Film written and directed by Jennifer Reeves in 2004.

Synopsis

The time we killed is a lush black & white experimental feature that portrays the life and imaginings of a writer unable to leave her New York City apartment. Robyn Taylor tries to comprehend and fight her growing agoraphobia by looking into her own past and confronting the world events of the present (from a murder-suicide next door to the war in Iraq). Robyn’s obsessive ruminations threaten to drive her deeper into the solitude of an illusory world, until a personal encounter with death prompts her to leave the safety of home once again.

The time we killed won the FIPRESCI Prize award at the Berlin International Film Festival and the best NY Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. Jennifer Reeves was also nominated for the “Someone to Watch Award” at the 2005 Independent Spirit Awards.

Film notes

Reeves’s remarkable skills for expressive cinematography grant this grim tale a stark beauty bereft of sentimentality. At times, the high-contrast 16mm sharpens the world into harsh black-and-white, while DV close-ups turn plaster walls into alien landscapes. As with nonfictional depressives, Robyn proves alternately revelatory, grimly humorous, and frustratingly self-absorbed.' - Ed Halter

Cast

Lisa Jarnot - Robyn Taylor Chris Tann - Newsreader (voice) Susan Arthur Rainer Dragon Valeska Peschke Jennifer Reeves

Crew

Written, directed and edited by Jennifer Reeves Additional writing by Lisa Jarnot Director of photography - Jennifer Reeves Music by Zeena Parkins, Pitt Reeves, Marc Ribot and Elliott Sharp