2007 / 9:00 / Color / Super16 / USA

A romantic ‘feel good’ experimental short, ‘Certain Green’ tells the story of an older woman’s lifelong quest for the perfect color green. On the advice of a psychic, our heroine searches from Florida to the Rocky Mountains, and along the way, learns that sometimes a certain green is found where you least expect it.

Notes on the film
I was reading a few anthologies of micro-fiction and non-fiction when I came across “Rhapsody in Green” by Marjorie Sandor. I loved this story because it was all about color, and how our lives are a search for something perfect that may not exist.
I started bringing my Super16 camera to Captiva, Florida during spring break. I started shooting everything I could find that looked like it should be green, but was not. Shadows of leaves on the ground, plants at sunrise and sunset that have turned inky black. One Spring we were on Captiva just after a hurricane had trashed the island. The shot of the garbage truck driving past the small restaurant (actually a little store) was shot that Spring. (The store was closed in order to repair all the hurricane damage). The shots of Johanna in front of the bulletin board are actually composites — I shot the store in Florida and Johanna in a studio at Montana State University in front of a blue screen.

April 2008 President’s Fine Arts Series, Montana State University
April 2008 Santa Cruz International Film Festival, CA
April 2008 Da Vinci Days Film Festival, Corvallis, OR
March 2008 SXSW (South by Southwest film festival) Austin, TX
Feb. 2008 Dam Short Film Festival, Boulder City, Nevada
Jan. 2008 Park City Film Music Festival, Park City, UT (Winner, Gold Medal, for Score, Short Film; Director’s Choice Award)