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OUR STORY
The events of September 11, 2001 effected people in different ways throughout the world. For many, it was a horrific attack on innocents and the response was empathy, despair and sometimes anger.For others, the repeated images of the falling towers of the World Trade Center also evoked awe and fascination. Many had the desire to repeatedly watch documentary footage and read about the attack.
Over
the years, some people have confessed to an obsessive pleasure in watching the
towers fall again and again. This film explores how the events of 9/11 uncovered
some contradictory emotions toward the U.S. and how love, hate, anger and resentment
toward the worlds superpower complicated the emotional fallout of what
happened on that day.
The
film tells the story of a child whose developing
anger and resentment toward his
neglectful parents leads him to fantasize about their demise. His parents
failure to provide love, security and individual freedom is a metaphor for the
neglectful actions and policies of the U.S. and the childs fleeting desire to
punish his parents is equated with the profoundly disturbing pleasure that some
people feel when revisiting the events of 9/11.
The Story
Armen
is a nine-year-old boy who wakes up in a run-down New York City apartment. His
parents are divorced and today his mother is in a hurry to get to an audition.
As she hastily prepares to leave, she tells Armen to stay home, do his
homework, wash the dishes, and wait for his fathers call.
His father works in the World Trade Center. Both parents encourage his effort
to prevent birds from hitting the apartment building by cutting colorful bird silhouettes
for the windows. But at the same time, neither of his parents have a real
connection with their son.
Left
alone in the apartment and awaiting his fathers call, Armen grows more and
more resentful. He begins to rebel and races through his homework, breaks
a dirty dish, and sticks his tongue out at his mothers picture of Jesus. When
he tries to call his father, the answer he receives is from an automated
machine. Looking
out his window at the Twin Towers, Armen sees a girl playing hopscotch down on
the street. He makes a connection with her by releasing a paper plane out the
window. The two children proceed to make faces and smile at each other for a
while, and the little girl finally invites Armen to come down to play. But then
his father calls. Armen answers the phone to hear his father tell him that he
cant pick him up today. Disappointed, Armen returns to the window and the girl
is gone.
Team on This Campaign:
-
Damien ArakelyanScreenwriter, Director
-
Alexander SchwabEditor