SITTIN' ON A MILLION
2008 26 minutes

CONTACT:
lennypane (at) gmail.com
amlanesey (at) gmail.com

ABOUT SITTIN' ON A MILLION

This is a movie about what we choose to remember and what we forget, what we cherish and what we destroy, and the shared narratives that collectively make up 'history.'

Mame Faye (sometime spelled Mayme Fay, Mame Fay, etc.), of Troy NY, ran a house of prostitution of the sort found at that time in all major industrial centers in the U.S. Mame's bordello, located at the intersection of major military expansion, an expansion of the rail system, and the industrial revolution, was famed worldwide. It is the contention of many that Troy was once synonymous with Mame Faye.

Despite this, Mame has been left out of even the most local of local history books. This film questions conventional wisdom about what is historically significant and why.

In creating this film, we present the collective memories of an aging population whose memories are on the brink of being lost forever. Since we began filming, several of our interviewees have already passed away - reminding us that when we die, our memories go with us. In yet another way, this fact raises the question: what (and who?) is worth remembering?

In the realm of Mame's story, tall tales, rumors and urban myths vie with newspaper records for legitimacy. Accounts contradict one another. Two pictures identified 'positively' as Mame Faye do not appear to be of the same person. People shed tears at the memory of events that likely never occurred. The video asks the viewer to consider the role of memory and imagination in creating history.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MAME FAYE:
"Mame Faye" & Other Myths from the Golden Age of Prostitution
(a short essay by Penny Lane)

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Penny Lane is an independent filmmaker and video artist living in western Massachusetts. Her collaborative and solo experimental, narrative and documentary videos have screened at AFI FEST, Int'l Film Festival Rotterdam, San Francisco Int'l Film Festival, Seattle Int'l Film Festival, Women in the Director's Chair, Santa Fe Art Institute, MOMA, and DUMBO Art Under the Bridge. Her award-winning documentaries The Abortion Diaries and Independent Media in a Time of War (the latter made with Hudson-Mohawk Indymedia and Democracy Now!) are regularly screened in classrooms, community centers and microcinemas across the U.S. and internationally on Free Speech TV. The Abortion Diaries has screened in 42 states at over 170 different community venues, ranging from bars to art centers to clinics to colleges. She earned her MFA in Integrated Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her BA in American Culture at Vassar College. Currently she is a visiting assistant professor of video and new media at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.
(And yes, that is her real name.)

Annmarie Lanesey is a video, performance, and installation artist. Her work has been shown internationally at galleries, new media festivals, and contemporary art venues, both in the physical world and in cyberspace. She recently joined the adjunct faculty in the Art Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. In addition to the Mame Faye Project, Annmarie is currently working on a single channel video about rainbows, as well as the Excelsior Residency Project.