2003-2009
All The Way Home – 1hr 44min
I directed three scripted low-budget movies, prior to ‘All The Way Home’. Everyone involved with those productions did great, except for me. I wasn’t the man for the job. I learned the hard way, at the expense of others, that my mind was simply geared for documentary filmmaking. I still hadn’t fully gotten the message when I started working on this project. I had a script in my hand, when I walked into it. Little did I know about the paradigm shift that was about to happen, how I’d be changed as a person, or how I’d find my footing as an artist and storyteller. I thought it would take a month to shoot, and it lasted for 6 years. By the end, I had 2 suitcases full of mini dv cassette tapes, and over 400 hours of footage.
The premise involved a cinematographer that had a casual relationship with a woman, then it became more as they developed feelings for each other. He gets hired to shoot a movie out of state, and has to leave, not knowing that she’s pregnant. She doesn’t know how to tell him, or if she should, fearing his reaction. While he’s gone, she has a miscarriage and decides to move on without him.
I convinced myself to play the lead, but I had no one to play her part. One night I sat alone in a bar. At the table next to me, the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen was having a drink with a friend. I had to try. I approached her, and told her about the project in the most honest and direct way that I could. I asked her if she’d go down that road with me. She stared at me, perplexed by this total stranger that came to her table to give her this offer. She lit a cigarette, looked deep into my eyes, and finally said, ‘Alright. Let’s do it.’
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We weren’t supposed to actually fall in love… We did. And she was married. And I fucked it all up. The lines became so blurred, that the script became useless. We held on to simple plot points to ground ourselves, but the feelings were real. So many nights we confided in one another, baring our souls, and holding each other. Our lives got upended, and I couldn’t let go of my feelings for her. She was put in a position of having to constantly weigh her options and reevaluate her marriage.
When her husband got her pregnant, I knew it was over for us. We put a stop to things, and filming, without having shot any story resolution. The situation had become too overwhelming. We didn’t know what else to do.
Then, she had a very late, catastrophic miscarriage. It destroyed her. And it killed me to see her suffering. She insisted, though, on finishing the project, and sent me a lengthy message on an old handheld recorder, to be used for narration. She poured her heart into it, as therapy. There wasn’t any acting. It’s the final interaction we had.
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After the agony of that relationship, the floodgates opened. I couldn’t hide behind a script anymore. My creativity came fluidly. I began to connect with the world, and understand it, through a camera lens. I started documenting everything happening in the city around me, and the lives of my friends. I got obsessed with finding truth in the smallest of moments. Their excitement and participation made it even more real for me. The final 15 minute sequence in the picture, called ‘Like The Lines In Our Hands’ captured footage from over 250 locations.
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ABOUT THE RESTORATION:
‘All The Way Home’ is the last entry that I took on for the 2025 Restoration Project. This effort went far beyond the work I’d done for the rest of my videography. I’d never accepted the original version from 2009. Too much of it left me unsatisfied. This time I knew I had to get it right, and do something special.
I decided to reinvent it, and start from scratch. I viewed every scene on its own merits. If I didn’t feel it, I either re-edited the sequence or cut it entirely. Then I decided to include 20 minutes of material from a different picture, folding two periods of my life in on itself. After that, I rearranged multiple clips to change the structure of the narrative. Lastly, I shot a brand new final scene that takes place in the present day.