Vanessa Renwick

Britton, South Dakota

October 1, 2009 - November 1, 2009

Vanessa Renwick’s short film, Britton, South Dakota highlights Prelinger Archives 16mm footage of depression era children standing in front of a Strand movie theater shot by local theater manager Ivan Besse.  The film’s haunting score by Johnne Eschleman adds a poignant layer. Filmmaker James Benning writes of the footage shot in 1938: “The children had no idea what a movie camera was.  The lack of narrative invites dressing these cinematic dolls with futures, now histories. The melancholic drone of the accompanying organ music tends to lead them into sad tragic finery.”