We are siblings who for years have aspired to make feature documentaries that reveal the myths and magic of everyday life. Towards this end, we set off to create 306 Hollywood, using humor, fantasy, and drama to transform the story of an old lady into an epic tale of what remains after life ends.

Before our grandmother Annette died, our intention was to make a candid and humorous film from the perspective of old age (“Getting old isn’t for sissies!” she always said). This project was based on 10 years of interviews we filmed with her. However, when we returned to Annette’s house after her funeral, we were faced with the grim reality of having to sell the house and throw out all of her possessions. That is when another, more complex, story emerged.

It is easy to take a house for granted. Domestic space is often overlooked, underestimated and left out of the mainstream record. Yet here was a space where our family had lived for 70 years. The thousands of objects that remained revealed layers of history—personal, social, and cultural. “A house is a universe,” physicist Alan Lightman declares in one interview. We believe this wholeheartedly, that our sense of time, identity and relationships are all connected to the home.

We are interested in rethinking the documentary form and are inspired by fairy tales, myths and magical realism. Fairy tales have been used for thousands of years to articulate our deepest fears and ease life transitions. We also believe that real life stories should be as entertaining and accessible as narrative films. Our cinematic language springs from this tradition and uses a technique called “normalized magic” where the day-to-day is collapsed with the wondrous. 306 Hollywood uses magical interventions to open the story to greater possibilities, to express the film’s themes of the visceral experience of grief and the psychological nature of memory, and to plumb the psychological truths that escape our everyday language.

We aim to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Our background is in the visual arts and we apply this sensibility to every one of our images. We crafted dozens of installations from Annette’s possessions; built a scale model of the house; turned our grandfather’s office into a mythical kingdom; and the last scene shows the entire house covered in the clothing of everyone who lived at 306 Hollywood.

— Elan and Jonathan Bogarín

USING THIS GUIDE

This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use 306 Hollywood to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visitwww.pbs.org/pov/engage/.

THE FILM

After the death of their grandmother, siblings Elan and Jonathan Bogarín embark on a magical-realist journey in search of the life stories that remain in the objects left behind in her house. With intriguing questions and inventive filmmaking, 306 Hollywood transforms the dusty fragments of an unassuming life into an epic metaphor for the nature of memory, time, and history. The result invites viewers to reflect on how we deal with the past and how our ancestors speak to our present.

KEY PARTICIPANTS

Annette Ontell – wife (married to Herman), fashion designer, filmmakers’ grandmother, resident and owner of 306 Hollywood, Hillside, NJ for nearly seven decades

Elan Bogarín – Annette’s granddaughter, filmmaker, visual artist

Jonathan Bogarín – Annette’s grandson, filmmaker, teacher, and visual artist

Marilyn Ontell – the filmmakers’ mother and Annette’s daughter

KEY ISSUES

306 Hollywood is an excellent tool for outreach and will be of special interest to people who want to explore the following topics:

• aging
• archaeology & anthropology
• cinematography
• cultural and personal identity
• family history
• grandparents
• grieving
• historical artifacts
• memory
• modern, post-WWII U.S. history
• oral history
• storytelling
  
  

Starting the Conversation

Immediately after the film, you may want to give people a few quiet moments to reflect on what they have seen. Or pose a general question (examples below) and give people some time to jot down or think about their answers before opening the discussion:

If you were going to tell a friend about this film, what would you say?

Describe a moment or scene in the film that you found particularly thought-provoking or moving. What was it about that scene that was especially compelling for you?

Did anything in the film surprise you? Was anything familiar?

If you could ask the filmmakers a single question, what would you want to know?

Memory

In home movie footage, Annette regrets her grandchildren’s dirty socks: “You've cleaned up my floor with your socks and now you're going home with dirty socks. Well, you'll put them in the washing machine. So that's the story.” Why do we tell stories? How do they help us make sense of the mundane events of daily life? How does the film transform the mundane into a story?

What do you think Annette’s and Herman’s artifacts said about them? What would your loved ones learn about you from the “stuff” you have now?

Think for a moment about the artifacts you are creating in your everyday life. How has the shift to digital technology changed the artifacts that people leave behind? What is gained and lost in that shift?

Jonathan experiences a vision that takes him back to being an art student in Rome: “When I'm in Rome the past feels alive. Maybe that's why grandma brought me back.” What sorts of places make the past come alive for you? Are they like Rome, interweaving ancient ruins with modern life, or perhaps rich with traditions of indigenous people? Are there places that erase your connection to the past? What are those places like?

Elan says, “I got the idea to interview [my grandma] when I got my first camera in film school. It was a way to ask her questions I wouldn't normally ask.” How does the camera make it possible to ask questions that would otherwise be off limits? What questions would you ask the elders in your family? What about those particular questions interests you?

Watching and listening to tapes of her grandmother, Elan says, “Hearing her speak again feels surreal. I almost forget she's just data on a tape.” Is Annette now “just data on tape”? What’s the difference between viewing objects left behind as a reminder of the dead and seeing objects left behind as an embodiment of that person (actually holding their essence)?

