Céline Roustan
Short of the Week alum Jamie Meltzer (Huntsville Station) returns to our website with a poignant and powerful documentary capturing the emotional impact of artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s In America: Remember installation, which took over DC’s National Mall, back in September 2021. not even for a moment do things stand still allows its viewers the opportunity to immerse theirselves, both visually and emotionally, in the powerful installation and consider all it represents.
In September 2021, Americans from all over the country came to DC to plant white flags on the National Mall, honoring the people they had lost to COVID-19. Created by artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, this initiative was built to contextualize the death-toll, a number we had become desensitized to, and capture the impact the pandemic has had on humanity. Every flag is a life lost, and seeing this sea of white flags surely packs a punch.
“I was overwhelmed by the vastness of death”
Meltzer shared that it is the artist herself who reached out about documenting her work and explained that being among the flags he was “overwhelmed by the vastness of death caused by COVID-19; the tragedy enumerated and made physical”. It is by experiencing it himself that he figured out the two main angles to capture in his documentary: the “monumental scope” and the “much smaller and intimate” impact of each individual death.
The stripped, observational approach prevents the film from turning into an oversensationalized narrative, and allows the audience to process the installation at our own pace without feeling pushed into it, which is surely the best way to recreate the irl experience. The camera places us in the middle of it all and though at times that can feel a bit overwhelming, the lens remains respectful and non-exploitative at all times.
“We approached people as they were filling out flags, asked for permission to film them, and then filmed from 50-100 feet away with a long telephoto lens and a lavalier mic”, Meltzer on the shooting process.
The intimacy of the experience was crafted by giving the participants lavalier mics, so the camera was able to remain at an unobtrusive distance and giving people space to mourn and not infringe on their personal moments. This space allows conversations to remain genuine, while in the edit Meltzer carefully chose where to cut to subtlety enhance the universality of these human emotions, while respecting the participants. This emotional space not only makes the film more engaging but also makes the connection with the viewer deeper. While we hear the experiences of the participants, in my case, it was only once the credits started rolling that I measured that impact and realized that it made the film all the more impactful emotionally. It is impossible to walk away from this film without an emotional grasp of how COVID has affected lives.
not even for a moment do things stand still premiered at the 2022 edition of SXSW ahead of its online debut as part of the New York Times Op-Docs collection. In addition to being an established and acclaimed documentary filmmaker, in both the short and feature formats, Meltzer is the Program Director of the M.F.A. Program in Documentary Film at Stanford University.