“Wavelengths” By Jessie Zinn

Across the Bay Area, illuminated windows reveal volunteers for Exhale, a hotline for people seeking help in processing their abortion experiences. In the still of night, these volunteers lend an ear to those who need it.

The short film IN MEDIAS RUSH is an experimental cinematic journey into the depths of a manic mind. A poetic retro-sci-fi narrative unfolded in a string of unsettling tableaus that encapsulates the male protagonist’s ambiguous feelings about his birthday. While balancing between realities in his silent struggle with severe mental illness, we plunge into the film at a neatly orchestrated birthday party. The protagonist is accompanied by his girlfriend, and they are drinking cocoa on the couch in their mutual home. The setting breathes pure perfection, but through the voice over we sense that another reality is soon to be revealed. With one foot on the accelerator, he is heading towards the edge. The thematic focal point of IN MEDIAS RUSH is mental health problems among young adults, and the social/personal consequences related to the existing taboo on the subject. The film wishes to formulate an honest cinematic space in which words, sound, and image artistically interprets and articulates some of the perspectives related to especially bipolar, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. IN MEDIAS RUSH was nominated in the category 'Best Danish Short Film' at Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2020. Original title: IN MEDIAS RÆS Directed by: Esben Persson -------------------- DK: IN MEDIAS RÆS IN MEDIAS RÆS er en filmisk rejse ind i dybderne af et manisk sind. En ung mand fejrer sin fødselsdag, mens hans tanker tordner afsted. Med en uvillig fod på speederen har han kurs mod kanten. FR: IN MEDIA RES IN MEDIA RES est un voyage dans les profondeurs d’un esprit maniaque. Un jeune homme fête son anniversaire tandis que ses pensées se multiplient. Malgré lui, il se dirige vers un point de non-retour. -------------------- Cast: Peter Alexander Bach & Amanda Overby Drew Director // Script writer // Set designer // Costume designer // Editor // Speaker: Esben Persson Photographer // Editor: Lasse Mølsted Producer: Latifa Lykke Ben Mabrouk Assistant producer: Cecilie Creutsberg Music composer: Martin Bejder Sound designer: Mads Hye Chief Lighting Technician: Rasmus Bruun Liboriussen VFX: Jonas Fonnesbæk Lodahl Colorist: Kristopher Paterson Graphic designer: Jakob Toft Kristensen -------------------- Shot on RED Monstro 8K with Lomo Squarefront Anamorphics.

In March 2020, the world shifted in a major way, and the Bay Area went under full lock down as a response to COVID-19. At the time, I was in my third quarter of my Masters degree at Stanford University. As a woman, experiencing lock down in an isolated setting far away from my family and friends, I was particularly interested in the multitude ways that lock down was affecting woman in particular.

Around this time, I discovered that a well-known abortion hotline (called ‘Exhale’) was still operating under lock down, albeit from the confines of the operators/volunteers homes. I found this new working dynamic to be fascinating, and collaborated with the volunteers from the hotline to create a short film (titled Wavelengths) that documented the operators as they answered calls at night from inside their homes. Of course, I had to be mindful of the limitations that come with social distancing.

As a creative response, I conceptualized the piece in a way that highlighted the importance of windows as a central metaphor to the work that these operators are doing. The whole film was shot at night, at a distance, from outside the operators’ windows.

Jessie Zinn - Director

Credits

Directed by: Jessie Zinn
Featured Voices:
Meghan, Janelli Vallin, Elaine, Nina Pine, Susan Chorley, Cait, Sierra McGovern
Associate Producer: Aurora Brachman
Cinematography & Editing: Jessie Zinn
Written by: Kirra Zinn
Production Assistant: Michael T Workman
On-location Sound: Aurora Brachman
Story Consultant: Kirra Zinn
Music: Alaskan Tapes
Colourist: Sean Wells
Sound Mix: David Sandwisch

Faculty Advisors: Jamie Meltzer, Elizabeth Lo
Technical Support: Mark Urbanek, Paul Meyers

In collaboration with Exhale:
www.exhaleprovoice.org

Produced in the Documentary Film M.F.A Program, Department of Art & Art History, Stanford University

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