Fred Soffa’s MY GARDEN STATE film started in the late 1990s as an attempt at a quintessential road movie. 9/11 changed the course of the project dramatically adding the “universal themes of loss, error, recovery, and transcendence,” says Fred. MY GARDEN STATE, inspired by Fred’s drive through the Holland Tunnel to New Jersey and his contemplation of, “How do I transform the world to a world of beauty?” Fred created a multi-screen projection, allowing the viewer to enter the mind space that Fred occupied during making this film, while the audience brings their own worldviews and memories making an experience that is “at once singular and universal.”
Fred grew up in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin in the 1960s and finds it refreshing to see the younger generation taking a totally different perspective than what he experienced growing up by demanding that the world become a better place for everyone. Fred attended the University of Wisconsin and later trained as an architect, where he gained an amazing outlook on life that, ‘everything has to fit together.’ Fred’s career path to this day, inclusive of, MY GARDEN STATE, is about the order of the world. Fred looks forward to what the future holds for all of us by “respecting all forms of life.”
MY GARDEN STATE took 25 years. Fred never gave up on a project. Fred’s inspiration comes from doing it. “Doing is the learning. Doing engages you with other people. Doing will inspire you. Come get inspired on September 10th and 11th. Now is the time, we are tasked with changing the world for the better. All of us,” exclaims Fred.
