2024 Filmmaker in Residence
When Bruce, a retired theater director, begins posting deeply intimate conversations with his growing collection of ventriloquist’s dummies, his daughter Emma is left with questions. Why is Bruce deriving fulfillment from long talks with invented characters that he himself speaks for? And why does ventriloquism allow him to be more open than he is with his own daughter? In an attempt to understand Bruce’s motivations and repair a relationship fractured by divorce and infidelity, Emma digs into home videos, follows Bruce to a ventriloquist convention, and conducts interviews with Bruce’s puppets. As she begins to recognize the key role performance has always played between them, Emma decides to commission the creation of dummies that resemble her and her father. Together, Emma and Bruce write, rehearse and film stylized material using their puppet avatars, allowing them to share more deeply than ever before and forge a new vision for their relationship.
Project description and bios courtesy of the Residents