RIFF 2024

The long-awaited (by me) summary of the best birthday I ever could have asked for.

To those listening to the audio recording, I ask that you give me grace as I am recovering from illness.

RIFF took place the weekend before my 25th birthday, from June 14th to June 15th, 2024. I’ve already known it was going to be impossible to contain everything I felt about the festival in anything I could write about the festival. But now, a few weeks later, when the glow that was lit in the aftermath begins to fade and the weekend becomes a memory that I have to search to recall, feels like the perfect time to try. 

To try and write about RIFF is also a good creative exercise because the task of how to see this piece to completion and also make it as effective as it can be is essentially exactly the task that was assigned at RIFF, and is the task assigned at the onset of any creative endeavor: to fight the battle between ambition and perfection. 

One more disclaimer: I am now writing a few weeks into being 25 years old. Thank god. This is a significant milestone to me for several reasons. Turning 25 was hugely on my mind during the beginning half of this year, and I’m grateful to now have gotten it over with. In the context of this newsletter, I remember the week before I turned 23 was one of the first times I tried to write a long-form essay like this. At the time, I discovered that writing was really hard to do. I’m happy that two years later, a bit past 25 instead of a bit before 23, writing pages-on-pages about random shit that goes on has become all-too-regular for me. 

Now to explain the acronym we have been hinting at for a few paragraphs of this newsletter already. For my 25th birthday this year I hosted RIFF: The 25-Hour Film Festival. In the months before turning 25, I had this feeling that I needed to find a solid sense of self before the date reached. I was torn between making the stakes for my birthday incredibly low or incredibly high, and RIFF to me landed somewhere in the middle. It would be an event that could serve as a kind of mission statement for my life up until this point: one that was holistically dedicated to and would celebrate my craft and community, before it did the mere coincidence of my 25th lap around the sun. I wanted the event to be bigger than myself, and with the festival, hoped to facilitate an environment where my community of talented creatives and filmmakers could put their abilities on display. 

Some people could view this event as symptomatic of my inability to create a strong work-life balance for myself, and those people might be right. But at 25 years of age, I can put that war to rest in my mind by acknowledging a simple truth, which is that my life and my work are inseparable. To be creative, is to me, the highest realization of being alive. I’m lucky that on any given weekend I can go to a party, or to the beach, or to a park, and I have enjoyed doing all those things on my birthday before. But ultimately what I wanted for my 25th birthday was to facilitate the creation of a bunch of short films. 

Here’s how the festival happened, it was honestly pretty simple and easy. First I added a bunch of people to a close friends story on Instagram, which honestly took a lot of time because I get really scared about forgetting people. Then I created a google form where people could sign up for the festival, and that would instruct them to block off the two nights of the festival once they submitted it. From then, I would sort the responses into a google sheet, and arrange those participants into 8-9 teams. The week before the festival, I would send out the teams, which would inevitably lead to some reorganization that I was doing up until the day of the fest. 

When I was assigning the teams, I realized it was easiest to keep track of the participants and stay organized if I color coded them. So each team was assigned a color. This logistical choice became a creative choice, when I then realized that each team could be assigned a prop of that team’s specific color. The red team would get a red prop, the orange team could get an orange prop, and so on.

The week of the festival, I also did a tech run with my friend Alex Collyard, who set up the screen and the speakers for the event. I timed the projection with the setting of the sun, to make sure that it would be dark enough around the start of the screening for the films to be seen. 

While there wasn’t a lot of front-end work necessary to put on the festival, I spent the weeks before the festival putting together a project of my own: the sizzle reel for Richie Gets Money. I’ve talked about that project on this newsletter, and have been working on bringing Richie’s universe to life for over three years now. With all my friends convening in my yard for a screening anyway, many of whom having worked on the project too, it felt like a perfect time to debut Richie to my community. 

The first day of RIFF began with a Kickoff event. I had bought some drinks and snacks for the mixer portion of the evening, and let people socialize until the majority of the participants were in attendance. Once the majority of participants were present, I was able to start the event. 

