“Breakthrough” Sculpture to Appear in Documentary
The “Breakthrough” sculpture on campus, created by Churchill’s granddaughter Edwina Sandys, will be featured in a documentary next year about sections of the Berlin Wall found in the United States.
Princeton University Fellow and documentary filmmaker Pacho Velez is tracking different locations to use in his 16mm film. His visit to Westminster was #56 on his tour.
Sections of the Berlin Wall are found in America in such varied places as the Reagan Library, Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, the Newseum in Washington D.C., the Western Transit Station in Chicago, and even the men’s bathroom of the Main Street Station Casino in Las Vegas. Westminster’s section is the longest contiguous section in North America.
The positive cut out images of the two figures in “Breakthrough” are found in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York, as a part of Edwina Sandys’ sculpture “Breakfree.” This 12-foot high sculpture depicts a man and a woman freeing themselves from oversized barbed wire.
Velez was highly impressed with the “layers of history” found at Westminster and did an extensive interview with the Sandra L. and Monroe E. Trout Director and Chief Curator of the Museum Timothy Riley.
The documentary filmmaker has taught at Princeton University, Harvard University, Bard College, Parsons the New School and MassArt and he holds his MFA from CalArts.
His most recent film, “The Reagan Show,” uses largely unseen archival footage to explore the 40th President’s rise from Hollywood to the nation’s capital.
His film “Manakamana,” shot from a cable car high above the Nepalese jungle, traces the ancient journey pilgrims make to worship the goddess Manakamana. This documentary has played all over the world and won the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno Film Festival.
