Dec 16, 2012
Award-winning filmmaker Kim Cummings will be holding a benefit screening of her latest film, IN MONTAUK, with proceeds going to CARE for Sandy.
A debut feature supported by the Queens Council for the Arts and the Long Island FIlm Foundation, IN MONTAUK is a tense and powerful drama about an artist torn between an easy path to success, and a more perilous road to self-discovery. Set locally in Queens and Montauk (Long Island), "the story personifies the pull between art and family that many female artists face," says Cummings. "It's a personal story, taken from my own experience of being both a mother and a filmmaker and being constantly faced with difficult choices."
IN MONTAUK TRAILER LAURELS from KimCummings on Vimeo.
For Cummings, an avid photographer (and unofficial chronicler of her family), the idea of working to restore people's photographs - mementos of happier and cherished times - seemed like an easy choice for once. "It really resonated with me." After the hurricane Cummings traveled to Far Rockaway to help a friend deal with the aftermath of the storm, sifting through the devastated area in hopes of salvaging personal items. It was especially important for this friend to salvage her parents' wedding photo, as her mother had passed away a few years ago.
Working with CARE for Sandy to restore those cherished mementos raised interesting questions about the power of images for Cummings. And her film, set in heavily storm-hit areas of New York, seemed like an apt vehicle for us to explore these emotional ties we have to photographs - their power to express ideas, hopes, and to preserve memories.
Tickets to Tuesday's benefit screening of IN MONTAUK can be purchased here.