Side note, I’ve always been really happy to have a June birthday. Growing up, my sister and I would always celebrate our birthday at the end of the year, right after school let out. It always felt like a perfect time to have a party, right at the start of the summer. My sister has also always been a big part of the planning process for our birthday. Figuring out how to celebrate our birthday by myself has been a challenge the last few years, but I’m grateful for the sheer magic of mid-June for all that it has offered in helping me meet that challenge. 

At the kickoff event, I assigned each team their prop, which they would each have to integrate into the films. The props are what would distinguish each particular team. What would unify the films, is that they would all respond to the same quote. 

The quote I chose was one that had resonated with me for years. I read it first in September of 2021. It was from an Instagram post made by Riz Ahmed, after the passing of the iconic actor Michael Kenneth Williams. Eulogizing Williams, Ahmed quotes him, saying, “Another time I go to his apartment to rehearse. I’m analyzing the hell out of the scenes. He tells me ‘stop thinking about it, try dreaming about it.’ Took me years to even understand. He brought heart to the art.” 

That quote has stuck with me for quite some time. I have it written down in my long, long notes app entry of future tattoo ideas. In the context of acting, the quote reminds me that as technical as the making of art can be, it’s ultimately a practice in channeling your imagination. Art is guided not just by what we think is possible, but all that could ever be possible. I wanted to choose a quote that exemplified an idea I am taking into the other side of my 20’s. For me, that is that life is not just about making smart choices, or doing what makes sense. Life, oftentimes, is about following the haziest dream of what it could be, and solidifying that into reality. I think of living life as performing a creative act, and that to create is to live intensely for a period of time. Hence, the RIFF 2024 Quote: Stop thinking about it, try dreaming about it. 

More about dreams: I love dreams. I think dreams are important, and powerful. Dreams are a movie your brain puts on for you. In many ways, every film is a kind of dream. To fuse these two ideas: I think a powerful film prompts you to dream, and the greatest films can start as a dream. 

I had to set a time limit for the movies, so we would be done in time for one of my scary neighbors to sleep soundly (he asked me to be wrapped by 10pm.) The time limit was 7 minutes long. At the time, I thought this was probably unnecessary and ambitious. A conventional rule of filmmaking is that every minute you see of a movie took an hour to edit. Who was going to make a 7 minute movie? I thought the night of, people would outline or soft script a concept, then shoot a quick, 2-3 minute, improvised sketch on their iPhones the day of. And that, I would have been grateful for! However, as soon as the festival kicked off, I realized that the RIFF attendees were not to be underestimated. A wild beast had been set loose. 

People went really fucking hard. While I kept performing my hosting duties, teams took up different corners of my house locking in on their movies: pitching ideas, writing scripts, deciding on soundtracks, and many started shooting that very night. I would later find out that many teams chose to forgo sleep, they kicked off social media campaigns with fake Deadline articles, all gunning to make the best 25-Hour film they possibly could.

The next day, after I put the finishing touches on my own project, did a comprehensive Costco run, and got the RIFF grand prize: The RIFF RAFF PLAQUE, printed at FedEx,

we convened again in my front yard to watch the products of each team’s 25-Hour delirium. I could not be more astounded by the results, and am proud to present to you the RIFF 2024 films.

Richie Gets Money

The first film to play at RIFF was not filmed in 25 hours, but as mentioned previously has been the product of several years of my own work. This is a teaser for Richie Gets Money: The Greatest White Rapper of All Time. I wanted to use the opportunity presented by RIFF, where many of my closest friends would be gathered in front of a movie screen, to debut my own passion project. Many of the people involved with RGM were participating at RIFF, and I thought showing the sizzle would be the perfect way to kick off the screening. It went over better than I ever could have expected! Every single line got the laughs I was hoping for, and I was blown away with the love my friends had for Richie. It was great to get to talk to more people throughout the evening about the project, which has become one of my favorite brain-children. 

