Excerpts from a short film I made a few years ago during a 3-day vow of silence.

Let’s talk about this for a second: I was having a weird time. I had left California on a train a little over a year before and come to Rhode Island, a place I’d never been before. I decided to do this project when my best friend, who had been staying in Rhode Island after coming back from Europe, decided to move back to Oakland. The week leading up to the project’s start, my ex, who I hadn’t heard (almost) a single word from since I left, sent me an email. I was also approaching a few personal anniversaries.

The vow of silence became a sort of meditation on who I was and who I’ve known in my life.

These are some of my favorite bits. The complete film… I kind of can’t stand to watch it anymore. One of the tricky things about making work that is sincere is that sometimes you grow out the phase you’re in when you make it, and then watching yourself cry about ex-girlfriends on camera makes you want to punch your younger self in the head.

I am very proud of this project. I did something honest about what I was feeling at the time. I don’t feel that way anymore. And the next extremely honest project I make won’t talk so insipidly about, like, LOVE, man.