An Evening of Experimental Documentary by Jane Gillooly

Jane Gillooly presents a test screening for the University of Iowa
70 Minutes – DVD, w/ Q&A after

A forbidden love story played out in a decade that would soon spawn the sexual revolution. This experimental film reconstructs a mesmerizing and erotic narrative from 60 hours of reel-to-reel audiotape discovered in a suitcase purchased on eBay. Recorded in the 1960’s, a Mid-western woman and her lover chronicle the details of their adulterous love affair. The film uses this rare audio example to critically examine a time in the United States when it was exceptional to listen to the contradictory words of those who secretly and exuberantly lived a lie while publicly constraining their passion. The couple was reliant on recording devises to document and memorialize their affair. The film suggestively foregrounds the recorder as the confidant, witness, and participant that couple come to depend on — always omnipresent, the recorder creates a welcomed ménage-à-trois. Mirroring the compulsion to confess ones indiscretions in today’s virtual world, these captivating recordings speak to an audience that can remember Bert Parks, as well as one that has never set finger to a rotary phone.

The film underscores the sexual experience of the times, deeply hidden from public view and addresses the morals laws of 1960’s America, the devastation of divorce, and the clandestine lives many adult Americans were forced to lead. Offering an honest portrayal of the dynamics of an unhappy marriage, the effects of institutionalized sexism, the influence of popular culture, and the impact that new technology, portable recording devises, had on their lives.