Truth or Consequences is a speculative documentary about a desert town in southern New Mexico. Set in a near-future when humans are leaving Earth to colonize other planets, the film tells the story of the people who stayed. In the small town of Truth or Consequences, the film follows five residents whose personal journeys open echoes of New Mexico’s complex history of progress. Combining observational and archival footage with experimental new media, Truth or Consequences is a lyrical meditation on striving, loss, and finding what we’re looking for in the unlikeliest of places.
In a practice we’re calling speculative documentary, Truth or Consequences takes nonfiction footage filmed over three years in the town of Truth or Consequences and places it into a fictionalized context. The film is set in a near-future where the commercial space travel industry of today has succeeded, and people have begun to leave Earth to colonize other planets. As with science fiction, this speculative premise allows us to look more closely at the challenges of today. It shifts the way we view the documentary footage, allowing us to see the familiar in a new way, listen to people differently, and make new connections between the ideas the film explores.
In the southern end of New Mexico lies the desert town of Truth or Consequences (“T or C”). In 1950, celebrity host Ralph Edwards put out a national challenge for a town to rename itself after his popular game show. Betting this would put their town on the map, Hot Springs became Truth or Consequences. Seventy years later, T or C is ranked the twenty second poorest town in the United States. Today, they are making a new bet on what might bring the prosperity they crave: space tourism.
Though this sounds like science fiction, it’s not. The Spaceport already exists and is twenty miles outside of T or C. Funded and maintained by New Mexican tax dollars, Spaceport America has cost $220 million to date. It’s rented out to private companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, who have sold tickets to the likes of Lady Gaga for $250,000. One the one hand they promise a burgeoning commercial industry that will democratize space, and on the other they are responding to a fear that the Earth is dying and the survival of the human race relies on moving elsewhere.
In Truth or Consequences, we take the potential of space travel as though it has happened. Rather than telling the story of the pioneers who left, the film tells the story of those who stayed. The heart of the documentary follows five residents:
This film offers an alternative to traditional narratives about inequality.
This film offers an alternative to traditional narratives about climate change.
This film challenges us to listen differently to people we might overlook.
We are in an exciting and critical moment for this film. We are in the edit and prepping for post-production work to begin this winter with a goal of a film festival premiere in early 2020. This means – creating the musical score, finishing the virtual reality animations, designing and mixing the sound, doing the color and finish work, and getting the archival and legal permissions.
WHAT WE NEED SUPPORT FOR:
Hannah Jayanti (director, editor, cinematographer) is a documentary filmmaker. She’s dedicated to changing the way we listen to each other through the art of nonfiction. In her current work she lives in a place, filming by herself and giving voice to the smaller stories that surround us. Recent support includes: Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, New York State Council on the Arts, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Points North Institute, Catapult Film, True/False, Cinereach, Jacob Burns Film Center, Puffin Foundation, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. She’s passionate about making filmmaking accessible and teaches free and low cost media classes around the world.
Sara Archambault (producer) is a Creative Producer dedicated to the craft of artful nonfiction storytelling. She has an extensive history in production, programming and foundation work, including 10 years as LEF Foundation Program Director, and 9 years as Head Programmer of The DocYard. Credits include: Associate Producer on Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade, Producer on Christopher Lydon’s Open Source, Producer on Sundance-supported Street Fighting Men, Producer on award-winning short Community Patrol. Recent support includes: Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Film Institute, SFFILM, Hot Docs Pitch Forum, Film Independent, Stella Artois/Women in Film Finishing Fund, IFP Spotlight on Documentaries. Sara was a 2013 Sundance Creative Producers Lab Fellow and sited among the “Ten to Watch” in 2013 by The Independent.
Bill Frisell (composer) is a Grammy award-winning and thrice nominated guitarist and composer, whose career spans more than 35 years and 250 recordings. Frisell has collaborated with Paul Simon, Brian Eno, Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithful, Van Dyke Parks, Lucinda Williams, Rickie Lee Jones, Ginger Baker, Loudon Wainwright III, Suzanne Vega, The Frankfurt Ballet, BCC Symphony Orchestra, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, among many others. He’s scored numerous films and contributed to soundtracks including: Wim Wender’s Million Dollar Hotel, James Mangold’s Walk the Line, Bill Morrison’s The Great Flood, Gus Van Sant’s Finding Forrester, Rory Kennedy’s American Hollow. Frisell is creating an original score for Truth or Consequences.
Mary Lampson (consulting editor) is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker and editor. Lampson co-edited the Academy Award–winning classic Harlan County, USA. She has worked with Barbara Kopple, Emile de Antonio, Ricky Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, among others. Recent projects include: Midnight Family (Sundance, 2019), Generational Wealth (Sundance, 2018), This Changes Everything (TIFF, 2018), Eating Animals (Telluride, 2017), The Islands and the Whales (Hot Docs, 2016), The Bad Kids (Sundance, 2016), Queen of Versailles (Sundance, 2012), and Trouble the Water (Sundance, 2008). She’s been both a fellow and advisor at Sundance Institute’s Documentary Editing Lab and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Alexander Porter (co-producer, VFX creative director) is an Emmy award winning immersive director, digital artist and educator. Nominated for a Cinema Eye Honors Award for Alex Gibney’s Zero Days (Berlin, 2016), recent credits include Blackout (Tribeca Storyscapes, 2017), Zero Days VR (Sundance, 2017), Love Child (Sundance, 2014), CLOUDS (Sundance, 2014). He is a co-founder of Scatter, an Emmy-award winning studio creating immersive films. He is the co-creator of the virtual and augmented reality creative tool, Depthkit, the most widely used software for Volumetric Filmmaking. Alexander has taught at NYU, spoken at MIT, Museum of Art & Design, Carnegie Museum of Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Eyebeam among others. More at www.depthkit.tv, www.alexanderporter.net, www.scatter.nyc.
Through grants, labs & mentorship, this film has been supported by organizations that are leading the way for artful and impactful documentaries. They include:
And YOU. Join us on this beautiful journey to Truth or Consequences. Thank you for your support and follow us on:
This film has an incredible team behind it; the enthusiastic endorsement of some of the leading voices supporting artistic, independent documentary today; and a finishing plan in place. We are missing finishing funds to allow us to complete our timeline as planned. This Kickstarter campaign is one way we are fundraising in addition to grants, donors and partners. With this holistic approach to fundraising, we can bring this film out into the world in early 2020.