To Turn Back Time

I mentioned in my previous post that in the next post I would be peddling a friend's movie. The friend is an OYANer -- which means, for those of you that don't know, that he is a member of a writing community I've been a part of for a while -- and the project he is directing is a short film called To Turn Back Time.

“To Turn Back Time” is the story of John, who has just graduated college, when he wakes up one morning to discover that his long deceased father is alive. After getting to know his father—something he’s longed for his entire life—he discovers his dad’s presence isn’t the only thing that’s different. The rest of his family has changed too, along with his own ability to help his girlfriend Alyssa through the death of her mother.  In the end, he’s faced with a terrible choice: to stay in the world where his father lives and lose the man he’s become, or give it up for the sake of the love of those around him. 

The story of “To Turn Back Time”  is intensely personal to writer / director, Keifer Lucchi, who lived through the death of his father at the age of seven. As memories and buried emotions started to resurface, Lucchi allowed himself to deal with what had happened for the first time in his life, and the story for “To Turn Back Time” was born.Lucchi has felt a call to make the movie since its inception, as a memorial to Michael Lucchi, the father he never got to know. Lucchi also wishes to create an emotional offering to all those who have lost loved ones, and who may still find hope even in the pain and death, while creating a story that will allow others to stand by and support those who’ve gone through something similar. 

But he’s already not the only member of the cast and crew to share a personal affinity to the story. 

Christina Espiritu, the actress slated to play the part of  John’s girlfriend, Alyssa, witnessed the death of her own mother, Melissa Espiritu, to cancer just over two years before principle photography. Christina’s experiences were eerily similar to what Alyssa experiences in the film, which is dedicated to her mother as well. It’s our honor to have such an actress on-board to bring life to a character that represents so many who have lost loved ones in a similar way. 

By the grace of God, so much has already come together toward this film. During the pre-production process we’ve already been blessed in so many ways! However: the time has come for the final pull before production can begin, and to really get the ball rolling we need $10,000. 

We need money to rent and purchase top-of-the-line film equipment to make this idea a reality. We need your help and support to make this possible.

You know what I'm going to say next, don't you?

Like they said, the crew has to raise $10,000. They've raised over $3,700 so far, but they have twelve days to raise the rest. If you're interested in this project and would be willing to donate, that would be awesome. If you can't or rather wouldn't donate, then you can help support them by 1) praying for the cast and crew and that they would raise the money they need, and by 2) spreading the word. OYANers, I'm looking at you. There are at least three OYANers that I know of involved in this film -- please support them by spreading the word.

For more information, you can check out the project's website. To donate, click here.

Please be praying for this project.

Beta

So this is how it begins.

I, Justin Ferguson, have returned to the land of Blogger. I say returned because a long while back (at least three years ago, if I remember correctly) I was once a citizen of this land. But I decided that I wanted to explore other lands in the vast world of Internet, and so I abandoned my home in Blogger and became a traveler, exploring distant lands until finally I have returned and staked out a new property, and with me I bring riveting tales of adventure.

In other words: I had a blog, got bored with it, dropped it, spent all my Internet time on other sites, and have now made a new blog which I hope to fill with more interesting posts than I did with the last one.

So this is Justin's Blog 2.0, or version Beta. What is the purpose of this blog? To be brief, it's a place for me to write about the things I'm interested in, whatever those things happen to be at any given time. One thing you should know about me (and probably already do) is that I'm a writer -- a fiction writer, hence the blog title -- and it's been an interest of mine for a very long time, so posts relating to that may be frequent on this blog. Maybe. I don't intend to give out much information on my writing projects on the internet, so we'll see. At the very least it will probably be the common thread throughout this blog.

What else might I post here? Thoughts on books I've read and movies I've seen, songs I like, profound philosophical treatises (i.e. ramblings) on whatever happens to be on my mind, peddling for a friend's movie (coming up next), and perhaps the occasional look into what's going on in my life. Occasionally. I personally don't find my life to be exciting enough to write frequently about. (One of the reasons I write about other people; fictional characters are so much more interesting.)

I believe that's enough for the first post. Cue the dark, dramatic music.

"So it begins."