Andrew Gingerich

Filmmaker/Educator

About

Andrew Gin­gerich is a film­mak­er whose work explores notions of fam­i­ly, dis­so­ci­at­ed iden­ti­ties, region­al alle­giances, and the bound­aries of fic­tion. He lives and teach­es in Michi­gan’s Upper Peninsula.

Ghost to Ghost

  • 16 min­utes
  • HD video/​16mm/​Super 8
  • Color/B&W
  • My role: Director/​Cinematographer/​Editor
"Ghost to Ghost" poster

An exper­i­men­tal doc­u­men­tary about death, grief, and humor.

It seems that Trasie’s response to loss was to split in two: on Sun­days, she stood in the ceme­tery and wept uncon­trol­lably. The rest of the week, she was the pur­vey­or of a caus­tic wit, and seemed to take gen­uine joy in relent­less­ly jok­ing about death. These loss­es, and the ways in which Trasie did her best to cope with them, still trou­ble Trasie’s daugh­ter, Gladys, near­ly a cen­tu­ry later.

Director’s Statement

The only record­ing of my great-grand­moth­er’s voice is a five-minute long skit about coffins record­ed some­time around 1940, only a few years after the deaths of her moth­er, father, broth­er, hus­band, and son. The record­ing is remark­ably jubi­lant, and notable in its stub­born com­mit­ment to jok­ing about death.

My grand­moth­er Gladys recalls the deaths of her father and broth­er dis­tort­ed by the per­spec­tive of child­hood, and remem­bers her moth­er as a lone­ly, seri­ous woman wracked by wor­ry and grief.

This piece was my attempt to col­lab­o­rate with these two women—one liv­ing, one dead—to pro­vide con­text to this remark­able piece of audio and the grim humor at its source.

Screenings

  • WIFI Film Fes­ti­val – Tope­ka, Kansas
  • UWM Depart­ment of Film, Video, Ani­ma­tion and New Gen­res M.F.A. Screen­ing – Mil­wau­kee, Wisconsin
  • Moz­i­Mo­tion – Hil­ver­sum, Netherlands

Screen­er avail­able — request a pri­vate link!