Mud Water (III)

Only three years after starting Mud Water Theatre, I found myself in the middle of a suddenly accelerated MFA program, juggling graduate level coursework with the unfinished obligations of a $30,000 grant from the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. I had used less than half of the award to produce the first of two proposed showings, but $18,000 remained—and a letter from my fiscal sponsor gave me three months to deliver the second.

At the time, directing street dance theater on a shoestring felt oddly natural for a full-time environmental lawyer. But the other side—managing, presenting, touring, publicity—made me question what I was honestly cut out for. When I asked the foundation if the funds could be used to support a film instead, I thought I was proposing something more manageable. Instead, I spun a simple proposal into the hardest task I had ever taken on, harder even than passing all three years of law school (plus the three-day California bar exam).

In less than three months I wrote the script, scouted locations, secured shooting permits, assembled a sizable cast and crew, and filmed the entire (rather complex) film, in ten full consecutive days. I was not only the writer, director, and co-producer, but also the cook, driver, stagehand, and even served as an extra in several scenes. Somehow, against all odds, this unfathomable chaos became my first narrative film. And despite having no real training or experience in directing such a film, my first was selected by the 65th SFFILM Festival in 2022 for its world premiere.

Although it is often described as an adaptation of the evening-length theater show, Mud Water as a movie is really its own thing. The 31-minute narrative short blends folklore, naturalism, and dance, grounding itself in Oakland’s street dance culture while stretching into the mystical.

Two storylines run parallel: In one, a young turfer is torn between the loyalty he feels to his crew and the pull of his desire for something “more” or greater from dance. The other is a fable about a foolish man who prays to the moon to separate him from his own shadow, only to regret getting what he wished for.

Carried by ethereal turf performances, and told in a mythopoetic register that allows the cosmic and the everyday to echo one another, these stories braid together as a meditation on the inescapable ties we have to what we resist in ourselves, and the strange ways that rejection leads us back to confrontation, and ultimately to a deeper acceptance.

The film features first-time actors, including Philip Mays as Yung Phil and Arthur V. Gardner Jr. as DopeyFresh, who bring authenticity and lived experience to the screen. Since premiering at the 65th SFFILM Festival in 2022, Mud Water has traveled internationally, with screenings at Cinedans in Amsterdam, Dance Camera West in Los Angeles, CAAMFest in Oakland, and an excerpt on display in an art gallery for the Okayama Art Summit.

Credits:
Directed and Written by: My-Linh Le
Produced by: Elijah Guess and My-Linh Le
Starring: Arthur V. Gardner Jr. (Dopey Fresh), Philip Mays (Yung Phil), Michael Chicago (No Name), Xavier Days (Staackz), Hector Ascencio (Intricate), Shawn de Ocampo (Shawn of the Moon), Mark Andrew Barias (Knex), Miguel Mukuta (Okami), Jonta McDowell (D.E.P), Garion Morgan (Icecold3000), Elijah Lewis (Jno), Jane K. Lee (Violinist 1), Alexis Harris (Violinist 2), Jace Meierhenry (Violinist 3), Alan C. Chen (Violinist 4)
Original Scores by: Vanicka Chan and Adele Etheridge Woodson
Cinematography by: Elijah Guess
Editing by: Reynolds Barney
Production Design by: Isaac Fowler
Audio Post Executive Producer: Guin Frehling
Sound Mixer / Sound Recordist: Gabe Martinez
Sound Designer: Jackie! Zhou and Kt Pipal
Wardrobe Department: Isaac Fowler (costume supervisor) and Samantha Smith (costume assistant)