ONE WAY BOOGIE WOOGIE / 27 YEARS LATER

In 1977 I shot One Way Boogie Woogie in Milwaukee's industrial valley. As a kid I played there, hopping freight trains and fishing in the Menomenee River. In 1977 the valley was beginning to die. Factories were moving out. The steel foundries were rusting. I wanted to document its decay. Using friends, family, and three Volkswagens, I shot in March on brightly lit days creating 60 one-minute narratives. Then 27 years later I decided to make the same film again. I located all 60 prior camera positions and most of my old friends and family. Things had changed with age. A few people had died, some of the buildings were gone. I used the same soundtrack from the old film, cutting the new images to it. The resulting film is now the two films shown together - first the old then the new. It is a film about memory and aging. (James Benning)