2013 Thin Line Film Fest - Eleanore & the Timekeeper

The complexities of a mother's sacrifice are discovered when Eleanore, at age 91, moves her developmentally disabled son Ronnie into a group home, after 64 years of devoted companionship and daily ritual in their modest Pennsylvania farmhouse. ELEANORE & THE TIMEKEEPER chronicles the lives of Eleanore and Ronnie Hickman, the Director’s grandmother and uncle. Shot on 16mm, the film is a quiet love story between a mother and son, which records the inevitable transformation in their relationship, and shifting definitions of home over a seven-year span.

Set in a farming and logging community in rural Pennsylvania, the film celebrates the minor spectacle of the everyday. It underscores repetitive cycles in daily routine using a hyperrealist gaze. Using pattern and repetition as unifying themes, the film strives to be simple, anti-psychological and anti-dramatic. The soundtrack features a rich and textured musical score composed by the New York based avant-garde string quartet ETHEL.

Re-framing social issues, including end of life preparations, resources for adults with disabilities, and loneliness among the elderly, ELEANORE & THE TIMEKEEPER mirrors the classic tale of a son’s coming of age, and a mother’s empty nest syndrome, however delayed by some forty years in this case. Through the magnified lens of this mother and son relationship, ELEANORE & THE TIMEKEEPER celebrates life’s natural cycles of monotony and impermanence.

Film Details

Duration: 77 mins
Director/Producer: Danièle Wilmouth

Information from the festival website