Over on the Filmmaker Magazine web site you can find an interview I conducted with documentary filmmaker Kathy Leichter. Kathy’s film, Here One Day, was born out of grief, as was A Life’s Work. Though our inspiration may have been the same, we made two very different films. I think of A Life’s Work as a personal film, but in Here One Day Kathy deals with extremely personal subject matter, her mother’s bipolar disorder and suicide. Kathy sorts through audio tapes, home movies, and letters, and interviews her family to try to make sense of it. To quote myself in Filmmaker, “It’s a story about what a person with mental illness does to a family — a story many of us can relate to — and how a family copes and moves on.” It’s a very powerful film.
Here One Day is currently screening at IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries. If you’re a film person and attending the market, make sure to see it.
Drop me a line after you read the interview. I’d like to hear your thoughts.
Special thanks to Pola Rapaport and Nick Dawson for their help.
[cross-posted on Extra Criticum.]
Eleni
It was hard for me to imagine how documenting one’s mother’s suicide would not be crushing until I read the interview. I can now see how it could be healing and would like to see the film.
David Licata
I wondered the same thing, which is why I was so eager to interview Kathy. Some of what she said surprised me, especially the stuff about editing. But I understood it, too. Art making, even when it deals with the heaviest of subjects, can be therapeutic and fun.
Another reason I wanted to talk with Kathy was to find out how she did it. How did she turn this very personal story into something that is relatable to many people? What I discovered was that if we tell our personal stories and we tell them well, and with specifics, viewers will realized the tellers’ stories and their stories aren’t really so different.