Marnie Ellen Hertzler's portfolio

Eternity One - Feature Film

Logline:
Immediate climate disaster threatens the small Chesapeake Bay fishing community of Tangier Island. ETERNITY ONE journeys through growing up in the face of seemingly unstoppable change through the eyes of twelve year old Mary-Ella while investigating possible futures and extreme solutions for Tangier and perhaps us all.

Eternity One Work Sample

Current work sample for the feature film Eternity One
Mary Ella picking wild blackberries on the West Ridge.

The protagonist of the film in the summer of 2021. - Still from the feature film
Mr. Parks walking through the marsh

Mr. Parks leads me through the marsh behind his house to show me the damage to the shoreline due to wave action erosion and sea level rise. - Still from the feature film.
Disappearing shoreline

The southern most part of Tangier Island that loses an average of 8-feet of beach per year. - Still from the feature film.
Waterman at sunrise

Waterman Allen Parks captains his crabbing boat on a November morning. - Still from the feature film.
Tangier's Main Ridge at sunrise

The town center seen through the marsh on a spring morning. - Still from the feature film
Mayor James Eskridge and his cat

Mayor James "Ooker" Eskridge greets his cat after arriving at his crab shanty to drop off his catch of the day. - still from the feature film.
Mary Ella on Halloween

11-year-old Mary Ella puts on halloween make up in her mother's vanity mirror before trick-or-treating. - still from the feature film.
Monarch butterflies migrating

Monarch butterflies gather on a bayleaf bush at the southern end of Tangier Island during their yearly migration south. - Still from the feature film.

Eternity One - Archive

While shooting my feature film, ETERNITY ONE, over the past five years on Tangier Island, I have collected 156 objects that have washed up on the shores of the island, or been caught in crab pots, been gifted to me, or collected from the marshes. I have created an archive of these objects that act as a physical documentation of the island along side of the film. The items in the archive all come together to create a timeline, connecting the landscape and its people to deep geological time, its indigenous roots, a history of colonialsim, imperialism, craft tradition, industralization, and modernization. This archive creates a tapestry of a place on the brink of extinction. What do object say about the human and non-human that has been left behind? What can we learn from this archive as we move into the future? What can a physical collection teach us that digital storytelling can not? These are all questions I ask myself when building and documenting this archive and that I hope the viewer asks as they explore the archive moving into the future.

(2019-2024)

Colonial Shards (circa 1810)

Shards of English China most likely brought over or imported by settlers to the Eastern Shore area circa 1810.
Brick eroded by the Chesapeake Bay

Brick from a sunken home on the northern end of Tangier Island eroded by the Chesapeake Bay.
Toy Marbles

Six handmade marbles from local Tangier Island clay. Most likely pit-fired by the owners. A common toy by children on the Island from colonization in the 1700s through the late 1900s. Found on the northern shore of Tangier Island.
Children's Church Shoe circa 1970

Children's church shoe from around the 1970s found washed up on the beach on the on the northern end of Tangier Island.
Folk Brownstone pottery Shards (circa 1810)

Shard of local Virginia brownstone pottery circa early 1900s found on the southern bay-side beach of Tangier Island.
Tangier Island Pendant

Small souvenir pendant cir 1970 from Tangier Island Combined School (grades k-12). Received as a gift.
Crab Basket Shard

Section of a crab basket most likely destroyed during a storm. Found on the southern sound-side beach of Tangier Island.
Window Pane with Chesapeake Pearl Oysters

Window Pane from a sunken home on the northern end of Tangier Island .

Crestone - Feature Film

Synopsis:
In a world that undulates between fact and fiction, digital and physical, the last people alive on earth are a group of Soundcloud rappers living a solitary existence in the desert town of Crestone, Colorado. Once a religious and spiritual mecca for many, Crestone creates a compelling cinematic backdrop of endless sand dunes, waterfalls, and dark caves juxtaposed with images of tattooed bodies, cosplay wardrobes, and clouds of marijuana smoke. When the rappers are visited by a hometown friend, they decide to make a movie together. This movie is a love letter. This movie is about the end of the world.

Personal Statement:
The objective of this feature-length film is to capture the lives of a specific, contemporary subculture of people from both the view of their front-facing iPhone cameras, and from the view of a cinematic lens. By quietly imposing an apocalyptic narrative onto their actual daily lives, alarmingly, the only element that changes is the genre. Their brotherhood, in reality becomes a necessity for survival. Their escape into the world they have created for themselves within their music becomes a coping mechanism in the face of the inevitable end of all things. This film portrays them for both who they seem to be and who they really are: a group of young men supporting each other and building lives that revolve around music, leisure, and their unwavering pursuit of happiness.

