small lies, Big Truth
1999, 18:48

Texts | Images | Video

In turn funny, disturbing and glisteningly sensual, small lies, Big Truth is a video about love, relationships and the joys and banality of sex in the late 20th century. It also touches on such issues as morality, voyeurism, nature vs. culture and power, as eight people are heard reading, in the first person, from the testimony of Monica S. Lewinsky and William Jefferson Clinton as published in the Starr Report.

These four couples include:

an older man & a younger woman, 
Bill Raymond & Tracy Leipold; 

an older woman and a younger man, 
Joan Jonas & Ken Kobland;

an older man and a younger man,
Rodney Evans & David Watson;

a younger woman and an older woman, 
Simin Farkhondeh & Kathy High.

written, directed, edited: Shelly Silver
sound mix: Bill Seery, Mercer Street Sound
music: "Just One Of Those Things" by Cole Porter, performed by
Louis Armstrong & Oscar Peterson
supported by: The Wexner Center for the Arts, The Anonymous Was A Woman Foundation

A disturbing and darkly humorous reminder of the cyclical nature of politics and history, small lies, Big Truth transports viewers back to the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the then-scandalous 1998 Grand Jury testimony of President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Multiple voices (including artists Joan Jonas, Kathy High, and Rodney Evans) read lines from the testimony over lush Super 8 footage of zoo animals. The narrators’ shifting voices, pronouns, and genders, juxtaposed with images of captive animals, highlight still-pertinent issues of morality, power, and voyeurism in contemporary culture. Jennifer Lange, Curator, The Wexner Center

selected screenings & exhibitions:
PUBLIC AFFAIRS, Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland
Disturbing Desire, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
History Lessons, Apex Gallery, NY
Jerusalem International Film Festival, Israel
New York Video Festival, Lincoln Center, NY
The Digital Underground, San Francisco Independent Film Festival
Women in the Director's Chair Int'l Film & Video Festival, Chicago, IL
Osnabruck Media Arts Festival, Germany
Thaw 00, Festival of Video, Film & Digital Media, Iowa City, Iowa
Media & Architecture Bienial, Graz, Austria
Mix Festival, NY
World Wide Video Festival, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mostra de Video Independent, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona
Stuttgart Film Winter, Germany
Chicago Filmmakers Coop
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio

selected broadcasts:
Kunstkanaal/The Art Channel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands