St. Mikulas, I Owe It All To You

Okay, I'm running around the world so this is kind of like when they tape the late night show early...I wrote this a few weeks ago for the time when you want something new and I just don't have the energy to write it. Happy New Year!

I was little bit worried about this holiday season. For the last week now, wooden stalls put up all over Prague have been selling delicious holiday treats. I had no idea how much I love holiday treats until I have the option of drinking mulled wine on every street corner of the city. There are these things called Trdlo (no spelling error there) Trdlo is like if you were to roast cookie dough over a fire until it is lightly toasted and then roll it in cinnamon sugar. It might be the most delicious thing in the world. But these aren’t the only Prague stall temptations. There are people roasting hunks of meat all over the city. Now, for those who don’t know, I’m not a huge red meat carnivore. HOWEVER, these meat spits have been calling to me every day since they rolled up their wooden doors. The other night I finally succumbed to my first sausage…only to burn the roof of my mouth. It blistered immediately. And that was why I was worried about the holiday season. Bad omen blister.

However, I believe the blister was nullified by the amazing St. Mikulas party that occurred at FAMU. I was told days before that I absolutely could not miss this party. School tradition! Well, so far these school traditions are pretty interesting, so sure. I have been to numerous school hosted events throughout my life but I don’t think any of them topped this one. The party started at 8 pm with a potluck in our respective departments. THEN, when everyone was properly lubricated they started wandering the halls to different departments. There was a karaoke machine on the second floor, a DJ on the third, screenings on the first, and in each corner of the school there were kegs, bottles of wine and food. People look forward to getting trashed at this party every year and I must say this year was quite successful. I have never danced until 4 a.m. at my place of learning. The school got wrecked! At one point I took my heels off and the entire floor was sticky with beer and who knows what else. I put them back on. Mind you this is usually the “computer area.” I went home around four with some serious reprimands from my still partying professors. It took some negotiating getting through the building as the entire four floors were packed with people- students talking in the classrooms, smoking on the stairs, dancing in the corridors, making out in dark corners. The party went on until 7:30 a.m. The title of this post refers to a moment on the dance floor when “I’ve had the time of my Life” was played. A Dirty Dancing moment that I don’t think would fly at any other film school. But indeed I happily danced and sang along with all of my respected colleagues. I can’t say more about the evening, what happens at St. Mikulas party stays at St. Mikulas party.

"Native" Americans

...a thanksgiving post on Christmas Eve...

I shot my semester film project over Thanksgiving weekend this year. Since no one celebrates here it didn’t occur to me when I scheduled that date. I must say though, when Thanksgiving did arrive I was crushed to be in stressful pre-production and not sitting around with all of my very much missed friends eating good food and playing celebrity. SO, I got proactive. I went to the specialty grocery store in town and pre-ordered a Turkey (not really eaten here) to be delivered a week later. The date kept getting pushed back due to finals so at last we celebrated this Sunday.
It took forever to find all the food we needed…and we NEEDED it! No one would rest until we found everything to make Thanksgiving truly Thanksgiving. I think we went to five grocery stores.
Even 5 years ago the food selection was pretty bleak in Prague, but now things are pretty accessible so I couldn’t figure out why we were having such trouble. Then it occurred to me. What’s special about Thanksgiving? The Native Americans were showing the newly arrived Europeans the foods that they DIDN’T have in Europe and would now need to make it through the winter. Foods like cranberry sauce and gravy.

So, like our ancestors we foraged through store after store for our big meal. Our final shopping trip occurred the day of “Praha Thanksgiving 08” with me running through the aisles of Tesco until I reached K. “I found sweet potatoes!!!” “They have sweet potatoes?!?! Show me!” “This way! Come! Quick!” And we gazed upon sweet potatoes with the amazement our ancestors must of felt upon seeing this delicious thing come out of the ground. However, a few hundred years later and my part switched. Now WE are the Native Americans once again bringing new foods to the Europeans...well, Eastern Europeans-in this case a Montenegrin, Bulgarian, Czech, and Turk. It went over pretty well. They loved Thanksgiving. We skipped “celebrity” cause I don’t really know any Eastern European celebrities but we did all hang out in front of the TV and watched a movie. Just doing my part to show Europe our American culture.

I need a title!

Making films is really hard. Like, really hard. Just when I think I have a handle on this whole process I get kicked in the teeth. I realize that I have just set up a drama for you that really isn’t going to unfold in this blog entry. Filming went pretty well overall…

Considering

1) The ENTIRE story takes place outside in a park (which sounded like a GENIUS idea in September…) This meant a 2 day shoot in 30 degree weather.

2) Everyone in the film was under 17. Directing kids is fun (sarcasm)…directing kids in 35 degree weather…I don’t think I need to paint that picture for you.

3) NONE of my actors spoke English. They nodded like they understood English, but when it came down to actual communication translation was involved. This meant that the cinematographer, first AD, production manager and sometimes the sound crew were translating and if anyone remembers the game of telephone…it’s not really the most effective way to direct for film. I worked on my directing technique all semester for naught.

The film doesn’t have a title yet…I’m looking for suggestions. Here is a mini explanation that I had translated into Czech for the cast and crew. (hence the simplified sentences)

Martina (13) is a lonely girl who needs a friend. She likes to hang out in the Letna skate park and draw murals on the ground with chalk. One day a new boy, Lukas (14), comes to the park. Martina sees that Lukas has trouble making friends too. Lukas is deaf and attempts to connect with people through his ability to skateboard. Between Lukas’s deafness and her shyness Martina cannot figure out how they will connect. After a series of awkward tries, finally she realizes that she can use her chalk to communicate with him. They both find a friend that day in the skate park.

All this happens in a 6-minute film…well, hopefully it will be six minutes. I’ll let you know how that turns out…stills from the shoot coming soon!

Here are suggestions for titles so far:

Smiley Face (cause Lukas draws one on the ground)
Chalk (Krida-in Czech)
Letna Park
Girl Meets Boy

Dear National Geographic

Dear National Geographic TV,
Your television station is the only English-speaking station that came with the cable package which magically appeared in my apartment. This means that it is extra disappointing to me when you have documentaries on the history of large rubber tires. My choice is either Australian teeny-bopper soaps dubbed in Czech or rubber tire documentaries. Please do better in future. People depend on you. Yours forever, Lena

PS. I did enjoy the survey of ghost-ships around the world...