2020, followed by the scriptwriting. The film production began in the fall of 2021, and the film was completed and premiered in July, 2022, so the entire length was nearly two years. This includes the location shoots, editing and post-production, and also includes ten months composing the music for full orchestra. I use virtual orchestra software and work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, violinist Joshua Bell, and the Eric Whitacre Choir.

 

Are you happy with the result?

I was and remain delighted with the finished film. I understood that it would be a “niche” film and may not ever become popular or win awards. I entered it into the international film festival circuit for over one year and I was unprepared for the response! My film has won 41 different awards from festivals in cities all around the globe. These commendations include Best Documentary, Best Inspirational Film, Best Nature Film, and awards for scriptwriting and editing. I am especially gratified with nine awards for Best Cinematography and eight awards for Best Original Score.

 

When I launched the film openly on YouTube in April of 2023, it immediately began gaining views and now stands at over 24,000. I am constantly seeking ways to introduce it to larger and wider audiences.

 

What phase is this project in right now? Are you in the initial phase of sending it to festivals, middle phase or finishing the circuit?

The film has basically finished a year-long tour through the film festival circuit, although I continue to enter it into select festivals that I think may be receptive to it.

 

How has your experience been with the festivals so far? Where do you think they should improve?

My festival experiences have been generally good and the level of my achievement within them has far exceeded my expectations. I have not actually been offered any further help with distribution opportunities or other marketing services from any of the over 50 festivals I have entered. The awards themselves are enough to satisfy me, but I still look hopefully for that one festival or person who truly understands and believes in the special film I’ve made and finds it worthy of further specific involvement.

 

Normally, filmmakers use many references, favorite directors, favorite movies, etc. Were you inspired by any director or film? If so, tell us your references.

Although I have many general influences, my films are very much my own take on life, nature, spirit, and philosophy, and they flow naturally from that wellspring. I’m not sure I could identify a specific inspiration, but generally, many other nature documentaries and storytelling personal travel essayists, do echo in my background. My films, indeed, tend to be “personal essays” and therefore are very unique to me.

 

Your favorite movie?

An impossible question to answer. I have an affinity for science fiction and do appreciate director Denis Villenueve, especially his movie, “Arrival.”

 

Favorite series?

I do not tend to watch serial television, but I do appreciate challenging documentary series like that of my friend, Graham Hancock, with his latest production called “Ancient Apocalypse.”

 

Do you see yourself making movies in 5 years? Where do you see yourself?

I am 69 years old and I am now semi-retired from broadcasting, living in southern New Mexico where I have much easier and direct access to amazing and inspiring landscapes for continued filmmaking in the style I have been doing, so yes, I intend to continue and have made several short films here already.

 

Do you have any other project in mind?

I am currently working with footage I just acquired over three weeks travel in Peru, both in the Amazon Jungle and in the high Andes.

 

What do you ask for the future? (cinematographically speaking)

I only hope to continue to have the passion and energy for making beautiful and thought-provoking films and to continue to compose music for film and for its own sake. My life motto is “Learn and Create.” I intend to follow that “path with heart” for myself.

 

Your best experience in a movie theater?

In December of 1984, I saw the second premiere of the original David Lynch version of Dune after it had showed at the Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood. This premiere was at a new theater in Austin, Texas, outfitted with the then brand-new THX sound system, becoming one of the first fully-certified THX theaters. The house was completely packed for the Dune premiere, and when the now-iconic and famous THX “Deep Note” trailer came on and reached its bone-shaking climactic note, the entire audience rose instinctually to its feet and, with hands in the air, yelled in chorus their excitement and approval! Regardless of the eventual fate of that film, that was a moment I’ll never forget.