The Stories We Tell Ourselves

The Stories We Tell Ourselves is a 16mm experimental film exploring self harm, coming out, and private pain.

  • Belle Krupcheck
    Director
  • Belle Krupcheck
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Biography, LGBT, Queer
  • Runtime:
    17 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 13, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    50 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • IMAP MFA Thesis Screening
    New York
    United States
    May 17, 2019
    NJUEZ Media Award
  • Newark International Film Festival
    Newark NJ
    United States
    September 6, 2019
    Official Selection
  • LGBTQ Shorts Film Festival
    Missoula MT
    United States
    July 1, 2019
  • Los Angeles CineFest
    Los Angles, CA
    United States
    January 1, 2020
    Semi Finalist
  • Toronto Queer Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    November 7, 2019
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Belle Krupcheck

Belle Krupcheck is a New York-based artist who works with moving image and mixed media. Focusing on her art practice, in 2015 Belle started her own pop-up gallery (Blue Tape Society). She curated two successful shows in Bushwick and Williamsburg Brooklyn featuring artists who have now been featured on Buzzfeed and other outlets. During her time at Pace, she also published a mixed media poetry book titled, The Warmest Jacket I Own is the One You Gave Me. Her video work has been shown in New York City, Kawkow, and London. Belle has a rubber duck collection and loves true crime.

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Director Statement

The Stories We Tell Ourselves is a 16mm experimental film exploring self harm, coming out, and private pain. The image has been created by physically damaging the film using tools the artist had used on herself in the past. These tools include exacto knives, sewing needles, and sandpaper.

Over images of 1960’s Catholic family events, a narrator reads three letters to past crushes, girlfriends and the artist’s estranged mother. Through narration three intimate letters are read aloud expressing an adolescence spent in denial and secrets.

There is something very staged and perfect about classic home movies. Disrupting a white-bread family with stories of a very non-traditional narrative works to erase the idyllic imagery. Furthermore, to cut and damage the once precious film disrupts the facade of a nuclear family life.

The piece has been an act of personal therapy for the artist as well as, hopefully, an act in which can help others. Stories of self harm are not often shared, and when they are, they feel dramatic and noir. However, the act of self harm in one way or another is something most can relate to; whether it be substance abuse, toxic relationships or just harmful thoughts. The artist hopes to convey that, even in the most isolating of times, there is a place in the world for everyone.