Skip to main content6:30pm, Chelsea Cinema. Manhattan. New York.
INT. MOVIE THEATER. NIGHT.
Our group fills an entire row of theater seats. In the row behind us sits actress Oliva Wilde, in front of us, two seats over, sits Lou Reed. The film is about to begin. Our film. It's up first. As we wait, on the giant movie screen is projected: Tribeca Film Festival.
FLASHBACK TO:
EXT. COFFEE SHOP. DAY
April, 2009: a rainy afternoon in Portland, over coffee at Floyd's, I proposed an idea to my friend Nell: Take some thrift store super-8 cameras, some Kodak film, some beers, and round up a group of willing folks to jump in a mountain river naked. I don't know how other movie ideas start, but that's how this one did.
FAST FORWARD, TWO YEARS:
EXT. SUBWAY STATION. DAY
The F train from Brooklyn to Lower East Side. Rush and
clatter of subway, silver streak of metal with squeal of breaks and lug to a
stop, people pour out, people pack on. Doors close. Lurch again.
CUT TO:
INT. SOHO BOUTIQUE. DAY.
Equipped with a fancy Canon 7d on loan from Pro Photo Supply, I shoot Kate and Audrey at Aritzia as they try on outfits for the premiere, a la Pretty Woman. Aritzia has offered to sponsor sassy outfits for both Audrey and Kate. Nice.
CUT TO:
INT. PIZZARIA. DAY
Pizza lunch at Rays. It is supposedly the actual true real
deal Rays, at 27
Prince St. There are nearly 50 other pizzerias in Manhatan with some variation
on the name: Original Ray's, Ray's Original, Ray's Famous. Does it
matter? It's pizza in New York. Forget about it.
CUT TO:
INT. CAB. EVENING.
We are all dressed up, piled into a cab that swerves and honks amidst a sea of other taxis mid-town, also swerving and honking.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET. EVENING.
Sidewalk in front of Chelsea Cinema. A line has queued for
rush tickets. The advance tickets had sold out in 10 minutes when they went up
for sale two weeks prior.
Bethany is just off the plane from Portland, Adam just off
bus from Providence where he's going to grad school since moving from Portland,
Nell's mom off train from DC. Anna and Quincy have arrived from Brooklyn, where
they now live. Audrey, too. Suddenly we are surrounded by current and former Portlanders.
It is a reunion. For Adam, it is the first time seeing himself in the film.
After hugs and photos, we enter theater.
PAN TO:
INT. MOVIE THEATER. NIGHT.
Summer Snapshot team walks into theater, flash festival
passes. Take a row in the "reserved" section at the front of the theater. Look
around, disbelief. We're here. Actually here.
I can pretend I am not one of the tourists in Times Square with the "I heart NY" t-shirts, snapping photos of Hard Rock Café, and riding in double-decker tourist buses. I can pretend that somehow the filmmaker badge gives me some sort of "cred," but it doesn't. I don't know about the others, but feel like a small town kid in the "big city." I am as awed by the giant screen in front of me that says "Tribeca Film Festival," as any tourist on the deck of the Empire State, taking in the vista of Manhattan for the very first time.
The pulse of New York goes on, completely oblivious to our 10
minutes on the screen. But for those 10 minutes, we are all together, sharing
something we made together, when we all lived in Portland. It feels surreal, giddy, and anxious,
overwhelming, and humbling. Like watching a movie.
FADE TO BLACK
WWeek 2015