Anna & Elizabeth - "Jeano" (Short Film)
This short film is a visual and sonic exploration of an American folk song, "Jeano," performed here by Anna & Elizabeth.
Circling around two figures - a New England housewife, the wisher, and a character in a mythical waiting space who collects all the wishes - the film considers the potential power in the wishes of those left behind at home when others are off at war. It is an imaginative exploration into how we engage with the dreams of the past, and the thresholds that bridge time and space.
"Jeano and Jeanette" was sung in 1941 by Margaret Shipman in her kitchen in Lee, MA. In 2018, the duo Anna & Elizabeth found the recording of Margaret's singing and made a new arrangement of the song for their own record. Interpreting the song through a different medium, this film deconstructs that same source material that has been passed across generations, meditating on its contents, and communicating its meaning in a new way.