Elan observes, “In every archaeological dig some artifacts are more valuable than others.” How does our current culture shape what we see as valuable? How have judgements about what to exhibit and what to hide changed over time? Can you recall a time when it would have been taboo to reveal that your family argued, that there was a divorce, or an intermarriage, or that there might be a family member with a mental illness? What changed?

The “Excavation”

Jonathan and Elan struggle with differentiating between junk and meaningful objects, recognizing that once they discard something, it’s gone forever. Elan asks, “how do we know what we should keep or what we should throw away?” How would you answer her? What criteria would you use (or have you used) to sort through personal artifacts?

Textile conservator Nicole Bloomfield describes her autopsy-like examination of Annette’s dress: “Clothing is the fastest path back in time to understanding people from before. When I'm touching it in particular I really feel transported to another space and another moment. Lace degraded, splitting, tearing especially at top...It's very intimate. There's all these little tiny things that become apparent to me about the original owner.” What was it like to watch this intimate process? How is handling an artifact different than looking at picture of it or viewing it in a museum?

Jonathan describes how archaeologists create catalogues to bring order to artifacts they find: “The idea is that the groupings, the patterns reveal some underlying connection, some underlying order.” Look at the catalogues from the film as art – what does each one say to you? What sorts of categories would you use to sort the objects in your home?

The filmmakers seek professional guidance by visiting the Rockefeller estate. What did the two homes have in common? How were the Rockefeller artifacts different from or similar to the things left behind by the Ontells?

Robert Clark explains that it’s just as important to document the history of his grandparents as it is the story of the Rockefellers because not doing so would be “to make a qualitative judgment that they somehow didn't have value and so we're not going to save a record of their existence tells a kind of story that we don't want to tell about this nation (which is that it's only great and wealthy people who have value).” Why might it be important to save the stories of “regular” folks as well as the “great and wealthy”? As a society, have the investments we’ve made in teaching and preserving our history reflected the belief that everyone has value? Where do you see investments in preserving and passing along the stories of ordinary people?

Identity

In their search to uncover their grandmother in the artifacts she left behind, what do you think Elan and Jonathan learned about themselves?

According to Elan, being Jewish was important to Annette. Which artifacts speak to Annette’s Jewish identity? What do they tell you about how Annette enacted that identity?

Author and physicist Alan Lightman says that even though the structure’s footprint is small, “A house is a universe. It's an entire world.” Does it change the way you think about your home to think of it as a “universe” or “world”?

Annette comments on staying with Herman despite their fights: “If you love a guy, if a guy is good to you and if he's smart and he's decent and he's got good values and he's sincere and he's not a womanizer, you got it made.” How does this attitude reflect her generation’s experience of womanhood and marriage?

What was your takeaway from the choreographed show of grandma’s dresses, with the house as backdrop? How does it connect to Annette’s statement that, “Fashion was my cup of tea. I loved it. It takes us into an imaginary world”?

Annette summarizes her life: “My life has been a success. I achieved having a good credit line. I pay my bills on time. I have a good reputation.” How does this compare with the way that you would describe “success”?

Aging

In one interview, Elan asks her grandmother about vanity and sex. What lessons about aging and womanhood do Annette’s answers provide?

Annette talks about her peers all being gone: “Somebody has to be the last one.” What is both special and difficult about being the “last one” of a family or social group?

Trying on dresses, Annette laments that she feels like a “clump of flesh” and doesn’t have the energy of her youth, but she is accepting: “Even a tree, an oak tree, when it grows tall and big and even the wind can knock it down…So that's what happens...So where does it put me? It puts me into this seat but I'm alive.” Is this view typical of the older women you know, or is Annette’s view unusual? What messages does our society (or the fashion industry that inspired Annette) convey to women about their aging bodies?

How did the scene with Annette trying on the dresses she had made make you feel? Why do you think Elan and Marilyn wanted her to do this?

Death and Grieving

How does the “excavation” of their grandmother’s house function as part of Jonathan’s and Elan’s grieving process?

After her death, Jonathan looks at Annette’s house with new eyes: “Grandma's house is transformed. Her bedroom isn't for sleeping. Her kitchen isn't for eating and her objects are no longer for use. They're for telling stories. Grandma's house isn't a home anymore. It's a ruin.” How does death of a loved one change our relationship to houses and objects?

Marilyn is devastated that she wasn’t with her mother the moment that Annette died. What have your cultural or family traditions taught about accompanying loved ones as they pass from life to death?

The funeral director offers an explanation for the apparitions in Annette’s house: “After the loved one is buried their soul continues to the place on earth that was most familiar and comforting and that's its home. We believe that the soul remains near the home for a period of eleven months. Right now you have those eleven months to make your grandmother tangible again because your grandmother is still here.” Elan comments, “I don't believe in spirits but somehow what she says makes sense.” Does it make sense to you?

