Film Is Truth...

One of the things that Tina and I loved doing while we waited to adopt Hui-Hui was to watch other people's "Gotcha" videos on the internet. I admit that after you watch enough of them you see patterns emerge, and it's kind of like watching wedding videos; there's the same songs, the same scenes, the same things happen. And yet, while I can't imagine watching other people's wedding videos, I continue to watch adoption "Gotcha" videos. I think it's because of the drama inherent in the fact that the children don't know what's happening. Everybody in a wedding video is a willing participant and it's like a little play. Gotcha videos have much more of that "reality television" thing going on.

I wanted to make one of our experience, and I feel very lucky because our two older sons, Cam & Ben, shot great video during our trip. Cam will be using this material to make a presentation for his senior culminating project, but he is letting me go through and make some family videos.

French filmmaker

Jean-Luc Godard

said, “Film is truth 24 times a second, and every cut is a lie.” I have made a short movie showing the truth only 15 times a second, and have riddled it with lies. The video I have put here on the web is a VERY condensed version of our home movie. My intent was to share a bit of the flavor, and let people see where we were. My most liberal act of "reality distortion" is the actual "gotcha" sequence. In this video it appears that we enter the S.W.I. get Hui-Hui, and drive away. We did all three of those things, but the actual process took about 4 hours. And it involved leaving the S.W.I. with everyone for lunch, a photo studio appointment, returning, and touring the facility. In this version all of that is missing, and clips are rearranged for artistic purposes.

So, with my apologies for playing loosely with "reality", I hope you enjoy watching this short film about our first meeting with Hui-Hui...

CLICK HERE FOR THE MOVIE PAGE