Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun?

Travis Wilkerson / United States / 2017 / Central European Premiere / 90 min.

synopsis

In 1946, S.E. Branch clearly shot Bill Spann, a black man, in Alabama. One story of many, it can be said, but this time it’s being unraveled by the great-nephew of the murderer through this political and aesthetically distinctive film essay. During the investigation, he constantly ran in to obstacles, due not only to the prevailing racism, but also the inevitable reflection of his own connection with history. A montage of black and white memories of places, endless drives through red sunsets, and agitating tunes brings the work together in the best southern Gothic tradition, in which “the past is never dead. It’s not even past.” (W. Faulkner)

„This time I offered my love and my labor to a film that I wished somehow to be corrective. A film about the worst of my family.” T. Wilkerson

biography

Travis Wilkerson (1969) is an American independent director, producer, and performance artist. In his work, inspired by the Cuban avant-garde documentary filmmaker Santiago Alvarez, he combines maximalist aesthetics with political radicalism. His film Machine Gun or Typewriter? (2015), a refined agit-prop noir, was screened two years ago at Ji.hlava.