“Wavelengths” By Jessie Zinn
Across the Bay Area, illuminated windows reveal volunteers for Exhale, a hotline for people seeking help in processing their abortion experiences. In the still of night, these volunteers lend an ear to those who need it.
In March 2020, the world shifted in a major way, and the Bay Area went under full lock down as a response to COVID-19. At the time, I was in my third quarter of my Masters degree at Stanford University. As a woman, experiencing lock down in an isolated setting far away from my family and friends, I was particularly interested in the multitude ways that lock down was affecting woman in particular.
Around this time, I discovered that a well-known abortion hotline (called ‘Exhale’) was still operating under lock down, albeit from the confines of the operators/volunteers homes. I found this new working dynamic to be fascinating, and collaborated with the volunteers from the hotline to create a short film (titled Wavelengths) that documented the operators as they answered calls at night from inside their homes. Of course, I had to be mindful of the limitations that come with social distancing.
As a creative response, I conceptualized the piece in a way that highlighted the importance of windows as a central metaphor to the work that these operators are doing. The whole film was shot at night, at a distance, from outside the operators’ windows.
Jessie Zinn - Director
Credits
Directed by: Jessie Zinn
Featured Voices:
Meghan, Janelli Vallin, Elaine, Nina Pine, Susan Chorley, Cait, Sierra McGovern
Associate Producer: Aurora Brachman
Cinematography & Editing: Jessie Zinn
Written by: Kirra Zinn
Production Assistant: Michael T Workman
On-location Sound: Aurora Brachman
Story Consultant: Kirra Zinn
Music: Alaskan Tapes
Colourist: Sean Wells
Sound Mix: David Sandwisch
Faculty Advisors: Jamie Meltzer, Elizabeth Lo
Technical Support: Mark Urbanek, Paul Meyers
In collaboration with Exhale:
www.exhaleprovoice.org
Produced in the Documentary Film M.F.A Program, Department of Art & Art History, Stanford University
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