Elan says, “When you lose someone you love, you start to look for new ways to understand the world.” Have you lost a loved one? Did the loss challenge you to seek new ways to understand the world?

Jonathan says, “Sometimes grandma feels really present. At the beach I see her old legs and it seems like she's everywhere. Other times I can't feel her at all.” What customs or rituals does your family observe in order to feel the presence of deceased loved ones or honor them? How do they compare to the rituals that Elan and Jonathan create? Why do you think so many human cultures have developed elaborate rituals related to death and remembering?

Closing Questions

At the end of your discussion, to help people synthesize what they’ve experienced and move the focus from dialogue to action steps, you may want to choose one of these questions:

What did you learn from this film that you wish everyone knew? What would change if everyone knew it?

If you could require one person (or one group) to view this film, who would it be? What do you hope their main takeaway would be?

This story is important because ___________.

What question(s) do you think the filmmakers were trying to answer? Do you think they found the answers they were looking for?

Complete this sentence: I am inspired by this film (or discussion) to __________.

Additional media literacy questions are available at:https://www.amdoc.org/engage/resources/media-literacy-questions-analyzing-pov-films/using-framework/

If the group is having trouble generating their own ideas, these suggestions can help get things started:

Preserve your own family stories. Start a family tradition to record elders annually. At family gatherings, share existing photos, movies, or videos and record the resulting conversations. Be sure that outdated media are preserved and/or transferred to newer, digital archival technologies that can be accessed by future generations.

Jonathan and Elan gather artifacts to create “portraits” of people who lived in the house. Based on the examples in the film, make family or self-portraits from their/your belongings. Display the “portraits” and see if others in their/your community can guess who is being portrayed.

Jan Gadeyne talks about archeological layering that “allows you to walk through the different phases” that a house or place has been used for. Pull back the layers of your home or your neighborhood to uncover the history it reveals. Share what you find with others in your family or neighborhood.

Archaeologist Jan Gadeyne describes being inspired by artifacts to imagine how the people who left them lived: “You even start thinking about where they got their stuff from, how did it get here, what was the trade route? These are the things that I think, you know, they kind of stimulate...they tickle almost your imagination.” Visit an historical site in your city or region and imagine what life was like for the people who lived there. Consider expressing your thoughts in writing or another art form.

Activities Inspired By the Film:

Curating Catalogs: Gather loved ones’ belongings and arrange them in the archaeologist cataloged style Elan and Jonathan undertake for Annette's things.

Side by Side: Compare activities/ or objects you have in common with that of a loved one from a different generation and see how things are similar and different. For example, how does listening to music in 2019 compare with someone who lived in a world without the internet? How have hair products changed/ or stayed the same since your loved one was growing up?

What Could You Do?: Calculate the one time income of your loved one (adjusting for inflation) and see what you could or couldn’t buy today. Compare the prices and availability of those things today with that of the past. Is a haircut in 1970 worth a bag of chips today?

Then and Now: Locate the sites of places loved one’s once frequented. Compare any pictures from the past with that of today (skating rinks, movie theaters, grocery stores, national sites). Have decade-old buildings managed to stand? Has a whole block been reinvented?

Whose Story Is It Anyway?: Find a story shared among a number of family members: record each individual's recounting what happened...What are the differences and similarities among the various perspectives?

Revival of the Recipe: Revive a traditional/ or favorite family dish (discover how ingredients have changed/ or no longer exist/ or how some dishes have been preserved to a T for generations)

Our Roots: Compose as extensive a family tree as you can using pictures, objects and/ or document clippings. Get creative and go beyond the standard names, birthdays and who's related to whom.

Mapping it Out: Create a map that demarcates everywhere your immediate family has lived. Alongside that map compile some data to accompany that includes the number of states, cities and countries lived in, the lowest, highest and average years spent living somewhere and cost of living comparisons).

306 Hollywood (also facebook.com/306Hollywood)

The official film website includes samples of the soundtrack as well as information about the film and filmmakers.

The Rockefeller Archive Center

The official website of the historic home and archive visited in the film.

Alan Lightman

Lightman’s MIT faculty page includes information on the, life, work and books of the famed physicist and writer featured in the film.

Oral History Association

This organization of people who do oral histories provides a wide range of tools for those seeking to learn best practices.

Writer

Faith Rogow, InsightersEducation.com

Guide Producers, POV

Alice Quinlan

Director, Community Engagement and Education, POV

Ione Barrows

Senior Associate, Community Engagement and Education, POV

Rachel Friedland

Community Partnerships Assistant, POV

Kennisa Ragland

Intern, Community Engagement and Education, POV

Thanks to those who reviewed this guide:

Elan Bogarín

Filmmaker, 306 Hollywood

Jonathan Bogarín

Filmmaker, 306 Hollywood

This resource was created, in part, with the generous support of the Open Society Foundation and Latino Public Broadcasting.