My Blog

Once again I am on planes – more planes
then I have been on in months. The last weeks have been spent flying
around promoting FLYING for different openings and festivals and
teaching. I flew to London to do press for the UK launch later in the
year, Zurich to see my boyfriend, Locarno for the Film Festival,
Copenhagen for the Danish launch and TV premiere, Sbiu, Romania to
teach documentary directing for a week for an ARTE Balkan initiative,
and finally to Edinburgh Film festival where FLYING premiered in the
UK. My bones are rattling and my skin is sagging from lack of exercise,
my eyes are bleary from early morning calls – like this morning rising
at 4 am to fly from Edinburgh to London, where I caught the plane I am
currently on heading for “home” – New York City.

It has all been good – excellent receptions everywhere and the film
seems to really be touching a cord around the world – but I long for
home, like a sailor out to sea for a year dreaming of his solid bed and
dry sheets. I dream of a world that does not change: I dream of walking
my dog Ptah, early in the morning by the river. I dream of taking my
laundry to the Korean Laundromat around the corner and talking to its
owner Mike. I dream of staring out the window of my loft at the hole
that used to be the world trade center while I talk on the phone to my
girlfriend Paula and drink my morning coffee. I dream of cooking
steamed vegetables and rice – with nothing oily, butter or creamy on it
(which you can never get in restaurants because they think it will
drive away customers.)

There are strange things I think about when I fly: like how it came
to be that the airline has stolen the language of boats? “Welcome
aboard to our cabin!”; “Your Captain’s name is Joe.”; “We’ll be
cruising at an altitude of…”; “if you look out the starboard window
you’ll see the statue of liberty.” Someone must have thought this up to
dissuade the mind from realizing that it was without tethers, suspended
in the vast sky. It’s funny that the sky never inspired it’s own
language; that in order to go forward, we have to go backward. I decide
that I want to invent some new language for my favorite place in the
world — but I am afraid my mind on three hours sleep and two airport
security checks is scrambled.

There were some lovely things that happened along the way this trip:
Yesterday I met the wonderful British film direct Mike Leigh (“Secrets
and Lies”) at the Edinburgh festival — except I didn’t recognize him. I
walked into the press room and this 50’ish friendly looking man was
standing there, calling out, “Why that’s Jennifer Fox!” in a funny
British accent. I had no idea how he knew me. I must be honest, I
didn’t recognize him as I have never seen pictures of him before, but
only admired his films. Then he said, “I saw your picture on the cover
of the Guardian newspaper! I saved the article and read about the film
on the train here!” It was only then that the press person, Nancy,
introduced us: “Jennifer this is Mike Leigh.” My mind (as I have
already mentioned) was a bit slow as I did my best to mash though my
index of names, when it dawned on me – MIKE LEIGH! SECRETS AND LIES!
And a million other films! Jees Louis! Of course, I suddenly became a
bumbling idiot and couldn’t think of what to talk to him about: And I
said stupid things like, “…oh is it hard to get funding in London
now?!” UGH! Well it just goes to show you that one is never beyond awe!

Denmark also was very satisfying. After so many years working on
FLYING there in the development and editing, it was finally time for
its launch. I flew in to do press for the TV launch last week and got
to visit with my dear friends whom I have come to adore. Mette Mailand
– the tall beautiful Danish woman who co-produced the film set up a
series of press interviews at Easy Film, our co-production company. To
my surprise each interview ran nearly two hours and required photos. To
be honest, doing press in different countries is always a revelation
because each culture has it’s own style of interviewing and a
completely different journalistic tone. The Brits, for example, don’t
feel they are being serious unless they are critical; the Americans
never tell you what they think when they interview you; and now I had
my experience of three female Danish Journalists, each one were quite
open how much they loved the film from the get go and proceeded to have
long personal interviews about the film, where they wanted to know
loads about me, but where they also shared their own related
experiences. It was really refreshing to have interviews – which were
actually two–way dialogues about life. Then to my shock and surprise,
all three Danish papers proceeded to publish full page cover articles
with photos about the film beginning Sunday, the day we had a
theatrical launch in the cinema to kick off the TV premiere the
following day!

Despite all my complaining about traveling, Denmark feels like a
second home to me and holds dear friends there like the very “tall thin
man”, Niels Pagh Anderson, who edited the film, and has become a real
buddy. When I see Niels, my heart wells up and I pray I can find
another film project to work on together again. After a full day of
interviews, Niels invites me to dinner and treats me to his ‘oh so
male’ classic dish of grilled lamb and spinach. We share dinner with
our other dear friend who showed me my first Danish film, got me hooked
on the Danish work, and later was instrumental in getting FLYING made —
Jakob Hogel and his wife Arine. Earlier, I have drinks with the feisty,
Television Commissioning Editor who supported FLYING: Mette Hoffman
Meyer. (I want to mention that she is tall and beautiful and blond, but
each person I meet with in the country qualifies as beautiful and tall
and blond – how did the Danes get their gene pool? And why didn’t I get
any of it?!) The next day, I visit my inspiration Arne Bro, who runs
the Danish Film School, and his wife Lotte, at their newly renovated
home in the “country” outside of Copenhagen. In the midst of a summer
downpour and flash flooding (is it raining everywhere?), we enjoy a
rare, leisurely lunch in which they advise me to slow down and talk me
into to changing my ticket to Romania by 8 hours (and even book me a
new plane ticket) so I won’t travel through the night before teaching
in the morning there. These are real friends! In the evening, I go to
the home of Karoline Leth, producer and mother of three children, one
of whom, Emma, has a birthday party that night, where I am treated to
the classic Danish ritual of group singing and toasting! On Sunday, I
see my Danish producer, Claus Ladegaard, his wife Mette and their two
children in the morning – as FLYING is showing in the cinema. After
introducing the film, we race to their house for a family visit before
heading back to the theater to do a “ Q + A” with Niels and sound
editor, Peter Shultz. The screening is powerful and at the end the
audience testifies, as happens so often with this film, by sharing
their own stories of female life in a modern world. I am moved and
surprised at the power of FLYING to reach people everywhere. Finally, I
head back to my hotel room to pass out for a few hours, before getting
on that next plane.

Now it sounds like I spent a week in Denmark, but in fact it was a
total of three days! I was pressed on both sides by work and the
teaching in Romania (another long story) was waiting for me. It is the
speed of my life that I struggle with. Sometimes having the people I
love spread across the globe, makes me feel like a person in fragments.
The idea of living an international life is something I aspire to in
theory – and I dare say even succeed at doing – but the human body is
slow and frail and sometimes I think even though I’ve pressed my flesh
forward, hurtling through space in this tin tube we call plane, my soul
lags behind somewhere in the previous country or two. And of course, as
I contemplate these things, I am “caught in the act”, zooming air born
towards New York City and nearly about to land, I know my life will not
change in the next months. New York will only be my home – or perhaps
better called a refuel stop for laundry, meetings, dog relief — for 4
days now before I have to head off to Chicago to do press for the
theatrical opening later in the month, then to Colorado for the
Telluride Film festival, and to Los Angels for the theatrical premiere
of the FLYING there…As you can see, flying is not just a film, but a
way of life! I think I better figure out how to get used to it!
Meanwhile, I am still pondering how they keep these things up in the
air…. More thoughts to follow…