Forward of its world premiere subsequent month on the Locarno Movie Pageant, a trailer arrives at present for Lucy Kerr’s characteristic debut Household Portrait. Kerr appeared on our annual 25 New Faces of Movie listing final 12 months, partly as a result of energy of this movie.
An official synopsis offered by gross sales firm Lights On reads:
Set on the daybreak of COVID, Household Portrait follows a sprawling household on a morning after they have deliberate a gaggle image. After the mom disappears and one of many daughters turns into more and more anxious to search out her and take the image, the remainder of the household seems to withstand any try to assemble. Initially presenting itself as a sensible portrayal of a household on an idle however hectic summer season day, the movie progressively descends right into a realm the place time and house lose their grip, remodeling the household portrait right into a solemn and enigmatic ritual of transition.
In a Director’s Assertion on the Lights On web site, Kerr provides an intriguing notice:
Household images, in response to Roland Barthes, are a determined means to freeze time and immortalize the household. Nevertheless, what the household doesn’t notice but is that, as they smile and pose for the image, they’ve already died
Vadim Rizov’s 25 New Faces profile of Kerr touches upon how the writer-director, who initially comes from a dance background, determined to artistically enterprise into filmmaking:
…She fell in love with experimental movie after changing into a daily attendee at Anthology Movie Archives and Mild Trade. Together with the work of Leslie Thornton, she cites a viewing at BAM of Eric Baudelaire’s essay movie The Anabasis of Might and Fusako Shigenobu, Masao Adachi, and 27 Years with out Photos as formative. “The dance world continues to be so centered on virtuosity and athleticism,” Kerr says. “Movie and artwork allowed me to discover extra research-based and conceptual tasks like I noticed in Baudelaire’s movie.” Later, Claire Denis’s Beau Travail helped her uncover that “efficiency, and the physique, can have this narrative energy and serve this function inside a story movie.”
Household Portrait can have its world premiere at Locarno on August 4. Watch the trailer above.
