I’m working on the synopsis for Cultural Capital: Finding Art in Dubai and instead of thinking of words, I keep seeing images. The film will have hybrid live-action and animation. The animations/drawings comment on and interplay with the live-action, reinforcing the interconnection of art and life. Drawing and etching on film is of course the concept, but it takes a technocuddly-turn when the “film” is HD and the drawing is done on a graphic tablet.

Len Lye is an inspiration with his A Colour Box, made in 1935 by painting directly on film. And Norman McLaren’s Boogie Doodle has just a few simple shapes and it’s just riveting.

McLaren even plays with an optical printer in the 70’s to trippy effect. The thing that strikes me the most about these films is the way the music has such a big part in the film. For my documentary, I think we’re close to getting someone amazing to do the soundtrack; I used to watch him on stage but later realized he’s a close friend of someone very dear to me. The other thing that makes me think is how wonderful that most of these films were funded by the National Film Board of Canada. It makes me depressed that there’s really nothing like it in the US, but filmmakers have gotten smarter about other ways to fund a film.