Red Handed

I love this movie so much. I am blown away by all of the performances. I love their humor, their use of the color red, and the cinematography throughout. Their prop was a pair of chattering teeth that I have for some reason, and I loved how they used it for the ridiculous sound it makes. The story follows two burglars who are chasing the dream of becoming excellent criminals.

Gár 

The first film to play at RIFF, the team of Gár created a world that is so funny, heartwarming, and imaginative. I love their use of the camera, and the humor throughout. Their prop was this Garfield toy that I won from a claw machine in San Francisco, and I love how they centered the story around the assigned prop. I love how the notion of imagining what could be possible shakes the lead character out of his insecurities. The ending of the film is, to me, a perfect structural button. 

Hatman

This movie is bonkers. This was a comedian heavy team, and they created something truly surreal, absurd, and horrific, in an incredible way. Tonally, the film is as light and silly as it is truly menacing. Their prop was a yellow hat, which they imagined as The Hat That Gives You Swag. I love the physicality in this movie, and the questions they ask about the price that comes with getting what you wish for.

Danger in our Dreams

Presenting: The winner of RIFF!!!!!!!!!! Tonally, I think they knew I would be a fan of this movie.  But I think they do a lot really well. The beginning has a scene with palpable chemistry between the actors, something that genuinely made me lean forward in my seat and caused my jaw to DROP. The film pivots constantly in tone between being unsettling, horrific, and really funny. The use of color I find really impressive. The use of black and white hides some of the rough edges that come with shooting on iPhone. But keeping the mask in green is not only an impressive editing trick, but highlights their team color and cinematically imbues their prop with that much more power. The dream reality of this movie having the green tint is another great touch. 

The big scissors, quick, zoomed in cuts during the fight scene, chilling sound design, etc., make this a really ambitious and technically impressive film that is truly surreal and dream-like. I also think it is one of the films with the most depth thematically: evoking the darkness of the subconscious world… hence why it won. 

Marionette Stupide

This film was delightfully silly, and played last at RIFF 2024. I had no idea what to expect for the last film, and hoped that it would be a good button on the evening. A puppet show ended up being the perfect closing act for the festival. This movie makes me think about how imagination can help us navigate conflict: understanding how to be hopeful and optimistic even through periods of tension with those we live with. Their prop was a blue phone, and I love how they made it a catalyst for the dream-like elements of their movie.

Str8 4 U

I was so impressed with the execution of this perfect, satirical, reverse-coming-out story. I remember when around 11pm on the night of the kickoff, this team announced they were leaving to film a scene at the Yard Theater, where the tech attendant would be holding the space for them for the next 30 minutes. That moment specifically is unforgettable to me, and is when I realized people were going hard for this festival. I think that level of effort is showcased particularly well in this film, which has so many locations, crazy visual effects, and a perfect needle-drop of “Girl, so confusing” by Charli Xcx. Their prop was the purple eggplant. 

See You in Roku City

This film perfectly encapsulated the ethos of RIFF. Tarek was out of town for the festival, but asked me if he could submit as a one-person team, making his movie remotely. I think his film, a monologue performed for the iPhone, demonstrates the range of what independent cinema can be in 2024. It’s one, surreal performance put on camera for the world to see. His prop was a black Roku remote. 

Keep Me Warm

Still not sure if the title of this movie is “Keep me Warm” or “Keeps me Warm” as the file name and title card each say something different. But that’s part of the charm of this bonkers movie. This movie was shot in my house, so during the second day of RIFF I did accidentally keep interrupting them when I had to run errands. Bringing supplies for the festival in and out of the house, which they were shooting day-for-night, I was constantly becoming privy to different parts of their convoluted plot, and yet the final product still had a million more bits that I ever could have anticipated. This movie had many big, bright, zany comedic minds all pulling the story in a million different directions, which made for something incredibly entertaining and unpredictable. It is structurally, honestly a really close parallel to a lot of the choices made in the Green team’s film, but tonally could not be more different. Their prop was a pink pencil case and/or the pink lighter. I also love their use of pink throughout the movie.

