As the year 2007 comes to a close and as we prepare to celebrate the dawn of a new year, I am saying goodbye to someone who I knew only for a while. But that someone had an enormous impact on me during the brief period that I knew him. Patrick "Patricio" Duran suddenly came in to my life as a mentor, a believer in me and what I do, and someone who introduced me to the works of legendary filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, Akira Kurosawa, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Aleksandr Sokurov. I don't think I will be boasting in making the claim of being one of the very few people in San Francisco/Bay Area who own an entire collection of Akira Kurosawa films. I am grateful to this mentor for giving me a direction as a filmmaker, to make substantial movies, regardless of the budget and the means available.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, Patrick "Patricio" Duran suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which left a permanent scar on his life. He was a truly generous man who went out of his way for others and expected no favors or anything in return. If he believed in someone, he would make it his cause to encourage and help that individual to be his or her best. I was one of the many such people, at his funeral, whose lives he had positively affected. It came as a shock to learn of his sudden demise at the beginning of this year, but before the year 2007 comes to a close, I wanted to say thank you to Patricio and promise that I won't let him down.
After making two low budget indie narrative features and one documentary, I promise to embark on a new journey, pushing and challenging myself to follow in the footsteps of the legendary filmmakers Patricio had envisioned. Starting 2008 till the day I die, I have some very BIG shoes to fill.
Goodbye 2007 and Goodbye Patricio !
Amir Jaffer
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