Successful First Screening! Albuquerque, NM

June 29, 2005

Last night was the first public screening of Why Get Married? I feel energized. The audience laughed in places I hadn't imagined would be funny yet it was great to hear. I guess you just can't always tell while you're editing what others will find funny. The Guild theatre in downtown Albuquerque seats 140 and it felt packed. A large audience changes how a film feels when viewing it. It was great.

I was nervous beforehand. I wasn't sure I was even going to attend. Although I am now used to seeing myself on the screen and sharing some of my marriage story, it still exposes one to public opinion. To people who don't know you, don't have to care about your story or how you feel, that is a personal risk.

But it seemed to me that the theme of Why Get Married? is universal, and no matter how I touched on this subject it also allows the viewers to connect with their own story, issues or concerns around marriage. And that is all I have wanted all along... for people to begin asking themselves Why Get Married? no matter the answer. Ruminate on the question to find your own answer.

I was warmed as I sat at the back of the dark theatre and heard people chuckle, and also the quiet of their listening. And the clapping. And the energy.

I am always touched when those interviewed in-front-of-the camera come to watch it again and bring their friends. That seems the biggest tribute of all really. As a documentarian it is important that I tell a story as true as I know how, and that I have been worthy of the trust bestowed on me. I don't see my point of view or my perspective as being THE only or the right one but I come to my own point of view when others share theirs with me. So my films will always be about that I imagine... listening to multiple points of views as I figure out my own.

Even though we finished the documentary in January and have been submitting it to film festivals in Canada and the USA, last night felt like the real "birth" of the documentary for me. Or maybe the public recognition that the baby is alive, well and ready to walk.