This video competed in
2019 Experimental Shorts
Director(s): Belle Krupcheck
The Stories We Tell Ourselves is a 16mm experimental film exploring self harm, coming out, and private pain. The image has been created by physically damaging the film using tools the artist had used on herself in the past. These tools include exacto knives, sewing needles, and sandpaper.
Over images of 1960’s Catholic family events, a narrator reads three letters to past crushes, girlfriends and the artist’s estranged mother. Through narration three intimate letters are read aloud expressing an adolescence spent in denial and secrets.
There is something very staged and perfect about classic home movies. Disrupting a white-bread family with stories of a very non-traditional narrative works to erase the idyllic imagery. Furthermore, to cut and damage the once precious film disrupts the facade of a nuclear family life.
The piece has been an act of personal therapy for the artist as well as, hopefully, an act in which can help others. Stories of self harm are not often shared, and when they are, they feel dramatic and noir. However, the act of self harm in one way or another is something most can relate to; whether it be substance abuse, toxic relationships or just harmful thoughts. The artist hopes to convey that, even in the most isolating of times, there is a place in the world for everyone.
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