TRT: 12:17

Production dates: August 31-October 29, 2007

Language: English

Hardware: Panasonic DVX 100a

Software: Final Cut Pro & After Effects

Available media: DVD, mini-dv, Beta SP (NTSC & PAL for all)

Filming location: Los Angeles, CA USA

Director’s Note:  I travel a lot internationally for vacation and with my films. As an American who still believes in the Dream Country the United States ‘could be’, it’s been of great concern to me to realize how the rest of the world sees us since the invasion of Iraq. How can we establish democracy outside the U.S. when so many freedoms are denied our own citizens? There are still so many inequities between races, classes,  and creeds. As everything becomes more and more privatized, we seem to be taking less good care of each other. With an administration that governs us by fear, many have lost the positivism and sense of confidence that used to define us. With a culture that promotes a cult of materialism peppered by violence, many children are getting a skewed picture of The American Dream.  In “68° & Clear”, I explore these topics through the “fatalistic” qualities of an 11-year-old black mugger on his first offense and a 40-something suicidal white woman.  Ironically, the darker sides of America have driven two people together who would not normally have a dialogue, but who could share a mutually life-enriching friendship under different circumstances.