306 Hollywood

Do objects retain a spark of life from their owner after that person dies? This question catapults a dynamic brother-sister filmmaking duo on an odyssey to excavate their deceased grandma Annette’s unassuming Newark home of 71 years. Toothbrushes, tax documents, three vacuum cleaners—her motley collection of stuff becomes a universe unto itself, springing to life in the cinematic playground of this innovative documentary. In ELAN and JONATHAN BOGARÍN’s inventive hands, the white clapboard house transforms into a magical-realist landscape replete with animated 1950s dresses and mysterious visits from physicists and fashion conservators. And when they discover a 1972 cassette tape and use actors to lip-sync intimate family conversations, it’s like a new dimension cracks open from the netherworld. In 306 Hollywood, fragments of a modest life mingle mystically—creating a profound meditation on memory bursting at the seams with love. --Sundance Film Festival