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Carl lost his wife and daughter on September 11th, but their remains were never recovered, believed to be part of "the fines" at Ground Zero. Four years later, when a business trip takes him back to the city where their plane departed, Carl unwittingly begins a journey to contend with his unsettled grief. An award-winning story of 9/11 loss and renewal, The Fines showcases a moving performance by actor David Douglas as Carl, an evocative score by "sound artist" Halsey Burgund, and the memorable work of cinematographer M. Zachary Lee.
The Fines was awarded "Best of Festival" at the 2006 White Sands Film Festival in New Mexico, and is the third award-winning short film written and directed by filmmaker Shandor Garrison.
Official Selection: Northampton Film Festival, White Sands Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival
Crew:
Writer/Director: Shandor Garrison
Producer: Mike Bowes
Cinematography by: M. Zachary Lee
Editor: Cherry Enoki
Composer: Halsey Burgund
Cast:
Carl Landau ... David Douglas
Deborah ... Maiana Vazy
Director's Statement:
Like many people, I felt deeply touched by the attacks on 9/11. I didn't lose anyone close to me, but I felt real grief for those that did. For a while, all I wanted to read were The New York Times profiles about the victims, a page of black and white memorials to experience each day. On the anniversary 5 years later, the loss still reverberated in strange ways. Our nation is at war, focused on vengeance and protection. More families have become bereft. There doesn't seem to be a clear way out of this dark period.
This film came about when I read a story about the WTC families who were fighting with New York State and the federal government to remove dust from a Staten Island landfill. The dust is "the fines" — debris from The World Trade Center that is too small and disintegrated to be identified. Since remains for nearly half of the WTC victims have never been recovered, "the fines" is believed to include the only vestiges of 1157 people lost that day. There are about 20 million tons of "the fines" left in the Fresh Kills landfill, and many WTC families want it moved to a memorial site. The government doesn't want to pay the expense and has promised to turn the dump into a commemorative park. It's a contentious issue, and really deserving of its own film. I was drawn to a smaller idea, a story about the dust, and a man on a spiritual journey. I asked myself what it might be like to lose someone that day, to witness the moment of their death on a hundred TV screens but be left with nothing.
— Shandor Garrison
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