75min | USA | 2023 Set at the dawn of Covid, Family Portrait follows a sprawling family on a morning when they have planned a group picture. After the mother disappears and one of the daughters becomes increasingly anxious to find her and take the picture, the rest of the family appears to resist any attempt to gather. Initially presenting itself as a realistic portrayal of a family on an idle but hectic summer day, the film progressively descends into a realm where time and space lose their grip, transforming the family portrait into a solemn and enigmatic ritual of transition.
Year of production 2023 Length 75' Country USA Shooting Format Digital Aspect Ratio3:2 Dialogue English Director Lucy Kerr Producers Megan Pickrell, Frederic Winkler Production Insufficient Funds, Conjuring Productions Co-producerRob Rice Executive Producers Lucy Kerr, Brittany Reeber Screenwriter Lucy Kerr Cinematographer Lidia Nikonova Editor Karlis Bergs Production Designer Tim Nicholas Production Manager Sarah Wilson Directorial Advisor Rob Rice Sound Design Nikolay Antonov, Andrew Siedenburg Supervising Sound Editor Nikolay Antonov, Andrew Siedenburg Sound Mixing Andrew Siedenburg Re-recording Mix Nikolay Antonov Art Director Tim Nicholas Set Design Tim Nicholas Costume Design Dev England Hair Stylist /Makeup Artist Heather Michaels Post Production Audio FacilityTonburo ADR Facility Outloud Audio VFX XANF Color Grading Asa Fox Casting Lucy Kerr Cast Deragh Campbell, Chris Galust, Rachel Alig, Katie Folger, Robert Salas, Veronica Cinibulk, Silvana Jakich, David McGuff, Christian Huey, Les Weiler Festival selections Locarno Film Festival 2023, Switzerland - World Premiere, Golden Boccalino Award for Best Director Black Canvas Contemporary Film Festival 2023, Mexico - Best Director Award Chicago International Film Festival 2023, USA American Film Festival 2023, Poland Houston Cinema Arts Festival 2023, USA International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2023, Germany El Gouna Film Festival 2023, Egypt Hainan Island International Film Festival 2023, China - Best Picture Award, Best Actress Award (Deragh Campbell), Best Artistic Contribution Award Festival International de Films de Femmes 2024, France D'A Film Festival Barcelona 2024, Spain PriGlobal International Film Festival 2024, Kosovo Festival Internacional de Cine Al Este 2024, Peru Sidewalk Film Festival 2024, USA DEBUT22 – Filmfestival Klosters 2024, Switzerland UNDERDOX 2024, Germany
Directors' Statement I have long been captivated by my mother’s unwavering fascination with family Christmas cards, which, to her, symbolize the absence of conflict that precedes each year’s card. Every autumn, she conceptualizes, orchestrates, and brings to life a unique card, often centered around a theme, pun, or clever wordplay. These cards are sent out to hundreds of individuals in her social network, and in return, her home is inundated with cards from other families. Each card serves as a representation of the family institution—a frozen moment in time, striving to establish and preserve the family tree. Growing up in the “old money” American South, my experience involved navigating pain privately and primarily focusing on cultivating a successful and prosperous image. Topics like despair, loss, and death were treated as taboo, relegated to secrecy. In the film “Family Portrait,” the family encounters the raw and unsettling reality of their relative’s death, presumably caused by a mysterious virus. The brevity with which they acknowledge their fleeting sorrow, followed by Katy’s insistence on proceeding with the picture, becomes increasingly unsettling. According to Freudian psychoanalysis, mourning is a necessary process for processing loss. It occurs when the grieving individual is able to incorporate the departed into their psyche, eventually adapting to their new reality. However, in melancholia, the lost individual is assimilated into the psyche but remains unacknowledged. Consequently, the griever subconsciously directs aggression towards the lost other. When loss and grief are denied, mourning transforms into melancholia. In “Family Portrait,” the family denies the collective mourning experience, and thus, melancholia begins to undermine the film’s supposed “reality,” ultimately leading to a divergence into an alternative psychic realm. Roland Barthes posited that family portraits are an anxious attempt to freeze time and immortalize the family. However, unbeknownst to the family, as they don smiles and pose for the picture, they have already departed from the realm of the living.
