Advent: Brown

Producer Stephenson Brown touched down at 1am local time two days ago lugging approximately $80,000 worth of still photo equipment. He knocked over B&H Photo on the way out of New York City. The intern got a bottle of Johnny Walker Green Label at a price and we slaughtered it in a mad celebration. I became disoriented and unfamiliar with time. We left the hotel at 4:30am to go find a beer. There's not many options for a cold beer at 4:30 on a Wednesday morning but the intern knew a couple mafia joints that stay open til whenever. We sat down and had a couple beers. The drink went directly to Stephenson's spine on account of not being acclimated to the weight of the local atmosphere, which is crushing. Later on he fell into the produce cooler at 7-11 then muttered 'I'll be outside' and quickly saw himself out.

We got a bag of hot dogs and a few different colors of curry and had breakfast on the sidewalk at 8am. Stephenson borrowed a guitar from a new friend and sang and shot his Canon from the hip. When you're as good as Stephenson Brown behind the camera you don't need to use your eyes. It's more of a feeling. It's all jazz and cigarettes when you know what the hell you're doing.

The team is now assembled and everyone's coming together for their part. We leave for Laos on an overnight train in 4 hours and then we'll be crossing into Vietnam sometime around Thanksgiving.

We spend many evenings in the hotel speaking madly and truly about the direction of the film. Everyone is here and everyone cares and this film will be unsettling in the force of its impact. It occurs to me often that this whole project is a terribly, terribly bizarre way to go about the business of telling the truth.