Finding Lula is a journey through ephemeral, material evidence that suggests the life of my Great Aunt, who I never knew.   The story of Lula is simultaneously the telling of a history and the setting of a scene for narrative possibility. It is true that Lula spent some of her life in hospitals.   It is true she must have traveled -- to California, to Kentucky, to West Virginia.   But what did she do when she lived in these places? How was she understood and known by the people she encountered? Lula wasn't abandoned by the family; over time, she simply became invisible. This documentary is an attempt to find her, to suggest a possible history alongside fragments of evidence.  

Finding Lula speculates about the intangible:   memories of her illness; a lost photograph; her travels. What is the relationship between what is known and unknown, seen and unseen? Lula left no particular story, no single interpretation of her life. The documentary moment is messy and ambiguous, uncertain and not entirely knowable. As the documentary maker, I try to expose things that aren't quite complete. I am attracted to gaps in knowledge and the absence of documentary evidence.

documentary

Finding Lula
2002

produced, directed, edited by L. Kissel
footage: found photographs / prelinger archives

digital video
8:00