You may now proceed to give me your lunch money...c'mon, it's for art!
This documentary not only asks the question “Who is Connie Converse?” but also, “Where did she go?” To those who knew her, Connie Converse was a daughter, a sister, a sister-in-law, a friend, a scholar, a writer, an artist, a political activist, a composer, and a musician. She was indeed all of those things, but as one can tell from the goodbye letter, Connie was much more. She was a human in a lifelong battle with herself. Each year brought more disappointment and loneliness as she struggled to connect herself to this world while seeking commercial success for her work. Faced with major surgery, an impending trip to be spent sober with her mother, and a crippling sense of failure, Connie Converse drove off in her Volkswagen bug leaving only notes of goodbye. The year was 1974 and she was 50 years old. Connie was never heard from again, and all we have left is a filing cabinet of papers and her haunting, beautiful Musicks.
Although I am in the research/grant proposal writing/planning stages of the film, tricky circumstances have called for what might be my final chance to go to Michigan and speak with her brother, Phil, and sister-in-law, Jean. While I am in Michigan I will also be gathering materials to aid Lau Derette (the record label who released her album, "How Sad, How Lovely") with the re-release of a special edition. I will be purchasing a portable digital document feeder/scanner to obtain copies of as many treasures from the filing cabinet as I can, including her personal letters, pictures, and drawings.
My trip is scheduled for September 8-10 and I am attempting to raise any amount of money I can to subsidize the cost of travel, equipment, and other production expenses. If you have a bit of fundage to spare, I would greatly appreciate donations of all denominations, from non-consecutive twenties to kind words. I don't discriminate! Soon I will have a website with a better promo video, pictures, an inside look into production, etc. Of course I will keep you all updated as things progress.
I am so thankful for all of your support. If it weren't for your belief in me, I wouldn't believe in me!
8 comments:
Hey! good luck on the Connie doc. been wishing someone would make one for a while.
Yarden. Israel.
if you're still going forward with your connie converse documentary, i would like to make a suggestion.
the key to finding her might be in her volkswagen beetle. since the car would have been registered in her name, and she most likely sold it at some point, you might be able to contact the dept. of motor vehicles in the state it was registered in and track down who she sold it to.
perhaps her family has information on the car, or an old photo of it that might show its license plate #.
if you're lucky they might have information on her.
Hello eeTeeD!
The car has never been found nor do we have any details on the license plate, etc. Myself and a number of researchers are in contact with her family and they don't seem to have of this information. I'm going to really dig and try to find some more information about the vehicle, though. I know when she bought it - there's a start!
Thanks for your comment!
what happened with the trip?
eeteed
Hi Eeteed,
The trip went really, really well. Got lots of interesting tidbits and facts from Connie's brother and sister-in-law. I also had the opportunity to digitize a good chunk of the filing cabinet. Things are well underway! I'm looking into grants and using the Connie project as my thesis in grad school.
This morning I had a Skype interview with Gene Deitch, the only person (other than Connie herself) to record her songs. He lives in Prague now and we had a wonderful conversation.
Would you like to be put on my email list for documentary updates?
Thanks for your interest!
yes indeed i would like to be on your list for updates.
btw, you are very lucky to have gotten to opportunity to speak with gene deitch. i am a huge fan of his work.
E -
Yes! I am very lucky to be in contact with Gene. He's a great man. Here's a small clip of the interview...keep in mind it's only 3 minutes out of an hour and a half long interview. It was an assignment to make a radio show-like piece for my MA program:
http://lockthatdoor.wordpress.com/
I'll put you on my list!
Thanks,
Andrea
Hi there! What's up with the dokumentaryzm? Do you know something more, any new facts?
Is there any chance to find out what happened to Connie?
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