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.

FALLCASTER

  • 7 min­utes – HD Video – Color
  • My role: Writer/​Director/​Cinematographer/​Editor

A young woman is trou­bled by dreams of a life that isn’t hers.

If I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and sum­ma­rize it, it is noth­ing but water slip­ping through my fin­gers. This very heart which is mine will for­ev­er remain inde­fin­able to me. For ever shall I be a stranger to myself.

Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus

Director’s statement

I made this film as a sort of study for some Big Ideas I’ve been chew­ing over in my work recent­ly: dis­so­ci­at­ed iden­ti­ties, the insta­bil­i­ty of our con­cept of self, and the ways in which we might inhab­it (and be inhab­it­ed by) oth­er peo­ple. I think the piece func­tions on its own, but it’s also my first attempt at work­ing with some of these themes in oth­er contexts.

The film fea­tures Isabelle Rashkin as the unnamed pro­tag­o­nist, and is heav­i­ly influ­enced by the den­si­ty, excess, and obscu­ri­ty of ear­ly Peter Green­away films.

Call to Forehead

  • 1 minute
  • 16mm
  • Col­or
  • My role: Co-Direc­tor/Cin­e­matog­ra­pher/Ed­i­tor
"Call to Forehead" poster

A short film in the style of a ’70s thriller trailer.

A mys­te­ri­ous, malev­o­lent fore­head from the sev­enth dimen­sion is wreak­ing hav­oc on the lives of inno­cents. It can make phone calls, and move lamps with its mind. Even if you escape, you will NEVER! be the same.

Director’s statement

I have a great fond­ness for the sorts of trashy thrillers I used to see adver­tised at the begin­nings of heav­i­ly-worn Block­buster video­cas­settes. Call to Fore­head, made in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Vin­cent Gag­ne­pain, was our homage to these cheap­ly-made, over­wrought genre movies.

In order to best emu­late the par­tic­u­lar tex­ture of such trail­ers, we shot on 16mm film. Our graph­ics were designed using only tech­niques that would have been cheap­ly avail­able at the time, and incor­po­rat­ed the dis­tinc­tive jit­ter of a low-qual­i­ty opti­cal print­er. The final edit was rout­ed through a peri­od VCR to intro­duce a soupçon of ana­log smearing.

Who Is Landyn Banx?

  • 3 min­utes
  • 16mm
  • B&W
  • My role: Co-Writer/Di­rec­tor/Ed­i­tor

Star­ring Lan­dyn Banx in a film about Lan­dyn Banx, writ­ten and direct­ed by Lan­dyn Banx, adapt­ed from the play Lan­dyn Banx, by Lan­dyn Banx.

Credits

  • A short film by Andrew Gingerich
  • Writ­ten by Andrew Gin­gerich, Ethan Hol­brook, and Park­er Cagle-Smith

Starring

  • Lan­dyn Banx
  • Ethan Hol­brook
  • Heather Amos
  • Park­er Cagle-Smith
  • Direc­tor of Pho­tog­ra­phy: Matt Kane
  • Sound Recordist: Ethan Holbrook
  • A Lan­dyn Banx pro­duc­tion by Lan­dyn Banx