This Dust of Words

THIS SCREENING IS OPEN TO ALL AGES!
Ticket pricing for students under 18 is $8.

IN PERSON: DIRECTOR BILL ROSE │ A haunting documentary elegy to thwarted promise, This Dust of Words traces the life of Elizabeth Wiltsee, a young writer of uncompromising talent who ultimately died a lonely death at age 50, homeless and beset by paranoid schizophrenia. Elizabeth had an IQ of 200, taught herself to read at the age of four, and was translating classical Greek at ten. She attended Stanford, where she was lauded as a student of unlimited potential. After graduation, she chose to live on the fringes, working as an au pair in Europe, in university libraries, and as a proofreader. All the while, she kept writing and reading prodigiously — sending off numerous plays and novels to publishers (all of which were rejected) — as her mental illness progressed. In 1994, not coping well and unable to work, she moved to the town of Watsonville, California, where she wound up living on the streets and sleeping on the steps of a local church. She disappeared after leaving town in 1999; her skeletal remains were found months later in a wilderness area 60 miles away. The film traces the mystery of her life, interweaving Wiltsee’s writings with archival footage of her at Stanford and interviews with her professors, her brother, and Watsonville citizens who had tried to reach out to her. Colour, Digibeta video. 62 mins.

www.thisdustofwords.com

Post-screening discussion with This Dust of Words director, Bill Rose, and Judy Graves, Coordinator of the City of Vancouver’s Tenant Assistance Program. 

Bill Rose has been producing and directing documentaries and short films for more than 20 years for numerous clients. Rose has worked as an American Film Institute Directing Intern to filmmaker Martin Ritt, whose projects include the 1979 film Norma Rae and the 1990 film Stanley and Iris. Rose’s short films have been seen nationally on the Arts & Entertainment Network. Rose is the recipient of numerous film awards, including a Cine Golden Eagle, five Telly Awards and multiple Communicator Awards. His first feature documentary, The Loss of Nameless Things, has been named "Best Documentary" four times and has appeared in more than 20 film festivals. Rose lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife and family.

Judy Graves, Coordinator of the City of Vancouver’s Tenant Assistance Program. Ms. Graves has worked with Vancouver’s street population for more than 30 years. In 2005, she began a pilot project to get homeless people off the streets, one by one. The Vancouver Homeless Outreach Project has been so successful it was recently expanded; 80% of the people it has helped are still in housing.