With WIRED ANGEL I feel that I have made a leap intonew territory in Film, a screen environment that isboth classical and some kind of cutting-edge.
     I have been making and shooting film for over twentyyears, and this twisting course has taken me to manydifferent sites of Cinema; I hope then that WIRED ANGELrepresents a kind of landing point.
     My independent filmmmaking began with some very abstract, painterly films I made in the nineteen seventies and early eighties - on the surface rather non-narrative but visually musical (I think I tend to plot narrative courses for my endeavors anyway).
     I've put in my technical and professional time as a CameraAssistant and Operator on TV Commercials, Industrials, as a gaffer on Independent features and shorts, and became a DP in the course of this - quite a Gym  workout, although they pay you rather than you pay them, well, not always in the case of Indies. On one level, this began to describe a career.
     But at some point I began to miss exploring the uncharted waters and strange Islands of Film, the reason I'd signed on in the first place.
     In 1990 I finished a film called "The Talking Rain". Although I'd wanted to do a feature, I also wanted to get a new film DONE and out there in the world, there were too many things in my head I needed to SEE on the screen. So I condensed what might have been a 'feature-length' idea into twenty minutes, forget about a budget, I had to make thisone on pure nerve and wits - can't afford a gennie for acertain night exterior ? - find a new way use sun guns and make it work. Etc.
     I also followed these two rules for "The Talking Rain" - don't worry about anyone's expectations - least of allmy own - and engage the sheer pleasure of film in every shot.  And, I think it worked. The film had a good festivaland showcase run, playing the Telluride, Sundance, Mannheim,Philadelphia (Festival of Independents) and Montreal World film festivals among others. More to the point, the best responses were personally expressed and in most cases, quite positive. No matter what the attendance figures, all filmsmust speak to their public one audience member at a time.
     In retrospect, although I think it stands quite well on itsown, "The Talking Rain" was in some respects a 'scale model'of larger ideas. Now I needed an extended form - featurelength - and the production resources whereby I could in fact work on an expanded scale, and in the process bringtogether the diverse experience of my own work, both 'avant-garde' and in the industry, as a Director and Cinematographer,and along with a skilled cast & crew set sail on this journeyto the enigmatic heart of Joan of Arc that we call WIRED ANGEL.

Sam Wells