Lorene

This is a very personal piece about my grandmother that came to fruition by pure instinct. There was little to no preparation, as it was shot in linear fashion (as you see it unfold on screen). There were no pick up shots or re-shoots. Even the shots of the pictures, although set up to be captured, were all used practically and framed, not for the project, but to be on display at the funeral.

What makes this piece avant-garde in nature is that there is no central character. Although I am the one traveling, it’s my late grandmother who remains the central figure, even though she’s dead. I manage to do this by using saved voicemails, spanning almost a decade, to create a narrative. This is how you get to know her; through her voice. I never anticipated using the voicemails for anything intentional, let alone a film. I collected them and kept them as keepsakes.

The night I received the news that she had passed I purchased a ticket to S.F. the next day. I shot everything in a naturalistic way. Nothing was overly manipulated. Not the lights. Not the mis-en-scene. Not the objects in frame. This is a genuinely organic piece with no bias and I believe it stands alone.

I’m submitting my film because I want to speak to the real aspects of dealing with death. It’s not just finding the body, then going to a funeral. There’s a real mess left over, emotionally as well as physical things: clothes, the house, bills, etc. I wanted to expose the rarely revealed, if ever, logistics of planning a funeral, the burial and everything else the demise of a loved one demands of your time and energy. Planning a funeral is confusing and mentally exhausting. This is a slice of life into my family and our real conversations about something out of our control. It’s unscripted and captured with a hand held rawness that preserve the feeling that you’re along for the ride. In the end, it’s about honoring a memory that I hope I can share that with an audience.