Dreams Are Not Enough

I now know what the cliché “beyond our wildest dreams” means. I never dreamed of having a film in Sundance. But why should that make me ineligible?

Dreams are marvelous. Depicting them is often a writer and filmmaker’s job. And fulfilling them is such a rewarding process that not only the dreamer, but all those who bear witness are transformed. But what about those of us who don’t dream quite so big?

I do dream, but typically can’t remember them when I wake every afternoon to face my day.

It’s funny, you spend a year and a half with characters in your film, you finish the thing and share it with the world, and sometimes only then does the power of their words really hit you in a personal way.

Jim launches for The Movement“I had to get out of my comfort zone.”
— Jim Martinson (pictured above and right)

“Anybody who’s sedentary, stationary— to me, that’s a disability in and of itself.” — Mike May

“Maybe if you try you can do it.” — Traci Taylor

“I never thought I wouldn’t work again. I didn’t know if I was going to survive or what was going to happen, but for some reason, surviving and not working just didn’t seem like an option.” — Rick Finkelstein

“Sometimes you have to get to the top of the highest place you can find and yell so that people actually see you.” — Chris Waddell

Some of these five characters are dreamers. Chris and Jim knew their potentials as skiers and wanted to get back there. When they did get back to turning a ski down a mountain (without the use of their legs) they kept pushing further. Boy I’m glad there are dreamers.

But in talking with both of them— and the other characters in our film— I heard that chasing and fulfilling dreams sometimes feels just exactly the same as waking up and facing another day. So I’m saying there’s hope for the rest of us who are dreamless, or at least unaware of the fanciful worlds where our sleeping minds frolic at night.

It was just announced today: Our film did make it into the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. I’m honored. Dreams or no, this film has now gone to a place that might be even cooler than the fantasies we make up in our minds. Like all five of our characters, it has entered the realm of real human possibility. If I’ve learned anything in this process, it’s this: Dream if you can. If you can’t, help others who dream. Either way, wake up and face your day.

Thanks for reading. Cheers,

Greg

Images ©2011 The Movement

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