FAITH, UNCERTAINTY AND SURPRISE

Before even arriving in the Azores, the drama had already begun: waiting list, uncertainty, the great news, the joy… and then the fear. Then the self-sabotage, the frustration, the despair, and, inevitably, the calm needed to start making quick and efficient decisions. All the while, that strange mix of excitement and vertigo.

Sometimes uncertainty isn't an obstacle; it's the fuel. This is just the beginning. Raising the money, buying the tickets, organizing everything in such a short time… a maddening sequence straight out of a movie.

We applied around November 7th. The selection was announced on the 17th. They postponed the announcement for a week. We were put on the waiting list. On November 30th, they notified us that we had been selected because someone had withdrawn. The €8,800 tuition fee was due on December 8th, no matter what… that's when the odyssey began.

Luckily, we managed to raise the money and get everything organized. We bought the tickets on Monday, and after that, we'll focus 100% on the workshop. We want to participate and be among the five short films selected for distribution by Herzog's company. We're going to give it our all.
Last week we worked on a screenplay idea: we wrote the script. And yesterday we learned that it's essential not to bring any preconceived ideas or scripts, so that the workshop's creative process begins with a premise set by the instructor on the first day.

Now comes the joy: the feeling of being about to enter an experience that can't be fully explained, only lived.

But the most incredible thing of all is being able to share this with a friend. With whom we've shared so many wonderful things about this profession and studied film together during our first years in San Luis, when we still had no idea how difficult—and magical—this great journey that is cinema would be. There's something very powerful about reconnecting at a point like this, after so many years, and saying: "Okay, let's go."

Letting go, trusting, and letting the journey unfold.

This site will be our logbook: one chapter per day, with photos and videos, notes, clippings, and discoveries. We're going to share our process.

In the next chapter, we'll tell you about a character much more closely connected to all of this than we imagined: Herman Goransky.

End of Chapter 0.