Evidence

Als Lee Anne Schmitt ein Kind war, war ihr Vater häufig beruflich unterwegs. Er arbeitete für den Olin-Konzern, eine Chemiefirma, die für enorme Umweltschäden verantwortlich ist. Im Lauf der Jahre hat die zugehörige Olin Foundation mit großen Summen Institutionen und Gruppen gefördert, die eine konservative, rechte Politik in den USA unterstützen. Mit ihrer lakonischen Stimme als prägendem Instrument hat Schmitt einen Essayfilm gestaltet, der Autobiografie und politischen Diskurs verbindet. Nicht zuletzt durch die aktuellen Entwicklungen unter Präsident Trump wird EVIDENCE zu einem Gegenwartsfilm von enormer Brisanz. (Bert Rebhandl)

In Anwesenheit von Lee Anne Schmitt.

The personal and the political become more intertwined than ever before in Lee Anne Schmitt’s bracingly timely fourth feature EVIDENCE. Its starting point is directly autobiographical: her father worked for the Olin Corporation, one of America’s most notorious chemical companies, with images of the dolls he used to send her as a child from his countless international business trips peppering the entire film. Perhaps such ambivalence can only be countered with clarity, which would explain Schmitt’s lucid, methodical approach. She thus traces both the history of the Olin Corporation and its multiple environment transgressions as well as that of the foundation it birthed, whose formidable assets were channelled towards helping the racist, classist Neoconservative movement infiltrate every level of the American establishment. Schmitt combines typically striking 16mm views of significant sites, snatches of domesticity and shots of salient literature with archival material and intertitle quotes to craft a comprehensive takedown of an entire ideology. At a time where rigour and research can feel bizarrely out of fashion, such fierce, infectious intelligence is at once hugely instructive and a political statement all of its own. (James Lattimer)

Lee Anne Schmitt (Auswahl): THE WASH (2005, K, KO-REGIE), CALIFORNIA COMPANY TOWN (2008), BOWERS CAVE (2009, K, KO-REGIE), THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT (2012, KO-REGIE), PURGE THIS LAND (2018), FARNSWORTH SCORES (2019, K), CRY LOVE (2024, K)