Photos from the BRIGHT SHADOW world premiere

Bright Shadow - Lone Star Film Fest

If I wasn't so busy editing another documentary at the moment, I would have posted these photos sooner. On November 6th, Bright Shadow - a feature documentary about singer/songwriter Ana Egge - had its world premiere at the Lone Star Film Festival in Ft. Worth, Texas. I drove up the day of the screening, met up with director Jesse Lyda and the rest of crew - which included Ana, producer Jason Wehling, cinematographer Allen E. Ho, and executive producer Clark Lyda. After catching up over dinner, we headed over to the AMC Palace to screen the movie to festival goers.

Bright Shadow Q and A

Our Q and A after the movie was in front of a packed house, yet still felt intimate. Both Ana fans and folks unfamiliar with her music praised the movie and asked us insightful questions about the process of making it. It felt like the we connected with everyone in the room, which is what we aim to do when spending years piecing an emotional journey like Ana's.

(If you are unfamiliar with Ana's work, check out her latest album, also titled Bright Shadow, on iTunes or buy direct from her website. Past albums also available.)

Director Jesse Lyda with Ana Egge

After the movie, we walked across the street to the Flying Saucer where Ana played a set. Myself and the rest of the crew continued to talk to audience members who joined us at the screening. Great screening, great night!

Red carpet selfie

WORLD PREMIERE: Bright Shadow - a documentary about songwriter Ana Egge - debuts at the Lone Star Film Festival

Courtesy of anaegge.com

Bright Shadow, a documentary directed by Jesse Lyda, is an intimate window into the artistic journey of singer/songwriter Ana Egge. Jesse followed Ana during the run up to, making of, and release of her album Bad Blood which was produced by Steve Earle.

Jesse captured some moments on video that might be too raw for most artists to have laid bare, so it's a testament to Ana, her wife Amy, and the rest of Ana's family to let us tell their story. I think we crafted a film that is a modern, truthful meditation on artistic expression - whether that art be expressed through music, film, or family.

On a personal note, and admittedly this is a bit of inside baseball, it's the first feature I edited using Apple's Final Cut Pro X, which was much maligned by professional editors at the time we started work on the project. We used Final Cut X before it was truly, completely ready to take on a feature. The program has been improved and expanded substantially. It's my favorite NLE to use and I think its organizational features are particularly superb for documentary work.

Bright Shadow makes it's world premiere Friday, November 6th at the 2015 Lone Star Film Festival.