**FULL FILM, ENJOY!
I consider this video a rough journal entry of my experiences immediately following the attacks on September 11th, 2001. I felt as if my concept of reality had been shattered; our sense of security and what it meant to live in America seemed like a Matrix-like illusion, suddenly gone. In the days that followed, I was dumbfounded and quite angry at the overwhelming effort by the government, mainstream media, and corporations to reboot this broken reality.
One Mile Per Minute opens with a 3D animation of what appears to be a Mattel-branded Twin Towers play set that falls. As the camera plummets to ground level, the scale changes, igniting a primal fear. When the actual Twin Towers fell, I was living right across the East River in Brooklyn. As the cloud of debris swept over my apartment, my instinct was to flee the city and go to my parents' house. In the few days I spent there, my family and I watched non-stop news coverage of the destruction, mayhem, and rescue efforts, all nestled into frenzied graphics branded by logos and interrupted only by commercials. I started watching TV shows like Friends, Frasier, and Ally McBeal to divert my thoughts from the 24-hour news cycle. My new home, New York City, was becoming an abstract concept molded by the TV set that was always on. I became icy, cynical, and jaded. I needed to go back.
Back in New York, I was the first to cross the Brooklyn Bridge when it reopened to the public. There was not a single car, biker, or pedestrian on the entire bridge. A tower of black smoke billowed where all those buildings once stood. Downtown was littered with office supplies; every inch of every surface was covered in a thick layer of gray soot scribbled with names, hearts, and prayers. I was so awestruck and horrified that I collided with a parked car and found myself on the hood. I went home and switched on Buffy the Vampire Slayer to escape.
When I returned to the suburbs before the holidays, I rode around with my mother and brother, who were marveling at the ugliness of newly constructed houses, and I began to film. I was reminded of how the 9/11 disasters were being packaged and commodified, just like these cookie-cutter homes now decorated for Christmas. I began to wonder if, somewhere in the near future, children would receive 9/11 play sets for the holidays, similar to the huge inflatable Titanic I saw them sliding down at the county fair that same year. As a nod to this, I stitched in audio samples from Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."
YEAR: 2002
TRT: 9:08
MEDIUM: OPTICALLY PRINTED 16MM
PREMIERE: NEW YORK VIDEO FESTIVAL
DISTRIBUTION:CONTACT ME