USA Projects

In December 2009, I purchased a suitcase on eBay. Inside were 60 reels of audiotape chronicling an adulterous love affair in the 1960s between a Mid-western woman and her lover. The work-in-progress based on this unique audio material, combines historical documentary and experimental narrative to critically examine human obsession with recording and sharing intensely private moments. I was struck by the historical significance of the material and the unmediated way the couple recorded their lives. In the twitter-era of social networks and the obsession with recording and sharing miniscule personal experiences, it is striking to confront such a rich and candid media example from a half a century ago. The material represents a rare example of a moment in time and a listening experience so real I felt compelled to share it. Relying solely on the audio contained in the suitcase to reconstruct a narrative, the result is my editorial invention of events as they may have taken place. 

Described as their “memory library", the recordings testify to this couple’s dedication to memorializing their affair. In the 1960s, most people were not thinking about the impact and dissemination of recorded media, yet Tom and Jeannie’s motivations can be viewed as surprisingly similar to any contemporary couple sharing intimacies while simultaneously hiding them. The film foregrounds a reliance on the tape recorder in the relationship, characterizing it as the essential participant it became. 

Beginning in a decade that would soon spawn the sexual revolution and directly touching on the sexual experience of the time, the work addresses the morals laws, societal mores, and inhibited lives of adult Americans in the 1960s. The film mirrors the compulsion to confess ones indiscretions in today’s cyberworld by utilizing vintage materials to explore the compulsion to confess personal indiscretions. And it aims to spark a cross-generational dialogue about exhibitionism, privacy, and voyeurism. 

After two and a half years I am in the final post-production stage. My minimum goal of $10,000 will go toward completion--although it doesn’t fully represent the final costs to execute the project in its entirely. The first priority for the money raised will be to pay some of the costs for the final online editing, color correction, sound design, and sound mixing. Additional monies will be applied immediately toward creating International Festival masters and DVD screeners, an expense that is vital for a films success. 

Of course, any financial help, no matter how small, will be immensely appreciated. Thank you for supporting independent experimental cinema. I look forward to seeing you at a screening in the near future.