View the archive of my 90-minute class with Richard Peña and discover the Five Things I’ve Learned about the personal and professional craft of moviemaking.

I was just lucky enough to grow up in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  Perhaps that sounds strange to some—lucky, in that moment?  Yes, I know, the city was grimy and scary and, at times, seemed on the verge of complete breakdown. Yet it was also bracingly alive, and in the midst of chaos, I encountered all walks of life, everywhere.  All kinds of art and music, everywhere.  All manner of behavior, all the time.  My senses were overwhelmed. 

I also saw a ton of movies.

And I’m happy to say that I saw them the right way: on film, and in a theater.  Under such circumstances, how could one not fall in love with the medium? I was exposed to beautiful and expressive and personal works of cinema at a preposterously early age, and I learned to expect that the movies could, and should, aspire to be art. In the event, I never considered films an escape.  To the contrary, they expressed emotions I could understand, and they made me feel less alone.

I am about to make my eighth feature film, and I’m significantly less certain of things than I was when I made my first.  No doubt it’s a cliché to say such a thing; but the longer I’ve worked at filmmaking, the less I know.  My efforts these days are not focused on achieving some kind of  “wisdom” or “expertise.” Now, I find myself merely trying to develop craft.  Craft is a creative person’s path toward the ultimate goal—a simple expression of intimate beauty, executed with clarity and emotion. Time and fashion always have the final say; but history and myth begin in the microcosm of this kind of personal space. 

I don’t really know all that much about other films, that’s for sure.  No matter how many I watch—and I do watch plenty!—there seems a vast ocean out there of work still waiting for me.  I am always learning.  Today is both exciting and fraught: so many people display astonishing levels of visual literacy, yet tools like the internet have both sharpened and muddied our mission.  Navigation and curation are profound challenges.

I suppose that Richard Peña and I will talk about cinema, in the guise of five topics.  But really, this means talking about virtually everything.  A movie exists in a world of culture, history, dreams.  The field is necessarily wide open.  And I am happy to talk about any and all of it.  I don’t have the answers.  I’m not even sure I know any of the right questions.  But a dialog is always a place to start.  Let’s go!