THE FUTURE IS BEHIND YOU
Suburban Trilogy - Part 2

by Abigail CHILD
2004 / 16mm / b&w / sound / 1S / 20' 00

THE FUTURE IS BEHIND YOU creates a fictional story composed from an anonymous family archive from 1930’s Europe, reconstructed to emphasize gender acculturation in two sisters who play, race, fight, kiss and grow up together under a shadow of oncoming history. I am looking, as always in found material, for the story below the story. Here there are at least 3 levels: 1) the home movie in which a family from 1930s Germany near the Swiss border poses for the camera, preternaturally happy. Unusually, the mother is main cinematographer; 2) the historical moment which remains as text trace, undermining the image and serving as covert motive for the action; 3) the development of gender identities—the innocent freedom of the elder transformed into socially bruised ‘bride,’ the irrepressibility of the younger moving from tomboy to awkward, diffident adult.

At once biography & fiction, history & psychology, THE FUTURE IS BEHIND YOU excavates gestures to explore the speculative seduction of narrative; it seeks a bridge between private & public histories. Music by John Zorn, arranged and played by Sylvie Courvoisier and Mark Feldman.

3 PRINTS IN DISTRIBUTION


distribution format Digital file on server (SD)
screen 1,37 - Standard (single screen)
speed 29,976 fps
sound sound
original language English
rental fee 83,00 €

distribution format Digital file on server (SD)
screen 16/9 (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
original language English
translation French (Embedded subtitles)
rental fee 83,00 €

distribution format DCP on server (SMPTE 2K)
screen 2,35 - Scope (single screen)
speed 25 fps
sound sound
original language English
rental fee 83,00 €