IZZY

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

A comedy about fate, free will and...skateboarding. Equal parts aspiring philosopher and lovesick college sophomore, Izzy misguidedly believes the examined life and finding a soul mate are one and the same.

That is Izzy's struggle. It's also very much mine, and it's been a long time since I was a college sophomore. The wheel goes round, I guess...no points for explaining and ruining the metaphor.

I've always been interested in the double standards, large and small, we allow for ourselves, but admonish in others - we want one thing, or we tell ourselves we do - usually the right thing - but then when the thing is a little too much the way we want it, we want something else, a whole lot different. But, really, exactly the same. Rinse, repeat.

This going back and forth describes Izzy's journey to the festival circuit. Shot and edited over a two-year span, I have struggled to find the ideal version of the film. I think it's there.

Having recently been on the festival circuit with my first feature, The Sisters Karras, I decided to take another look at Izzy with fresh eyes. I polished the story, made some difficult edits and realized the story makes me smile. Izzy has a lot of heart and aspirations too big for his age and experience. Like Izzy, I'd like to get a second shot at some of the experiences I went through when I was still a teenager - the regrets, big and small. I'm confident we all would like that.

Or, like any unreliable narrator, we'd like the opportunity to give our life a voice over - explain what we were thinking: Our good intentions.