EVERYONE MUST TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS is a whimsical video in which a late-night television interviewer attempts to get an unusually wordy guest (a labor relations expert of sorts) to explain the relationship between unemployment and inflation.
The language is repetitive to the point of becoming almost abstract in its rhythms—setting up an interplay between the ideas and the aural pleasures of the text.
Written, directed and edited by Rohesia Hamilton Metcalfe, EVERYONE MUST TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS features Deborah Auer and Anthony Moore as interviewee and interviewer respectively.
Two Quicktime Excerpts from this video are viewable online:
10-second excerpt in which a labor relations expert of sorts addresses “the
difference between opportunity present (no matter how hard you work) and
opportunity not present.” (576 K)
11-second excerpt in which a labor relations expert of sorts explains how
she became interested in labor relations. It appears to be something to
do with unemployment. (588 K)
Winner, DIRECTOR’S CHOICE AWARD, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 1998
4:30 minutes © 1997
color/sound video (NTSC); 3/4", VHS
EVERYONE MUST TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS
was produced with the support of
Downtown Community Television
What People Have Said about EVERYONE MUST TIGHTEN THEIR BELTS...
“ Political filibuster is taken on [...] the expert evades the question by re-iterating it, until her speech becomes a rhythmic pattern of hollow repetition. ”
- Lauren Cornell
Essay for Elusive Quality
New York & Liverpool, 2004
“...a pithy, satirical piece...”
- John Columbus
Director, Black
Maria Film and Video Festival
low-budget experimental video
relationship between unemployment and inflation