This blog follows the journey of Sarah and Greg as they made their film. To see a trailer, read more, learn about the progress of the film or share your story visit AMERICANBEARFILM.COM


60 days. 25 States. 5 Bears.

Sarah and Greg are setting out on an adventure exploring American trust and fear through hospitality. Armed with their charm, courage, and a camera, they will rely on the kindness of strangers for a home each night, and if they're lucky, a few meals along the way.


The story began in summer 2009 when Greg exclaimed in his sleep, "We have to go to Bear, Colorado!" Unfortunately, no Bear actually exists in Colorado. However, there are five Bears in America, fortuitously located in a perfect a 'U' around the continental U.S. - in Washington, Idaho, Arizona, Arkansas, and Delaware. Following the trail of the Bears, Sarah and Greg will travel through 25 states of all different cultures, demographics, populations, and Americans.


Through conversations with locals, we will explore our themes on a personal level and embrace the stories that turn strangers into neighbors. Our discussions with scholars and professionals will dig into the philosophy and nature of a core aspect of what makes us human. We will understand why (or if) we let people into our hearts and our homes.

Check us out at: facebook.com/BearDocumentary

2.21.2010

E-mail out to Breathe Owl Breathe. Letter on the way to Great Grandma. Letter of Inquiry for the Playboy Foundation and application for the Jerome Foundation in the next round of business.

Sarah and I had some solid creative discussion about our approaches to shooting and safety -- out of context, that sounds particularly smart, but our shooting isn't as unsafe as the sentence suggests. Rather, we talked about what kind of structure we want to have during production as it relates to the structure that will come together in editing. We're both very excited for a fairly free-form documentary that doesn't consistently follow our journey chronologically or geographically but instead is guided by the questions we ask people and the themes we're exploring.

While discussing safety, I recommended that we have something noisy on top of our equipment in the room that we're sleeping in, so that if someone sneaks into our room at night to steal our equipment, they would have to move this very noisy object and so we would foil their heist. However, there aren't a lot of items that make enough noise inadvertently to wake people up. Yet another problem to solve.

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