Laura Kissel

DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION | VITA & BIO | academic

DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION
& Director of Photgraphy credits

Cotton Road (in post production)

Open Secret (release: late 2010)
director of photography
directed by Steve Lickteig

Portrait of Turner (2009)
director of photography
Directed by Irene Gustafson

Incoming Messages (2007)
director of photography
Directed by Irene Gustafson

Beyond the Classroom: China (2008)

Unfettering the Falcons (2007)

Cabin Field (2005)

Finding Lula (2002)

Vivian's Beauty Shop (2001)

Leaving Bristol (1999)

Verdant Hills: Healing Nature, Sustaining Life (1998)

Leaving Bristol
produced, directed, edited by L. Kissel
cinematography by L. Kissel

16mm film, TRT: 32:00

Leaving Bristol is a documentary film that explores the loss of the filmmaker's family farm in Bristol, Tennessee, and the failure of her grandmother's (Trula Seneker) aging mind. The film documents Trula's move away from the farm and the last days of her life, while simultaneously constructing a history of the 200 year old farm from things that are left behind. Trula's fragmented memory becomes the model for the film's telling of the history of a place. A story of the farm is woven- from things found in the barns, photographs, stories overheard- all accompanied by the passing of the seasons and the planting of the annual tobacco crop.

Select screenings:

broadcast: Southern Lens, SCETV, 01.20.2005
SCINDY Festival, Piccolo Spoleto, 2001
McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC, 2001
James River Festival of the Moving Image 2000 First Place Award
Women Direct 2000
Women in the Director's Chair 2000
Colossal Film Crawl 1999 Best of Show