We haven't gone to many film festivals lately, but there was a smallish one about 90 minutes north of us that showed our film, so I went up there on a Friday night to be "film co-director in attendance for Question and Answer session after the screening." There was a crowd of 20 or so who asked thoughtful and engaging questions afterwards.
But during the film, I felt myself growing anxious --- I knew how it would end, which you would think would remove anxiety. But the problem was that I knew the film would end in, essentially, the spring of 2008. A lot has happened since then! We have a new president, a new attitude towards science, and, especially, a roller-coaster ride of developments in the search for the Higgs boson. I was frustrated on one hand, but knew that we had a very precipitous sense of timing about when The Atom Smashers was released. I just found myself in the audience wishing that we were working on a sequel! But that would amount to diving full-time back into filmmaking mode, without a definite plan... something we're not really prepared to do.
However, I'm strongly considering doing a "post-script" of some kind. Getting the camera back out, maybe doing just 2 or 3 interviews and finding a couple of news clips (i.e. President Obama saying he will restore science to its rightful place in government). Not sure what we would do with this, except perhaps ship it along with the DVD. Or, perhaps make it available for downloading online, and include instructions on how to do that with each purchase... hmmm... lots of possibilities...
All I know is that I sat in the audience and sent Monica a text message that read "we DEFINITELY have to follow up --- we've spent too much time and energy on this story not to document the final chapters!"
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5 comments:
Sequel! Sequel! You're bringing such awareness to a topic that usually remains buried in fancy journal articles. You're part of something larger than your film now. It's a huge story. Somebody has to keep telling us what's happening. If you don't, who will? And will you like how they tell it?
Thanks, Kooky!
You're welcome. :)
Sequels are one thing, but there will probably never be a final chapter, Jeff. Minds inquisitive about science won't allow it.
Tick is on the horizon.
I fear you have doomed yourself to experiences like this by choosing to make a documentary about science. There will always be more to say. As the story continues, you will always feel an itch to add something to what you've already filmed.
If you want to avoid this, you could try switching to history. (But historians often get the itch to return and tell more of the story, too!)
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