"We Are Croissan'wich" at the East Lansing Film Festival
So. Moeka and I are flying back from our second festival. It was such a satisfying experience. The festival director, Susan Woods, and the programming director, Nayana Sen, treated us like royalty. The audiences were engaged and enthusiastic. And we met some insanely talented filmmakers and got to compare notes with them.
The whole thing was a head trip for me personally because I’ve been to so many festivals thinking, I wish I could make a film. Which quickly devolves to: what is wrong with me that I can’t make a film? At some point a couple years ago, a new thought started taking hold: maybe nothing at all was wrong with me. And as that thought increasingly came up, a film kind of naturally came about.
So now to be in East Lansing, my hometown, where my work is seen and even celebrated—it’s just such a reversal of events. I don’t want to seem like an ego-maniac, but of course it feels great to be recognized. It was this moment of, “I did it.”
That quickly brings up another thought: You better think of your next film now and it better be good. But I’m going to try and put that aside for a day or two and just enjoy this.
