ABOUT | composing-life

ABOUT:

"Composing Life":

is a comedic 'mocumentary' with original music, that explores not only the joy, but also the heartbreak, of being an artist in this day and age.

In this comedy, Marin and her friends, a group of thirty-something artists, fight for their dreams of fulfillment, no matter the cost. No victory, however small, is overlooked, as no wine remains uncorked. Their stories are documented by a brazen Scottish woman and her Russian cameraman, all traveling down the same bumpy road.

WRITER/DIRECTOR STATEMENT:

“Composing Life” began one very early morning on the LIRR, the train that took me from Manhattan, the place I desperately wanted to be, back to Long Island, the place where I was born, raised and still lived. Somewhere between Penn Station and New Hyde Park, the clock struck 12:00 and it was my birthday. Another year. I couldn’t believe this was still my life, and I began to weep. I took out my pen and notebook, and began this monologue of disappointment, of desire, of pain with maybe still a glimmer of hope. That monologue didn’t make the final script, but it sparked this idea and these characters; people just like me who had dreams, who’ve gotten lost, been knocked down, but sill they get up because they have to. Not because they want to, but because it’s in their soul. The dreams that are not about fame or fortune, though neither one of those would be rejected it they showed up, but rather about sharing a piece of themselves with others, communicating a vision to another soul, reminding someone they are not alone, and if someone laughed along the way, even better.

That being said, I know that road isn’t for everyone. And those who have taken the ‘safer’ route with their lives don’t always understand why someone would continue to, for lack of a better word, torture themselves by following a dream. Maybe their life isn’t perfect on the side of the road most taken, but it’s comfortable, it’s normal, it’s safe. But for those dreamers who continue the fight, they can’t seem to give it up. Because once it’s gotten into their blood, to give it up it seems like a rejection of all they believe in. I’m one of those lunatics who just can’t seem to let it go. And I think more people need to keep fighting for their dreams, whether it’s to become a writer, or a brain surgeon, or the first female Ranger. I want this story to inspire someone, anyone, to not give up. I want the dreamers to recognize they are not alone. That yes, following your dream may never be easy, but it will most certainly be worth it.

I don’t know that my career is much more ‘successful’ than it was at that moment on the train when this story was born, but my life has grown in exponential ways because of it; because I continue to fight for my dreams. It’s not about the destination anyway. Sarah Ban Breathnach may have said it best, “The world needs dreamers, and the world needs doers. But above all the world needs dreamers who do”. This is my ‘do’ing. It’s the composition my own life!