Eli Fischer

I’m a huge fan of the concert film Stop Making Sense, and it has always been a dream of mine to work within that space. I also have a real passion for trying to make Houston feel like a landmark. So, in aid of both of these dreams, I set out to make a concert film about a Houston musician. That’s when I met Orpheus Von Doom, the eclectic and highly talented artist that stars in the film. He’s a mega talent that’s completely unknown and I was blown away. This film exists because his music demanded a visual medium.

I wrote this short film based on my own experiences in dealing with mental health. My whole life has been a constant struggle of wanting to seek out help for issues I am dealing with, as well as not listening to that advice. I find myself putting the world on “mute.” Just blocking out those around me, and getting lost in my own personal struggles. Where I find comfort is the fact that everyone else deals with similar issues. Even if you are the happiest person around, there are small little things that can make you feel sad.

It was a project that started off with an idea of using time as a tool in my filmmaking. I wanted to explore the idea of pausing time in a film that's set in real time, real Agnes Varda/Richard Linklater stuff. After filming it for a day and sitting on it for a year, I realized that the reason I needed to tell this story was to actualize my fears. The film is a representation of the perpetually overbearing sentiment that my life is 12 minutes away from completely falling apart at any given time.