The Renovation

THE RENOVATION (2010), Documentary 17:50min. U.S.A. Graduate film, The New School.

Awards & Official Selections:
Winner BEST DOCUMENTARY, DaVinci Film Festival 2012. Oregon
Gen Art Film Festival 2011. The SVA Theatre, New York NY
The Big Apple Film Festival 2011. Tribeca Cinemas, New York NY
Quadrangle Film Festival 2012, Kent, UK
New Filmmakers NY. Anthology Film Archives, New York NY
Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival. Brooklyn Historical Society (Fine cut), Brooklyn NY

Broadcast on national television in the UK in September 2015.

Summary:
Empty windows and a ragged American flag are features of a house that have mystified people for decades in Williamsburg, NY. From an outsider’s point of view, the building seems abandoned with no signs of life. But behind it’s walls lies a human tale that is ready to be told.

The owner is Jim, a Vietnam Veteran and declared patriot, who was once born in this very building that he has bought to try and fix. Two decades later, it still remains seemingly untouched. Sediments of the past are thickly layered in the house and as Jim sifts through the dust, the layers of his life begin to peel away.

“The Renovation” tells the story of house with a past and a man who's been haunted from the raging battlefield to the inner space of his childhood home.

Direction, cinematography and edit by Lea Hjort Mathiesen
Composer: Nikolaj Hess, Frederik Valentin, Mikkel Juul Jensen
Additional Photography: Adam Newport-Berra
Sound Design: Nick Heling
Sound Mix: String & Can
Color: Adam Mcclelland