I went to this screening the other night, and it was the (hi)story of a young man, and later, accomplished sound designer, who grew up in the Bronx. Or maybe Brooklyn. Queens? Anyway, his childhood was, in some words, a kind of incessant trial by fire. It was like “Kids” on a new crack. Rough and unsettling, but profound in its meditations on growing up on the rougher side of the street, and what gentility and graceful intelligence might be found. Or not. The screening tickets were sent to me by an old friend, Martin Pazzani, the CEO of Elias Arts. I knew him at Heublein; then Bally’s. He does that, climbs big rocks and bags ’em. Anyway, after the screening, I spoke to Dito (Montiel), the kid, the journal writer, the book author, and finally, film maker. That’s the string.
The film — A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. Here’s the trailer, for a sense of it.
I asked him how he left, then how he went to California, to leave it all — then found sound design. And he said, “you know, sound is e v e r y t h i n g!”
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I came out of a meeting. And I was tired — I felt like all I was doing was pitching. I was walking yesterday, and listening to sound, and I was thinking about my heart, and the beating of it. And the sound of my breath. And I realized that there’s that rhythm that you forget about. There’s the pounding city, hitting so hard, and then; you breathe in, you breathe out. And you keep going…(and yes, I know you Tibetan Buddhists and friends of Rinpoche saying “then you stop, the last breath, and it is done” I did that poster for Sogyal, so I know!) Anyway, Martin’s group ()did this,
too — and it reminded me of sound, Dito’s sound — his lifesong, and it reminded me of what we all do, and what can be important, in the rhythm forgotten.
Breathe easy. Listen good.
Tim Girvin | NYC