Edit Item

Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson

Country: USA, Language: English, 77 mins

Lesbian | Documentary | 2015

Director: Michelle Boyaner
Writer: Jane Anderson; Michelle Boyaner
Producer: Jane Anderson; Tess Ayers

CGiii Comment

Here's an alternative title: How not to make a documentary!

What a load of supposition, presumption and piffle...nothing quite like bending the tenuous 'facts' to meet a pre-defined agenda!

When researching a person's life involves a visit to a psychic...well, that's the credibility shot to Hell! As for verifying and/or the investigation of facts...sparse, scant and sloppy.

For sure, Edith Lake Wilkinson had an interesting life. For sure, her art is quite lovely. For sure, this 'documentary' does nothing but avoid the substance...instead, we get endless 'gushiness' from her great-niece who dominates the whole film. This really is about her...not Edith.

Barbara Green - producer, editor and cinematographer - should [seriously] reconsider her roles...the editing is a scissor-and-sellotape job with goofy gimmicks, the 'cinematography' - well, there is no cinematography...this is point-and-shoot with the operator screaming: how do you turn off the autofocus!

This is what happens when [self-important] egos get in the way of a good story. Edith's art may have been found...but, sadly, her true story is yet to be told.

Trailer...

Packed In A Trunk - The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson - Trailer from Greenie Films on Vimeo.

The(ir) Blurb...

PACKED IN A TRUNK is the story of artist Edith Lake Wilkinson, committed to an asylum in 1925 and never heard from again. All her worldly possessions were packed into trunks and shipped to a relative in West Virginia where they sat in an attic for 40 years.

Edith's great-niece, Emmy Award winning writer and director Jane Anderson, grew up surrounded by Edith's paintings, thanks to her mother who had gone poking through that dusty attic and rescued Edith's work. The film follows Jane in her decades-long journey to find the answers to the mystery of Edith's buried life, return the work to Provincetown and have Edith's contributions recognized by the larger art world.