Ryan Harper

Writer, Director, Producer

 

Five years ago I was took a trip to the Mexican desert. I hitchhiked out there and the only food and supplies I had with me was what I could carry on my back. On my fortieth day in the desert I found my way to a tiny Mexican town halfway down the Baja penensula. There was one bumpy dirt road with five or six cinderblock houses on each. All the houses were painted a different color, there was a blue house, a yellow house, a red house, and so on. Next to a lime green house a nintyfour year old man sat in a lawn chair in the shade. I walked up to him and he offered me the cigerette he was smoking. In Spanish I tried to tell him that I don't smoke, but I think I said "I no to smoke." But he understood and motioned for me to sit down. In broken English he told me that tonight was a special night. I took the bait and asked why. He said that tonight I will discove the meaning of life. Of course I thought nothing of it, but after a few hours of drinking beer and chit chatting on his patio, the old man stood up and told me to follow him. Together we walked down a path which lead towards the Sea of Cortez. At the beach he stopped and pointed towards a cliff. He told me that at the edge of the cliff there is a cave. He said that in the cave I will find what I am looking for. The old man shook my hand, wished me luck and then turned around to walk back towards the town. Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, I walked into the cave. At first it was pitch black, but as I kept walking I could see a light up ahead. It was flickering. Then the cave opened up into an old dusty movie theater. I walked past a 35mm projector and took a seat a few rows back from the screen. With the familiar rythmic clicking, the old projector came to life and the man from the lime green house was projected up on the screen. He was younger, maybe thirty five and had thick black hair. The screen flickered as the camera moved into a close up. The man looked right into the camera and said in perfect English "Ryan Harper, go forth and make movies and TV commercials."

I left the cave and in the dark I was able to find the path the lead up to the town. But there was no town. I thought I must of missed it in the dark, so I asked a local at the next town I came across. He told me that there is no town there and that I should never go back. When I came back home I quite my job and I decided to make movies and TV commercials, just like the old man told me to.