...from the bottom of a wine glass...a film by Susan Komer

This video is an exploration into the mixed emotions of growing up in an abusive home plagued by alcoholism.  I chose to shoot through a glass of wine to show not just the past, but my own present.  It seems as when life becomes heavy, many old doubts begin to rear their ugly heads and sadness penetrates my being...I feel the hurt creeping over my body like a spider overtaking its prey, as old skeletons begin to escape the confines of the closet....  I reach for that glass of wine, knowing it won't kill the pain... yet hoping it will at least take the sting off it.

The image of the spinning yard is also my now.  As my mind spins into a fog of memories too painful to remember, I search out simple relics from my life to grasp onto for even the slightest glimmer of hope.  Each image used is an object that for me holds both painful and pleasant memories.  The rotation of the yard is a reflection of me yet again spinning out, spinning down....the rotation of each object shows a repetitive memory that haunts me over and over...a time when a simple joy had caused chaos...

The background sound has been toned way down...the actual sound is rain on a skylight.  I felt rain was appropriate, as gray skies & rainy days tend to bring me down.  But as I played with the sound yet another memory came to mind...the sound of a record at its end...an empty drumming silence that runs circles as it waits for someone to remove the arm, what an appropriate connection to tie the entire piece together.

I felt it was important to express the constancy that accompanies a childhood of abuse.  I have been free from that life for some time...but the pain circles back, the sweet becomes bitter, the adult once again becomes a child....from the bottom of a wine glass.