FLY
FLY is a short movie I wrote and directed that is currently making the festival rounds until the end of this year. Here’s the official trailer.
Seventeen-year-old Maria Carbonell loves to make up stories of extraordinary characters, astonishing adventures, and unimaginable worlds.
Her latest may be her most fantastical…
Her own.
Why FLY?
I don't do well with downtime and always find ways, usually subconsciously, to fill it. The only reason I ever take a vacation is because my family plans them. Left to me, I'd just sit at my desk and work. During the Covid-19 lockdown, while there was virtual work to be done, I had more downtime than I was comfortable with.
So I took the opportunity to try several new creative endeavors or reacquaint myself with some old ones. I learned a few new graphics programs, reintroduced myself to my guitar, read a ton, and scratched some itches.
One of these itches was to take an O'Henryesque short story that, for years, had been bouncing around in my head and make it into a short film. Until now, my creative output for the last two decades had consisted of 100% superheroes, all day, all the time. Yet, I have so many other types of stories that I want to tell, and this was a perfect opportunity to cleanse my palette.
So, with the help of some AMAZING friends, most of whom had never worked on a movie before, and some cash I had put away for a family vacation (thanks, Covid), FLY became a reality. The unexpected bonus of making the movie was that my family was involved from start to finish, and it ended up being our greatest vacation ever.
FLY started as a challenge to see if we could do it. The unexpected result was how much fun we had making it and how many wonderful festivals invited us to screen. We even won a few awards, none greater than this...
One afternoon as my daughter and I were driving back from a long day of shooting, she asked if I thought the movie would be any good. I told her I had no idea, but years from now, it's something she can show her kids and grandkids, so at the very least, it'll be "The World's Most Expensive Home Movie."
