Time / Frame: 2009

Film Artist Statement:

Time is cyclical. It is an ever present and ever invisible force that binds you and marks your memory with chronology. It is in this way that we can begin to note changes in life, whether abrupt or long-term. Often, thinking about the past can be more satisfying than acknowledging the present. Along with the passage of time comes the inevitable wisdom and understanding of specific memories you may have had that, as they were occurring, did not, or could not, resonate.

September 11, 2001 was a moment in my life that I will never truly understand, but I am learning with time. My film is titled Time / Frame: 2009 because this is my first look back on the attacks of that day, a moment in time where I felt completely helpless—just watching from the other side of the river. On my second day of high school, when a person’s life is stereotypically riddled with irresponsibility and frivolousness, I watched my childhood soul enter the flames that engulfed Ground Zero. On this day, the world was reminded how wicked things could become, and in the years to come, we would learn how wicked things would stay. The difference between what was normal then, and what is normal now, has changed dramatically. This is a memoir. I cannot speak for the world, but I have spoken for myself.