I had the honour of watching the final product of Saltwater for the first time, and I can’t quite explain the range of emotions. This was a pandemic project, and the 2.5 years that it lived with me feels like its own little eternity. In addition to this being the first short film I’ve written, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about anything I’ve ever created.
While I recognize my bias completely, I mean it in an entirely different way when I say that this film is beautiful. What’s remarkable about this statement is that I would never consciously say that about my own work. However, I can wholeheartedly say this now because it’s no longer just a product of my efforts, but of those of an entire community of truly amazing people.
In truth, I feel I’ve only played a small part in this. I have nothing to go on other than the fact that people far smarter and far more talented than me recognized that this was a story worth telling, and so they did everything in their power to bring it to life. This is a product of community, of conviction, of passion, and a love for culture and people and the stories that live among us.
I’m not sure how this will be received. Am I scared? Of course. I simultaneously wonder if it’s too simple on its surface or whether it’s so multilayered that the audience may miss things altogether. Perhaps I’m too close to really gauge any of this from a realistic standpoint. But I’m so proud of what this team has accomplished, and they should be too.
How do I feel? Truthfully, it’s a mix between happy, confused, and empty. I’m bewildered by the fact that this exists, that it’s real. More specifically, I feel emptied suddenly. Emptied of this thing that I’ve been carrying with me for nearly 3 years and realizing that it no longer needs me.
It’s strange to admit that it’s no longer just mine anymore and it’s ready for the world. It doesn’t need me to nurture it, revisit, revise, or edit it in any way. It has its own identity now. It lives and breathes on its own from this point forward. Perhaps that’s what scares me most, that it exists with or without me or any of us.
Thank you to all the incredible people who made this a reality. I don’t have sufficient words to express how eternally grateful I am.
We just made art.
Next: film festivals.