3 Conversations in April: Film Preview & Discussion

You are invited to join us for a sneak peek of a newly released film which is currently on the film festival circuit! The 12 minute film is about a sibling relationship in the time of COVID-19. The screening will be followed by a live discussion with the filmmaker.

Summary

When you’re trying to communicate with a loved one who doesn’t use words to communicate, who lives in a group home miles away, and who has been placed in isolation, diagnosed Covid positive, what do you say? What do you do? How do you feel? 3 Conversations in April is the filmmaker’s recordings of the first calls she’s ever made to her brother - an older man with autism - by phone. as she attempts to find ways to provide something familiar in her brother's upended life.

Meanwhile, the viewer will watch as darker themes emerge — the series of illogical and unfeeling policy decisions made by a system that governs the care of those with intellectual disabilities, the worried lives of the staff who work in the homes. Through a steady interspersing of titles and reenactments, the film gradually reveals some unsettling realities. There are perhaps multiple reasons why you’ll see the filmmaker quietly pacing in her own self-isolating space.

Filmmaker Biography

Ms. Hamovitch is a filmmaker, whose best known feature length documentary, Without Apology, tells the story of her brother, Alan, who lived at a time when having a developmental disability could send you to live in an institution and so at a young age, never having spoken, he was sent to live full time in Letchworth Village. The reasons for Alan's institutionalization, the kinds of systems that were in place at the time for children with intellectual disabilities were never explained to her. So 35 years later, Ms. Hamovitch embarked on the journey to uncover and reclaim her family's past, finding, in the process, a tangle of family shame, social history, and ultimately a new, unique relationship with her brother. For more information, visit withoutapology.com.

Other films include Stood for the Storm, the filmmaker’s second feature documentary, about the long aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, told from the perspective of one gutsy woman, known by many as Mama Sue.

Ms. Hamovitch has taught documentary film and film studies at all levels, from 3rd grade Magnet programs in the public schools to graduate students at New School University in New York City. She currently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband.

For more information, please visit the filmmaker’s website at oneeyedcatproductions.com.

Note: Please register to attend this special event presented via online Teams meetings video conference. Your registration confirmation and event details will be emailed to you. This online event will be recorded, you will be asked to acknowledge this during registration. You may turn off your camera and microphone at any moment if you do not wish to be recorded. If you have questions, please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.