Sunday, April 29, 2007 @ 5:30 PM
Helen Hill Remembered
On January 4th, 2007, the experimental film community lost one of its brightest stars. Helen Hill, a filmmaker and animator who lived in New Orleans, was shot and killed in her home by an intruder. She was a marvelous and gifted artist, filmmaker, mother, wife, and friend.
Helen was an incredible filmmaker and highly regarded in the experimental film community. She made wonderful, quirky animations, often manipulating the film surface by hand with various techniques that resulted in stunningly beautiful abstract images. She was so good at hand-made, direct to film animation that she taught workshops all across the country, and even released the heralded ’Recipes For Disaster’ booklet that has served as the quintessential direct-animation resource since it was published. Helen’s home was flooded after Hurricane Katrina, and a crazy mold grew on many of her films. I remember her joking that some of the mold created patterns on the film that were so interesting that she might need to add a chapter in her book about them.
Helen never seemed too interested in her own success, but instead viewed filmmaking as a folk-art and put her emphasis into building community. I imagine that her vision of success would be a world of people living together in peace, sitting around a giant table making animated films. She was a much-loved member of the experimental film community. I used to joke that Helen was so sweet that when you first met her you might think she was going to try to sell you something. But it wouldn’t take long to realize that she was just a wonderful, beautiful human being who had a profound sense of compassion and generosity.
In this program we are proud to screen a selection of Helen’s work along with films made by some of her closest colleagues. Revenue from this program will be donated to a college fund that has been set up for her 2-year-old son Francis Pop. A memorial website for Helen has been set up at www.helenhill.org
-Matt McCormick