About
Director's Statement
What purpose, if any, do dreams serve for us? Depending on the person the answer to this question can be fairly simplistic or complex. My answers only led to more questions, specifically:
If you never had a dream before what would your first dream be like?
If you never had a dream before what would that mean about your mental, emotional and behavioral state?
I was able to "see" the answers to these questions and the result is "First Dream", the terror and panic that overcomes Darryl when he falls asleep. The audience experiences hypnagogic imagery; every moment providing clues as to what is real or not. I shot "First Dream" so that it can be watched multiple times with the possibility of the viewer seeing something new each time.
"First Dream" is a Radio Film Picture (RFP). I began working on RFPs as far back as when I was a child...I just didn't know it then. It never crossed my mind while sitting on my mother's lap listening to radio dramas that there wasn't visual images to accompany the sounds I was hearing. I constantly envisioned what I thought I would one day see. Years later when I learned the truth I was disappointed but found I couldn't forget the images I'd married to the hundreds of radio shows. Moreover, when I recalled my favorites I found myself confused as to whether it was a Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Outer Limits... episode as opposed to something I only heard on the radio.
To deconstruct this confusion and to cope with my mother's death, Radio Film Pictures was born. It necessitated a whole new approach to filmmaking, one that naturally gave rise to its own terminology and way of shooting. Anyone can have a new idea but the key to directing is to get it from your head to the screen. I believe I've achieved this with my films.
Marc Kess, Writer, Director
Marc Kess is a native New Yorker who started the other way around; he got his filmmaking education on set, on projects with celebrated directors like Sydney Lumet, Michael Apted and Spike Lee, before deciding to study film at NYU. He has written and directed a number of films including "Dead End", "William Wilson", and "My Lover Must Die". His multi-award winning Radio Film Picture "Mildred Richards" was the first film he submitted to festivals. He is currently in pre-production of "Fall Girl".
© 2009 Radio Film Pictures, LLC. All rights reserved.