What a life!

At the Bamford's, NY

Wow. How to catch up with our news?  Tomorrow I will go to Chicago, to costume the choir for the commemorative program!  Next weekend I will present on the film at the "Wings to the Spirit" arts conference in Pensacola!  The following weekend we will both go to the Washington, DC commemoration--where, we hope, a short segment from our film will be shown!  What a life!

For me, this is possible because I have a sabbatical for one quarter.  I am designing a film appreciation course for the Art Institute, along with working on this film. ah, time! But poor Tim! Last night he stayed up until 3 working on a revised version of the Trailer (we'll try to post it, soon).  Working until wee hours is not untypical. Then, he dutifully gets up and drives in traffic to his job--mostly making car commercials. If only he could go freelance!

Bamfords, at home

 How to summarize the 10-day trip we had to NY, NJ, and Philadelphia?  I'll try, in a few photos, starting with NY. To the left, is the wonderful, amazing Bamford family--Suzanne, Mark, August, and Sydney. They are filmmakers living in Harlem, with a lovely row house and big hearts. Friday nights are "youth" nights, where dozens of young people come to learn about/discuss aspects of the Baha'i Faith.  Mark took us around to the various sites we shot--with great patience and endurance!

Arthur P. Dodge house

Ansonia Hotel

Sydney as production assistant

Museum of Natural History

Both kids were great helping with aspects of production!

Friday night at the Bamford's

        

charming old sign in Dodge neighborhood

Mark as the patient guide

such wonderful new friends!

Church of Divine Paternity (now Unitarian)

Earl Hall, Columbia University

 Riverside Park--it was so beautiful that day! What a lovely group of "extras"!

at the house where Juliet painted the portrait

JP Morgan Library

At the Bowery we had an incredible experience. We met Bani Dugal at the downtown center and took James Macklin, who works for the Bowery, to the actual mission. He opened all the doors for us to shoot! And he expressed a great resonance with Baha'i ideas and introduced us to the chaplain, Jason.  We felt a great sense of the presence of 'Abdu'l-Baha there--and Juliet Thompson, John Good, Kate Carew.  Words cannot convey the feeling of being there!

James, Bani, Jason

April 11th!  NYC Baha'i Center

The characters assemble

Hussein Ahdieh as "Mahmud"--with cell phone

Juliet Thompson's house

"Juliet"

Hanging out at Juliet's

Church of the Ascension

One of our "Persians"--Hervey--was actually from Equador!

Luke explaining what we are doing
(crowds would ask!)

at Church of Ascension

Before the program, NY Baha'i Center

Presenting, NYC BC, April 11th!

Chris Ruhe, Tim on drums

Mark as MC

Getting to speak about the film

with Melanie, one of our dearest new friends!

Anne as Juliet

April 14 Program, Church of Ascension

The bishop's chair

With Kathy (who spoke!) and Jane (who sang!)

Dear Mona Khademi of DC

On Ferry, shooting Statue of Liberty

There she is!

Melanie & Tim, on pier--on April 11th!

OK, now to New Jersey:

Mashiyat Ashraf, architect, who showed us around Montclair

We hiked to see the surrounding area

Gorgeous day in the "Garden State"

Two women who encouraged us!

Unitarian Church where Abdu'l-Baha spoke

Montclair Train Station

Teaneck!  The car Roy Wilhelm drove Abdu'l-Baha in.

Bryan, the caretaker, and I with driving goggles.

ah, the details!

Me, holding a light reflector

what we do, for love of film!

The famous Wilhelm house where photo was taken

Abdu'l-Baha's room

Add caption

Tim in front of cabin

And finally, Kathy (Kathleen) Nawi, our hostess, who made the whole trip possible for us!!!! Here she portrays a suffragette or a disciple or both. . . .  Her home and yard in Norwood, NJ were beautiful--and she offered us amazing hospitality! 

And now, Lake Mohonk! This was one of our most expensive shoots ever. We had to get production insurance, then pay for a security guard to accompany us the whole day, then pay $400 for a carriage ride for one half hour. But it was all worth it! The story is wonderful--and it had been a dream to go there for both of us--for decades!

Door to room 166, where Abdu'l-Baha stayed

What beauty! What history!

The famous rocking chairs!

On the porch, with Barbara, whom we met in Glenwood Springs!

Amada, a PR assistant charged with being with us, who participated

Amanda and Bob, security guard who stayed with Tim all day

Barbara looked so beautiful and authentic!

Amana and Kathy Krug--an old, dear friend!

Chris Ruhe, as Edward Getsinger, Janet Ruhe-Schoen, as Lua Getsinger, Mehrdad and Fuad--two lovely men, whom Tim kept calling "Persian #1" and "Persian #2"!!!

With Mr. Smiley in the upstairs hall!

The carriage ride!

Barbara and Kathy

Recreating a potent scene! (Singing in the carriage)

"Lua" and "Edward"

Wonderful day!

The carriage ride

The famous rug Abdu'l-Baha gave Mr. Smile

In the Smiley study

Barbara should make a career out of this!

Fuad, "Persian #2," in the study

The actual gate entrance to Mohonk Mountain House (now unused)

With Brian Kurzius, who took us to the gate and then to his home, 

where we a lovely meal cooked by his wife, Christine.

How do we merit all these bounties?  Lastly, Philadelphia . . .

Religion Communicators Council Convention

Our trailer won an award of excellence! We are holding all of the Baha'i awards.

Owned by the Assembly, it needs work!

Joe Bolton and Melanie Etemad met us at the Revell House

Thinking about the history . . .

And the future!

Unitarian Church visited by Abdu'l-Baha

Train station where He stopped

Baptist Temple, part of Temple University

Now an art center . . .

We captured cherry blossoms--may use for DC!

Giving a presentation in Homa & Behrouz Travangar's home

Dramatic piece . . .

Great audience!

"A Cup of Tea" (monologue by Roger White)

Our lovely hostess and daughter

and host and another daughter!

       What a trip! Now I need to pack for the next one!