Private Project

Last Will and Testament

Pondering recent trips through the Suez Canal and to Onkalo Finland (the world’s most secure nuclear waste site) a man calls an estate lawyer to discuss an eccentric plan for his mortal remains.

  • Frank Heath
    Director
    The Hollow Coin
  • Jesse Wakeman
    Key Cast
    Donald Cried, The Hollow Coin
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Travel, comedy, documentary
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 42 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Egypt, Finland, Ukraine, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4k UHD
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Simone Subal Gallery
    New York City
    United States
    June 1, 2021
Director Biography - Frank Heath

Frank Heath is an artist and filmmaker based in New York. His work has been shown in exhibitions and film festivals throughout the world. Solo exhibition venues include: Simone Subal Gallery, New York; Swiss Institute, New York; and Art Basel Statements, Basel. His work has been included in group exhibitions and screenings at the Kitchen, New York; International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Power Plant, Toronto; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the High Line, New York, among other venues. His film The Hollow Coin (2016) was awarded Best Documentary Short at Indilisboa and the Kurzfilm Hamburg Deframed Audience Award. His video works are distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix (New York). He is also the editor of the feature film Donald Cried (2017).

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Director Statement

Last Will and Testament continues in a series of videos I’ve made using secretly recorded phone calls to create improvised conversations between actors (in this case Jesse Wakeman) and unknowing participants. These characters seek information, guidance, and help through a confused or displaced sense of authority - consulting with customer service representatives, 311 operators, and business owners on personal, quasi-supernatural experiences. The absurdity of the claims are often uncannily substantiated by the travelogue visuals in the film where we actually see evidence of the caller’s story. In this case an eccentric proposal for a Will unravels to existential questions about mortality, supply chains, and the loopholes of international law.