WEEK 1
‘Watch “Lesson in French” here’
“It's more important than you let on.”
It's important to me and I'm not going to let you pretend it's not important to you.
If you give up when it gets hard, you'll never feel the beauty of the work, of doing it with the person you love. The only person.”
A translation from French to English that I wrote for ‘Lessons in French’, a short film we released today on YouTube.
Yes, I wrote myself a metaphor in a language I don’t speak.
Shortly after I wrote it, I performed it, in French, on a film production in Paris in June.
Yet, it wasn’t until a recent rewatch of that short film that I understood the gravity of my written word. What was once subconscious became incredibly blatant and conscious.
The film, aptly titled ‘Lessons in French’, became a lesson in life.
Perhaps that’s art.
Being slightly aware of something, a challenge or an internal struggle, but without enough awareness to address it within yourself, or your loved ones.
The idea and desire to create exists, but the why won’t reveal itself until the art is distributed. While you create, you discover – you discover emotions and motivations, thoughts and feelings, some of which serve the greater purpose of creating something exceptional, and all of which contribute to the release art brings to the artist.
Creating art brings awareness. Creating art brings connection, the art connecting to the artist – and the art connecting to the viewer.
Connection is how we decide whether or not we enjoy art. Does it connect with us personally? Does it tell a story that we must know? Does it bring awareness to something we’re unaware of?
I didn’t know it at the time of drafting the screenplay, but I made ‘Lessons in French’ as a life lesson to myself.
You see: it’s in my nature to give up on relationships, romantic and friendships, before doing the work that relationships require.
That’s fear.
The character I play fearlessly recites lines that I wrote as a medium for the woman I love. And although she has passionately spoken them to me on countless occasions, it wasn’t until I used them as an impetus for a short film that I became aware of the impact they have on me.
Without this film, I wouldn’t be aware of my failure to work on the relationships with the people I cherish. To listen to friends and loved ones, to prioritize their desires and dreams, to communicate with kindness and respect.
Without this film, I wouldn’t make the changes necessary to truly love and be loved.
And although it’s quite inefficient and costly to write, produce, and direct a work of art every time I must discover and learn something within myself, it’s more costly to leave these things unaddressed and end up with fewer people to champion and learn from the art I create.
Thank you,
– mills
YouTube
MINERAL
Dos
mycro
Ceremony