Book of the Dead

• gig: documentary, experimental, direction, writing, sound design
• location: Baltimore, MD
• director: Jay Perry
• sound_recordists: Josh Fischer, Kyle Hurley
• steadicam: Chris Smith
• studio: vastu.media
• completed: February 2004

A 2-screen experimental documentary I began as a school project, and finished a year later. The film began when I started studying the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an 11th-century Buddhist scripture, while living in downtown Baltimore. Seeing all the abandoned houses around my neighborhood, it occurred to me that an abandoned house is something like the concept of 'bardo' described in the Book of the Dead. That is, 'bardo' is a kind of limbo you encounter after death but before you reincarnate, and a vacant house is, likewise, a dead space that has yet to be given new life.

Fascinated by the idea, I spent the next two years in a frenzy of reading, taping interviews, shooting in dangerous neighborhoods, editing, writing, and editing some more. When it was finally finished, it screened at the Chela gallery in East Baltimore, to rave reviews, and got a mention in Baltimore's RADAR magazine. Having forgotten all the sleep I lost, I can't wait to do another project like this.