David Licata | April 16, 2012
I met Jim Robbins when I followed David Milarch around a grove of Redwoods in Northern California in the fall of 2007. It was a tense shoot (you can read about it here), and Jim’s cool presence did a lot to settle my nerves. We’ve kept in touch, and when he comes to NYC, we [...]
David Licata | May 27, 2011
Documentary filmmakers frequently encounter a dilemma: how do you know when to say, “production is over.” You can always shoot more, especially now with video. For Grey Gardens, a film I reference frequently, the Maysles shot more than 70 hours of footage over the course of six weeks. That’s film, not video. And film stock [...]
David Licata | May 17, 2011
In previous posts, I wrote about other people and projects I considered for A Life’s Work and why I chose four subjects instead of three or five or twenty-seven. But neither of those posts address why I chose these four people. A Life’s Work is very simple, really. It’s me searching for an answer to [...]
David Licata | April 29, 2011
Here’s a clip I put together just for Arbor Day. The bulk of this clip was shot on our first visit with the Milarchs in 2007. (Please pardon my little artsy interlude which was shot elsewhere.) This is one of my favorite bits of footage and I’m so glad cinematographer Wolfgang Held kept rolling, even [...]
David Licata | April 10, 2011
In your Sunday New York Times, an article on Archangel Ancient Tree Archive’s efforts. On your monitor, a segment from the documentary, A Life’s Work (in post-production), featuring David Milarch of AATA (then known as Champion Tree Project). And while you’re here, why not take a look at 10 Ways to Support A Life’s Work. [...]
David Licata | March 22, 2011
What is it that makes us look up? We look up at trees, at buildings, to the sky to see clouds, stars, planets. If we are inside and we’ve been asked a question, many of us look to where the wall meets the ceiling, as if there’s a clue there, before we articulate our answer. [...]
David Licata | March 14, 2011
Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story about the Milarchs efforts to clone the biggest and oldest trees for reforestation projects, and now it’s everywhere. Here it is on the NPR web site. I thought this might be a good opportunity to revisit a clip from A Life’s Work, so here you go: David Milarch [...]