The cast and I are old friends and acquaintances from our high school years in North Carolina. Because of this already long-established relationship, CRESTONE is naturally collaborative in nature. Together on camera, the subjects and I craft a subtle narrative that leads us through the arid landscape of the desert, the complexities of friendship, and our weakening inner dialogues. They are on the constant hunt for food and supplies to sustain themselves, looting abandoned houses, and seeking refuge in the cool caves and riverbeds of the surrounding mountains. A drone operated by one of the characters acts as an eye-in-the-sky, a voice of reason, and a guardian angel for those that find themselves led astray. Their rambling, disembodied voiceovers become a musical chorus. Instagram and YouTube video interstitials inform the audience of the unique personalities of each character who takes on a persona true to themselves in their lives outside of the constructed narrative of this film and their social media accounts. Within their unique personas they all have developed their own unique ways to cope.

CRESTONE is my first feature film and the film that established me in the independent film world as a hybrid-doc filmmaker. I shot this film in 8 days with an extremely low budget of $5,000. The total budget of the film start to finish was under $25,000. These time and monetary ristrictions were a huge challenge but forced me to grow as a filmmaker under extreme conditions, making me the versitile and inventive artist that I am today. CRESTONE was not only a filmmaking experience for me, but an education. What I gleaned from my experience working in intimate situtuations with people that I care deeply about and relationships that I strive to foster and grow, set a precident for how my relationships with my cast and crew should be centered in my work moving forward. CRESTONE allowed me to explore my unique vision within longform film and gave me a platform to deepen my artistic exploration. This film truly opened the world of feature filmmaking for me and gave me the space to find myself as the filmmaker I am today.

Official Screenings:
Screenings/Festivals:
2020 TRUE/FALSE FILM FEST • Columbia, MO
2020 SXSW Film Festival Official Selection
2020 THE 4:3 ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL
2020 Maryland Film Festival
2020 Milwaukee Film Festival
2020 Beat Film Festival
2020 Champs Elysées Film Festival
2020 Denver Film Festival
2020 American Film Festival in Poland
2020 Sound Unseen 21
2020 Unerhört Music Film Festival
2020 The DocYard Online
2020 Bellweather Series
2021 CPH:DOX

(see resume for other screenings)

Selected press:
Bright Wall/Dark Room
Filmmaker Magazine
IonCinema
Bmore Art
Moveable Fest
Vox Magazine

Director/Writer - Marnie Ellen Hertzler
Original Score - Animal Collective
Cinematographer/Writer - Corey Hughes
Editor - Albert Birney
Producers - Riel Roch-Decter and Sebastian Pardo

https://memory.is/crestone

Crestone behind the scenes photo
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone Still
Crestone | Official Red Band Trailer

Crestone official trailer through Utopia Distribution.
CRESTONE-- Clips from the Feature Film

Clips from the feature film CRESTONE. -- In a world that undulates between fact and fiction, digital and physical, the last people alive on earth are a group of Soundcloud rappers living a solitary existence in the desert town of Crestone, Colorado. Once a religious and spiritual mecca for many, Crestone creates a compelling cinematic backdrop of endless sand dunes, waterfalls, and dark caves juxtaposed with images of tattooed bodies, cosplay wardrobes, and clouds of marijuana smoke. When the rappers are visited by a hometown friend, they decide to make a movie together. This movie is a love letter. This movie is about the end of the world.

Dirt Daughter

Synopsis:
Many of us believe that the internet isn't a physcial thing, rather an infinite, invisible resource. But the internet is finite, and very physical, and it is tucked away in a vast underground internet serer below a giant, empty building far, far away. Lily lives alone in this building and guards it and all of its visible, physical, nothingness. She just broke up with her boyfriend.

Personal Statement:
Dirt Daughter is a dark-comedy short film focused on themes of digital communication, online dating, and the humorous bizarre situations that unfold. In this film, the complex nature of romantic relationships mirrors the ephemeral/physical nature of the internet. Sci-fi meets speculative realism as the physicality of the internet is highlighted with fresh cinematic insight. This film parallels the existential dread of being human, in an incomprehensible universe, to the vast and looming nature of theinternet—which happens to be physical and exists in a massive vacant building. Ultimately the protagonist becomesself-actualized by finding a sense of unity within the infinite yet tangible realm of the internet. "Dirt Daughter" was filmed in downtown Baltimore at the historic Hutzler Building, which acts as a character in-and-of itself, acting alongside, and guiding the lead actress through its hallways and the narrative of the film.

Dirt Daughter was my first scripted narrative film. Usually making documentaries or hybrid-documentaries, I was looking to expand my practice through scripted story telling. I shot this film while I was editing my first feature film, Crestone, as a way to keep my collaborative practice with my crew and actors active and meaningful through the long and consuming process of producing a feature film. Because I was use to the flexiablity and freedom of the documentary format if my past work, I found scripted storytelling to be difficult but charged with a new kind of creativiy that strive to bring to my process and film sets to this day.

