Award-winning documentary concludes “DOCtoberfest” at Fisher Theatre
Sedona AZ (October 29, 2016) – The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present a one-night only special premiere of the award-winning documentary “Look At Us Now, Mother!” — by Emmy Award-winning director Gayle Kirschenbaum — on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 4 and 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre. Kirschenbaum will host a Q&A via skype following both screenings.
What trauma could make a child certain that she was born into the wrong family? What wounds are inflicted when the home that’s supposed to be a haven isolates her as an outsider; when her mother’s words are rarely nurturing but instead, ruthlessly shaming, demeaning and critical? What will it take for the adult that child becomes to forgive such a past? Is forgiveness even possible?
This is the dilemma that Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum faces in her relentlessly honest and bitingly funny documentary, “Look At Us Now, Mother!” Comprised primarily of decades-worth of intimate family home movies and videos that were never meant for public viewing — from 8 mm film coverage of Gayle’s outwardly “Leave it to Beaver-esque” childhood in an upwardly-mobile Long Island suburb, to personal family celebrations, fights, and even tragedies right up to the present — it’s the story of one determined woman’s quest to reconcile with and understand her past, which means forgiving her proud, narcissistic and formidable elderly mother, Mildred.
With raw courage and equal parts humor and pathos, Gayle invites the audience to take this epic journey along with her — an odyssey of discovery with no bump in the road edited out. Gayle is determined to unlock the key to her family’s pain and crack open her mother’s brittle shell. When Mildred grudgingly agrees to participate in the process, the two of them uncover shocking family secrets and long-buried suffering that throw their family history into sharp relief, and begin to shih the dynamics of their complex relationship.
Mildred’s still a powerhouse well into her ninth decade, but Gayle knows her mother won’t be around forever. Can she learn to understand, love and forgive her mother — before it’s too late?
“Look At Us Now, Mother!” may be about one mother-daughter relationship, but its insights and lessons are universal. In order to move forward into the future, we all have to forgive what happened in our pasts. Understanding is the first step in that journey. Kirschenbaum brings her unique brand of fearless honesty and laugh-aloud humor to a film that took decades to shoot, about a relationship that took a lifetime to mend.
“Heartwarming. A story of acceptance and forgiveness.” — New York Times
“Charming and endearing.” — Variety
“Touching and provocative.” — The Huffington Post
“Look At Us Now, Mother!” will show at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 4 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, please call 928-282-1177. Both the theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Hwy. 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.org.