Perfect Match

This film might be my favorite success story from RIFF. The Brown team was made up of two people who I met at film festivals, one from a play I saw and another who was a friend from the internet. None of them knew each other beforehand, and together they made this excellent movie about growing connections with the people you meet in chance encounters. Their prop was a pack of matches. 

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Choosing a winner between these films was extremely difficult, and it helped that there was one that was so tonally and technically different from the others. But every single one of these films was amazing, and I am truly obsessed with each of them. 

My mind was blown at the thought that nine of these incredible films, each capturing such a dense, fully realized world, did not exist merely 25 hours beforehand. The party after the festival elicited some of the best conversations I’ve ever had at a party in Los Angeles. Hardly any small talk lingered in the air, since all of these incredible minds had so much to say about the creative accompaniments made in the last 25 hours. 

The festival took on a life I never could have imagined for it. It was better than I ever could have dreamed of. People told me ad-nauseum that night that it had been a life-changing experience, and I felt that way too. I partially did the event so that I could distribute some of the suffocating birthday attention onto celebrating the accomplishments of other people. However, my gratitude for the efforts of these other people ended up being mirrored right back onto me. People expressed such kindness to me for so much of the night, that at one point I had to excuse myself just to sob from joy on the floor of my room. 

It solidified, for me, all of my ideas about the power of collaboration and community, of streamlining the path between subconscious to reality through creative acts. It let me spread the joy of creating art for the sake of creating art, without the approval or attention of industry gatekeepers or internet algorithms. It reminded me that when many people in a community shine a light on each other’s talents and abilities, we create the space to realize our ambitions and self-actualize together. The product of these efforts are so much larger, have so much more depth, and are so much more beautiful, than anything we could do alone. To me, it’s the greatest possible result of all the gifts of humanity. 

If you’ve followed me thus far, I ask you to be really kind and stay with me as I wander into more abstract territory. An idea that has been so hard to translate to other people that I’ve had about the festival, is that it has made me obsess over one particular shape: the SPHERE. A sphere takes its shape when every point on its surface extends an equivalent distance from its center. The Earth is, roughly, the shape of a sphere. Our eyes are, roughly, the shapes of spheres. A camera lens, roughly, creates a spherical image. Spheres encapsulate the image of life in many, many ways.

To me, RIFF felt spherical. Every participant of RIFF I believe extended themselves and their talents to a point equidistant from the origin of the event. The films covered the full spectrum of color, and experience. Every one of the films combined to make an event, a collection of work, that was expansive, full, a new, spherical world. 

One of my friends told me that they struggle to explain to others how great RIFF was, because they feel like it has to sound like they are exaggerating. I feel that way too, it’s hard to overstate how meaningful the event was, so the only option has to be to understate it. RIFF absolutely changed my life. It was more than I ever could have asked for from a 25th birthday party. Bringing the vision I had for RIFF, and Richie Gets Money, to life, feels like I’ve cleared out my internal tank, and has left me open to finding new sources of inspiration. I think many members of my community were inspired to have confidence in their talents, and their ability to bring creative visions to life with a distinctly unprecious attitude. Completely ignorant or dismissive of the usual obstacles or intangible specters that can sometimes appear to stand between what we imagine, and what comes to be. 

In the aftermath of the event, I looked at the logo for RIFF with new eyes. This image of a portal, almost a tear in spacetime, once seemed to me to just be the result of a series of happy accidents on Procreate, influenced by a subconscious fascination with space that I’ve had since I was a child. Now, when I look at it, I feel this sense that the logo was almost an omen that I missed, that RIFF would be like stepping into a portal for a weekend where the limits of imagination could become possible. 

Much of what I write about on this newsletter lately has been the things that remind me of the importance of imagination. RIFF was the epitome of that. As the days pass, as the sweat of summer lingers, and the energy of that weekend fades into memory, RIFF 2024 serves as a touchstone for me, my collaborators, and my community. It is a reminder to follow these words through life: stop thinking about it, try dreaming about it! I am already so excited for RIFF 2025.