Joel.Simone

Below is the first the first newsletter for The Doorway. I sent it today around 11:00pm.

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues, and Mentors,

This is the first of a series in updates leading through the production and into the screening of The Doorway. First and foremost, you may know me as Orion Star; however, my birth name is Joel Simone. In this newsletter I will explain the reason for my name change and it’s significance with a corresponding project, The Doorway.

Nearly two years ago, as a independent artist, I returned to the Bay Area from Los Angeles as Orion Star. My intention was to unite the things I love, i.e., my art, business, and family. The summer I returned, I discovered the Visual Communications Program at Las Positas College, headed by Fredda Cassidy. The Visual Communications program was only offered in the Fall, so I decided to give English and US History Summer classes a try; I would never be the same. Nine years after graduating high school, I found the importance of general education in my life, and I developed a profound respect for Science and Humanities. With this new phase, I realized the significance of my origin, and I am re-initiating my given name.

I changed my name to Orion Star six years ago, December 2002. I wanted a name that symbolized me as a practicing artist. As a child, Orion was the first constellation I saw in the night sky, and he symbolized the strong character I wanted to be as an artist, a warrior or hunter for creation; for this reason, I chose Orion as my first name. In addition, I created under the banner of Star Tribe Cinema, my cinematic production label; so I chose Star as my last name. I vaguely understood the science of the universe, but I picked a name significantly associated with Astronomy. Ironically, the more respect, intrigue, and beauty I found in an Astronomy course, Astr-10 with Laura Sparks, the closer I felt to my birth name. Orion represented a spanning aspect of my life, a drift that is now closing, or should I say forming? Ultimately, I’m moving into the next chapter. This too is all tied in with my current Las Positas College Honors Project, The Doorway.

The Doorway is a movie inspired by a parable by my English instructors brother, Robert J. Willis. The parable, also titled “The Doorway,” features a man circling within the safe, bland, and artificial boundaries of a room. He is secure in this room, but ultimately, he’s not progressing, and in his monotonous rounds, he relentlessly avoids the one way out, a doorway. Nearly two years ago, in the Summer of 2006, Mr. Jim Willis beautifully read this substantially relevant parable his students, and I was one of them. It immediately resonated a personal chord, and the force rippled into further inspiration. I found the outlet for this momentum in the Fall of 2007, and it started as an honors project for my Eng-4 class with Mr. Willis. You may read the “The Doorway” parable on Mr. Willis’s website, here, or on this site, here. Shortly before, in the Summer of 2007, I furthered my unification objective by completing the Citizen Cinema website, my first Las Positas College honors project. The Citizen Cinema website is associated with internationally acclaimed cinematic artist Rob Nilsson, a personal artistic hero and mentor. I combined my business with my education; however, this project represented the initial synchronization of my art with my education. The Doorway, my current honors project, signifies the next step, i.e., the fuller harmony of my objectives.

I returned to the Bay Area to unify the things I love: my business, art and family. This list now includes the acquisition of general knowledge, and this is greatly associated with my current education.

We, the crew and I, start shooting The Doorway in the coming months, and we plan on holding our premier screening in May, likely on the Las Positas College Campus. Stay tuned for updates leading into the screening. I will send out several more emails, but I encourage you to visit the production web-page, The Doorway web page; this online location features a frequently updated project journal.

If you would like to reply to this newsletter/email, comments are welcome on the project page, post a comment. Also note, I’m changing my primary email to the one included in this email’s from address. You can still contact me through my previous emails, but all future emails will be sent from the new address. Thank you all for your support, inspiration, and attention.

Let’s make history!

Sincerely,
Joel Simone