HNIFF 2025
Sisters
Directed by JIm McQuaid · United States · 13 min · short · narrative
Created with a collage of dramatic and documentary styles, we meet two sisters. Following their conflicts during their Mother's decline and death, their journeys through life diverge, creating a history of estrangement. Dipping into each sister's life, setbacks and triumphs, SISTERS is a rich fabric of life. The story — and the production — spans ten years. Taking footage from the 2013 film, ENDINGS, with the same actors in the same roles, SISTERS is an emotional montage about life and the passage of time.
This film's screening window has ended.
From the director
Early in 2022, as I searched for the next story, I realized that virtually every actor in my 2013 film, ENDINGS, was still in the area and active in stage and film. I began to think about how the story of the two sisters in ENDINGS (whose Mother dies) addresses conflicts. Then I realized that the story was how the differences in the experience and lifestyles of two sisters plays out in their estrangement over the 10 years after the death of their Mother.
Combining HD footage from the 2013 film, shot on the then workhorse Canon 5D MII, with UHD footage from my Blackmagic camera, rendered in a 2K format, the film spans 10 years in the lives of the characters and the cast and crew.
The film was finished on December 21, 2023.
