Really Looking, Meditation, and Other Naturally Curious Updates...

“Because you are alive, everything is possible.” 

-Thích Nhất Hạnh

I’m listening to some gypsy jazz music. This stuff if truly the cats pajamas. And I’m drinking my current addiction-of-the-week: The Diablo. It’s an Americano with steamed half & half, salt, honey, cinnamon & cayenne. I have had one every day for the past week- yes, this is day numero 5.

Really Looking

A screenshot from Really Looking- in the coffee shop set we built!

Crazy opening crane shot...
so much motion-tracking...

I just sent off the most recent cut of my film Really Looking to my composer Nicolas Martin. This is one of my favorite steps in the filmmaking process. I absolutely cannot wait to see what he comes up with. My goal is to have the film finalized by January 1st. So many months of prep and and now we’re in the final weeks. Crazy.

The shoot went quite well! We had four shooting days. In three days time I designed and built a whole coffee shop. We shot all the scenes in it on a Friday- then that night we took it all apart. Then we built the “surreal installation room” set that night / the next morning. On Saturday we shot in that set. Then the next day we took down that set and built the final “exterior surreal installation room” set. Conclusively: 3 sets were built quicker than I had imagined to be possible. Also conclusively: I LOVE production design and shall pursue it full throttle! I plan on creating some ultra-whimsical, ultra-magical & ultra-strange sets in my lifetime. Isn’t it just so cool to know that we can truly build the worlds of our dreams in reality? We can!

Me (Kira Bursky) talking to cinematographer, Brad Hoover,
in the Surreal Installation Room set!

I was full of so much love and appreciation for my cast & crew. My lead actress, Ioanna, flew in from NYC. She was so lovely and immediately felt like a long lost sister. She brought such a warmth to set. My other lead, Ben, is a dear friend of mine. He is charismatic and always brings a smile to your face with his quick-witted puns and his deep thoughts about life. My crew… ahhhh. I love each and every one of them. Brad, my cinematographer… my goodness, I’m the luckiest gal to be able to work with him! He was my first film teacher about 6 years ago, and now he is my collaborator. He really understands me and my vision. The Monday after we wrapped Ioanna and I had a few hours to adventure around Asheville before she flew back to NYC. Believe me when I say this: we spent almost the full time (probably around 5 or 6 hours) sharing our thoughts of appreciation and gratitude about every single individual who was a part of the production- including the extras! So much love. Gosh I love love.

Post-production has been… eye-opening! I have many green screen shots in the film. This is my first time working with SO much SFX. It was daunting at first… but after diving right into it I discovered that motion tracking & creating worlds within my computer is not all that difficult… it just takes a lot of render time. Ha.

For full behind the scenes pictures, check out the All Around Artsy Facebook page!

Big Little Filmmaker

There are too many things I want to pursue… too many projects that I can’t wait to jump right into. Upon reflection, this is my normal way of being: constantly drowning in inspiration. Big Little Filmmaker is one of the big projects. I launched the site a month or so ago. One week into it’s launch, about 25 registered members in, the site was infiltrated and attacked by hackers. Oh the joys of learning the hard way. We had to take the social media aspect of it down, and the site is currently under-going a revamp so that it is strong and muscly against confused hackers! In the meantime I’ll be posting more interviews & articles (the main site is still up). If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, here’s the website: www.biglittlefilmmaker.com

Thich Nhat Hanh & Meditation

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.” 

-Thích Nhất Hạnh

Me on the first shooting day of Really Looking. This is my home. The Blue Ridge Parkway is so peaceful.

I kept reading these inspiring quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh (you should look him up- he’s marvelous)… so then I decided it’s time I read his books! I’ve been reading “How to Love,” “How to Relax,” and “Peace is Every Step.” I highly recommend any / all of them if you want to live a more fulfilling, present life. I already feel differences in the way I am perceiving things. I, like many, constantly get caught up in projected fears & anxieties of the future, or replaying scenes of my past… but I don’t want to live the rest of my life that way. I simply can’t allow that. I want to embrace the only thing that is real: right now. So last night I went to my first group meditation. It was so wonderful. Difficult at moments (when my brain started drifting into Kira-La-La-Land…), but wonderful overall. I have a lot to learn. We had tea, cookies, and a nice discussion afterwards.

Friends Visiting Me!

Screenshot from Adulthood~ Abbey Sacks and I in a trance!

Guess what! I have friends visiting me! In a little over a week my mind-blowingly fantastic friend Katie Larson is visiting me for a few days! She is a talented musician / songwriter and her band, The Accidentals, is MAGIC. Every time I hear about The Accidentals, I find out that they are blowing up even more. Katie Larson and her band The Accidentals are ones to watch. Trust me. Anything is possible with her. She’s such a lovely person and on top of that she has explosive talent. Look up her music! Anyways, I miss her. I briefly saw her for like 45 minutes in May…. but aside from that, I haven’t seen her since 1 year before this past May! It’s about time we see each other again!

And then a week after that: my bestie, collaborator, and the-spontaneous-art-maker-extraordinaire, Abbey Sacks comes to visit me! Naturally we will be adventuring into the moment, making art as much as we breathe, and having two-person dance parties every morning/night. Nick Ramey (a SUPER DUPER talented cinematographer and lovely guy!) will be coming to visit us and DP a film that Abbey and I will be co-directing! Collaborations… ahhhh. Love it. I feel so lucky to be spending the first day of the new year with my best friend. I will never be able to fully express how grateful I am to have her in my life. You should look up her film work. It’s prolific, experimental, and meaningful.

Screenshot of Abbey and I blind-folded in our film Adulthood.

Reviewing the crazy shot...

I was about to post this blog post... but then I realized: I haven't talked about Adulthood! Abbey and I co-directed for the Seattle Horror 48 Hour Film Project. Our film Adulthood won Best in City, Best Directing, Best Actor (Dan Crisafulli), Best Writing, Best Sound Design, and Audience Favorite!  It was my goal to keep on competing in the 48 Hour until a film of mine won Best in the City... and it happened! We will be screened at the Filmapalooza in March, I believe. It's taking place in Atlanta this year, so I should be there! ...But don't think this means I am done making 48 Hour films... I'm addicted! There's no stopping me!









In Conclusion…

…I have many more things to say, but I’ll leave those other topics, thoughts, and projects for when we talk in person. Up next: working on my actual website, planning potential photoshoots, editing some articles for Big Little Filmmaker… and much more. LIFE!

Lots of love,
Kira