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Enough How much is enough? The following is a video documentary that explores consumption and nourishment. My subject, Leslie, has had her whole life catalogued in home movies, shot on 8 mm film, which aid greatly in the telling of her story. Leslie was born in 1946 in Columbus, Ohio. Leslie's family was quite well off. Every summer she and her sister Kelsey and their parents traveled north from their home to their summer cottage, on an island in Georgian Bay. At the island, intense family politics took second place to recreation. Two full time servants were there to facilitate their repose. Leslie loved her life on the island. The family fortune worsened when Leslie was 13 and her father died. Her mother re-married when Leslie was 17, and Leslie's disdain for her stepfather didn't take long to develop. It quickly became a mutual feeling. After graduating from high school, Leslie went to college in Missouri for two years. In 1965 she was accepted into the Parson's School of Design in New York City. All of these periods in her life have been captured on film. Artistic and independent in Manhattan, Leslie eventually met & married Tom. He was an inspired artist BUT a troubled man. Together they moved to Halifax in 1969 to teach at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. They continued to document their lives on film. Three kids later, Tom moved back to New York. Leslie stayed in the old house on Jeddore harbor, on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. She raised the kids, went back to school, and continued practicing many crafts including gardening, spinning, knitting, and baking. She learned a lot of skills her mother never taught her... (skills like how to rig up a trouble light by cutting off the socket welded to the bulb by the melted rubber and re-wiring a new socket, handling a propane torch to thaw frozen pipes in rat-infested crawl-space, etc. all in order to thaw ice in the well.) Leslie lives on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean in a lovely (though increasingly rustic) home. It resembles the island of her youth in many ways‹‹minus the servants, of course. In her work as a psychotherapist and as an artist, Leslie's life as been one of constant growth and exploration. She has grown to reject most of her parent's values, and she is one of the most psychologically healthy people I know. That's why, when her mother put the island up for sale a couple of summers ago, I was shocked by Leslie's reaction: it was one of intense grief and sorrow. I thought that in her adult home, she had recreated the beauty of the island‹‹but Leslie didn't think so. She was distraught. She pulled a box of home movies out of the closet and began showing me what her life on the island was like. I was smitten with the images projected before me onto the side of her fridge. These silent movies showed Leslie's whole childhood and her college years. It is a marvelous opportunity to tell a story since it is so rare to have this kind of expertly filmed coverage. This project will detail the exceptionally balanced, thoughtful and peaceful manner of the subject. This will be my most personal work to date. Part of my fascination with Leslie's home movies had to do with the economic disparity between her childhood and mineand between her childhood and her adulthood. I grew up not far from Leslie's island, but no one I knew had servants or film cameras. The kids are grown up and gone now; Tom left years ago. Leslie is leading a simple, mortgage-free existence in a beautiful place where the memories of her island still take up much of the space. Kyle & I are videotaping Leslie as she watches the old films and goes about her daily life: as a fabric artist, paddling in her canoe, working in the garden, counseling her psychotherapy clients and going to Scottish Country Dancing classes. It could be said that Leslie re-created her childhood refuge in Jeddore, but if that's true, why did losing the island hurt so bad? Leslie is an articulate, thoughtful woman and our relationship is very close. She is not afraid to explore these issues on camera and has given me exclusive access to tell her story. She's got a great sense of humor. And she embodies the concept of temperance better than anyone I know: she lives her life completely in balance‹‹ within her means in every sense: economically, environmentally, spiritually. She eats well, and she is in blooming good health for a woman of any age. I am planning to shoot additional interview footage in digital video and possibly recreate some scenes on regular 16mm film. The documentary will be finished on video. Together Leslie & I will explore the deeper
meaning of home as well as the ways in which people project their
feelings onto property. We will also explore the relationships between
women and their mothers. Via the willing participation of Leslie,
her children, and the incredible treasure of the old films, this
funky & thoughtful documentary will lead the audience on an
exploration of what it means to have Enough. © Conceptafilm
2003 |
Images coming soon! |