"OFF THE SHELF" (short documentary film, March 2023)

How strongly do you feel about the freedom to read anything you want? Are you passionate about books and literature? How have books changed your life? These are some of the questions I posed to family and friends when I began work on this student project at Emerson College, in the early months of 2023.

I was inspired by stories of my dad, who, as a young boy, read library books about polar expeditions to help him cool down in the heat of summer. He also said that when he read a book, it "played like a movie" in his mind, so vivid were his powers of imagination.

In this short documentary film, I speak with my dad's cousin, Shirley, who talks about growing up in the 1950s in a remote Newfoundland village, with little access to books, and her feelings of wonder and awe when she first visits a public library.

During the months of work on this project, my dad's health began to fail, and he was admitted to the hospital. One night, near the end of his life, my sister played the audio track of this film for him, so he could hear his cousin's voice.

This film is dedicated to his memory.