Tarnation

Tarnation (2003)

Your greatest creation is the life you lead

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

Date of release
2003-10-19
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (89)
Runtime
1h 31m
Genres
Documentary, Drama
Director
Jonathan Caouette

Casting

Interesting facts

Tarnation is a 2003 American documentary film essay by Jonathan Caouette.

Production

Caouette was shaping his material when he sent in an audition tape for John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus. The tape contained the footage of an 11-year-old Jonathan imitating a battered wife. Mitchell was impressed and encouraged him to continue working on the film. He alerted Stephen Winter, then the artistic director of MIX NYC, the New York Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival. Stephen became the producer of Tarnation.

Film critic Roger Ebert, an early supporter, said $400,000 more was eventually spent by the distributor on sound, print, score and music/clip clearances to bring the film to theaters. The film went on to win the Best Documentary Award from the National Society of Film Critics, also was nominated for the Independent Spirits, the Gotham Awards, as well as the L.A. and London International Film Festivals.

The film was initially made for a total budget of $218.32, using free iMovie software on a Mac.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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