Deborah Stratman introduces O’er the Land

Deborah Stratman returns to Columbus to introduce her latest film, O'er the Land.

Borrowing its title from a phrase in our republic’s anthem, Deborah Stratman's O'er the Land takes a bracingly refracted survey of America's landscape and obsessions. Stratman interacts with Mexican border guards, Revolutionary War reenactors, gun-toting families, football teams, and finally a military jet pilot who lived through a 45-minute, hurricane-buffeted parachute descent from his plane. (52 mins., 16mm) O'er the Land is preceded by The Paranormal Trilogy, which consists of How Among the Frozen Words She Found Some Odd Ones (2005, 0:40 min., video), It Will Die Out In The Mind (2006, 3:40 mins., video), and The Magician's House (2007, 5:40 mins., 16mm).

O’er the Land screened at last year's Sundance and Rotterdam film festivals. Parts of the film were shot in and around Columbus, including at a Hilliard high school football game. We're honored to have Deborah Stratman back to share it with audiences here in Columbus.

A recipient of the 2006–2007 Wexner Center Residency Award in media arts, as well as numerous Art & Technology residencies, Stratman edited O'er the Land and The Magician's House in our Art & Tech studio. She is among a small coterie of filmmakers who remain committed to working in 16mm film, and as a result of her residency, the Wexner Center is now the proud owner of a Steenbeck 16mm film editor from the 1980s. It's quite a change from the digital equipment more typically used in the center's Art & Tech facility, but a step back in time was the best way to support this artist's working process and creative research.

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