Filmmaker Bill Morrison moves away from experimental collage and decaying celluloid to reflect on the possibility of truth as shown through recordings of an event from different vantage points. Using footage from several surveillance cameras, including those of the police, the filmmaker manages to piece together the subjective, chronological and emotional sequence of events leading to the murder of an innocent hairdresser at the hands of police. The film is one of the best portraits of systemic racism in US law enforcement. (RS)
Bill Morrison has been called “the poet laureate of lost films” (New York Times, 9/22/21). He makes films that reframe long-forgotten moving images. He has premiered feature-length documentary films at the New York, Sundance, Telluride and Venice film festivals. Morrison had a mid-career retrospective at MoMA in 2014. His found footage opus “Decasia” (2002) was the first film of the 21st century to be selected to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. “Dawson City: Frozen Time” (2016) was named as one of the best films of the decade (2010s) by the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair, among others. In 2021, Morrison became a member of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.