Tarnation

"The best movie of the year"
—John Waters

At the age of 11, Jonathan Caouette began this video documenting his life as a confused gay boy, capturing sadistic grandparents, a state-enforced separation from his family, serial drug overdoses, and his schizophrenic mother's shock treatment in Texas mental hospitals. What might have been tabloid drama becomes in Caouette's hands an extraordinarily involving exercise in autobiographical reinvention. Edited entirely on Apple's iMovie's editing software and produced on a budget of $218, Tarnation draws on 160 hours of video and Super-8 material, as well as saved answering machine messages and family photo albums, to impose artistic sense on two decades of the filmmaker's life.

After seeing a rough cut, filmmakers Gus Van Sant and John Cameron Mitchell signed on as executive producers, thereby helping Tarnation achieve the status of instant—and deeply deserving—legend. (88 mins.)


support credits

Season support provided by the Rohauer Collection Foundation and the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation.

Contemporary films, international films, and visiting filmmakers presented with support from the Ohio Arts Council.