SYNOPSIS
A young, clinically depressed aesthete takes his audience on an irreverent, self-deprecating journey through his innermost thoughts and neuroses, complete with voice-over.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
"Self-Important Empirical Film #3... was an honest attempt at examining the heavy fog of apprehension that pervaded my early twenties. In making the film I wanted to capture the listless abandon of young adult life- not just the obvious awkwardness and disillusionment, but also the occasional grace achieved during solitude. (I should probably confess that I've never been an entirely miserable person.) But while this film is quite personal, in retrospect much of its appeal lies in the way the raw pathos of the voice-over meshes with various external elements (an escalator, a rock band, strangers passing by) which have little to nothing to do with me. The implicit message seems to be that, for better or worse, the "outside world" continues to function and exist despite whatever one's impression of life might happen to be.

"Perhaps the most novel aspect of Self-Important Empirical Film #3... is the way the narrative thread of the text relates on various levels with the images on screen. Sometimes they are directly related and mirror each other, or suggest strange vague connections. At other times the images and words seem to have their own respective trajectories, as if the film is disinterested, for the moment, in being subordinated to the text. But all of the visuals were carefully edited to rhythm of the voice-over. So we're left with a rhythmic film that artfully obfuscates its own deliberate structure. Ideally this shifting relationship between dynamic elements will yield a multiplicity of meanings, and allow for more active participation for the viewer. It may be lost on some the first time around, but that's all right: A film should be enjoyed intuitively first anyway, and I've done my best to make this enjoyable." --Dave Andrae, December 2005

PRESS & KIND WORDS
"...Dave Andrae's literally named ode to his own intellectual pursuits (we'll just call it 'Film #3' for short) is narrated in what sounds like Laurie Anderson's 'voice of authority' as the author publicly examines his depression -- which miraculously seems irrelevant once he considers the cathartic virtues of merely committing one's persona to film. Message: Shooting will set you free." --Eric Henderson, The City Pages, March 2005