BELLE | 2004 | dir. Ruth Sergel
16:00 | Narrative | USA/NY

Synopsis: BELLE is a subversive fable of old age and beauty. A short fiction film that explores the intersection of age, race and our expectations of others.

Bio/Director/Artist Statement: Ruth Sergel’s latest film BELLE premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival (2004). BELLE was made with the generous support of the New York State council on the Arts and the Jerome Foundation. Ruth’s previous film, CUSP (2000), premiered at the Museum of Modern Art’s New Directors/New Films and is distributed by Women Make Movies. The film is a portrait of a spirited 12 year-old girl hitting the wall of early adolescence. CUSP won a Juror’s Citation award at the Black Maria Film Festival and can currently be seen on the Independent Film Channel. Ruth’s first short, BRUCE (1998), a visual duet between camera and dancer, premiered at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival. BRUCE was broadcast on the PBS series The Short List and is distributed by Hypnotic.

Ruth served as Video Curator at Here is New York: a Democracy of Photographs where she established Voices of 9.11 a video oral history project that collected hundreds of personal testimonies from New York, Washington DC, Shanksville, PA and the Pentagon. In 2004 Ruth inaugurated CHALK a community-wide commemoration of the Triangle Factory Fire. She is currently completing full-length screenplay SHINING SEA.

Contact: rsergel@streetpictures.com