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Academic Year 2014-2015
Event Title
Sarah Polley’s Documemoir Stories We Tell: The Refracted Subject
Location
Alvin Sherman Library, Room 4009
Start Date
12-2-2015 12:00 PM
End Date
12-2-2015 1:00 PM
Disciplines
Film and Media Studies
Description
In her stunning meta-documemoir, Sarah Polley investigates her deceased mother's secret life through the lens of artifacts and interviews with others. By employing postmodern stylistics—super-8 home footage combined with faux home footage, and interspersed with photographs, dramatic “scenes,” emails, and a narrative within a narrative—the filmmaker-actor manages to weave together the complex tapestry of her own life story. At mid-life, through the making of the film, Polley arrives at an approximation of the “truth” about her muddled parentage and, more importantly, its impact on her own constructed identity.
![](http://nsuworks.nova.edu/far_fls_headshots/1029/fullsize.jpg)
Sarah Polley’s Documemoir Stories We Tell: The Refracted Subject
Alvin Sherman Library, Room 4009
In her stunning meta-documemoir, Sarah Polley investigates her deceased mother's secret life through the lens of artifacts and interviews with others. By employing postmodern stylistics—super-8 home footage combined with faux home footage, and interspersed with photographs, dramatic “scenes,” emails, and a narrative within a narrative—the filmmaker-actor manages to weave together the complex tapestry of her own life story. At mid-life, through the making of the film, Polley arrives at an approximation of the “truth” about her muddled parentage and, more importantly, its impact on her own constructed identity.