Screenings and Collections:
The Criterion Channel
EYESLICER SEASON 2
NoBudge online screening feature, 2019
Indie Grits, Columbia, SC, 2019
Borscht Film Festival, Miami, FL, 2019
Press:
CULTURED MAG

(2019, 13 min.)

Dirt Daughter

Many of us believe that the internet isn't a physcial thing, rather an infinite, invisible resource. But the internet is finite, and very physical, and it is tucked away in a vast underground internet serer below a giant, empty building far, far away. Lily lives alone in this building and guards it and all of its visible, physical, nothingness. She just broke up with her boyfriend. (2019, 13 min.)
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"
Dirt Daughter Still

Still from short film "Dirt Daughter"

Hi I Need To Be Loved

Synopsis:
'I am going to have you read from a collection of my spam emails,' The director explains as she ushers actors from Craigslist one-by-one into an audition room. The actors and the director together attempt to breathe life into lifeless, manipulative, malicious, and nonsensical email dialogue in an attempt to realize and humanize the digital and inhumane. All is revealed to the viewer; The slate, light stands, teleprompter, a boom operator, film equipment litters the audition room floor, a cow pasture, a sunset, a strip club. Is this poetry or malware?

Personal Statement:
At the time of production, this short film was my most ambitious yet. I was directing a full crew. I had cast over 15 actor. I had four location. It was my first time working with the production company, MEMORY, whom I would go on to collaborate with on well into the future. Hi I Need To Be Loved is the film that I am most proud of to date. I approached this film from a place of complete freedom. I took inspiration from the world around me, the internet, literature, my personal relationships, dreams, films, and wove them together into an experiemental short film that I felt not only represented me as a filmmaker and artist, but also a person. I focused on strengthening relationships within my crew members and actors. I wanted to explore Baltimore and the county and express it through film. I wanted life and music to coalesce through the workings of Dan Deacon and his collaboration with my moving image and the Mind on Fire orchestra. I wanted Hi I Need To Be Loved to celebrate all of this through the language of film.

Written and Directed by: Marnie Ellen Hertzler
Original Score: Dan Deacon
Director of Photography: Corey Hughes
Executive Producers: Riel Roch-Decter and Sebastian Pardo
Edited by: Albert Birney

Official Selections/Screenings:
2019 Rotterdam International Film Festival
2019 London Short Film Festival
2018 Locarno Film Festival
2018 Vancouver International Film Festival
2018 El Gouna Film Festival
2018 Valdiva Film Festival
2018 New Orleans Film Festival
2018 Denver Film Festival
2019 London Short Film Festival

Press:
Medium: Experimental Shorts Highlights NOFF - 2018
The New Orleans Advocate: 7 Must See Films at the 2018 New Orleans Film Festival - 2018

(2018, 11 min.)

Hi I Need To Be Loved

'I am going to have you read from a collection of my spam emails,' The director explains as she ushers actors from Craigslist one-by-one into an audition room. The actors and the director together attempt to breathe life into lifeless, manipulative, malicious, and nonsensical email dialogue in an attempt to realize and humanize the digital and inhumane. All is revealed to the viewer; The slate, light stands, teleprompter, a boom operator, film equipment litters the audition room floor, a cow pasture, a sunset, a strip club. Is this poetry or malware? (2018, 11 min.)
Film Still

Actor while preforming a reading of a spam email from the view of the teleprompter.
Film Still

Close up of Actor while preforming a reading of a spam email.
Set Photography

A photograph on set of the Director (Marnie Ellen Hertzler) and Actor during the audition process
Set Photography

Photograph of the farm location.
Set Photography

The teleprompter - an integral character to the audition process of the film
Hi I Need To Be Loved -- Short Film Trailer

Trailer for the short film HI I NEED TO BE LOVED - Actors from Craigslist audition for a film by reading spam emails from a teleprompter. Three are cast: A Dancer, A Chef, and A Milkmaid. Is it poetry or malware? (2018, 11min)

Growing Girl animation and performance

Synopsis:
Utilizing unconventional animation platforms, and stock photo characters, Growing Girl is a animation that explores the form and setting of office culture, the reclamation of an empowered female identity, and a remedy for the internalization of an all-too-common social conflict.

A PowerPoint presentation about snakes and all of the things I wish I would have done.

As well as being projected in a theatrical setting, Growing Girl has been performed in front of a live audience as a PowerPoint presentation would be in a business meeting or conference using a live score and dialogue.

Personal Statement:
Growing Girl was the first film where I directed an actor within my practice. It was also the first film in my career where I received success in the film festival circuit. Because of the success of this film, my career took a turn for the better. I met the producers that currently work with my on my feature films. I formed relationships with festival programmers that have since supported my work and brought it into the public eye. Most importantly, I found my voice as a director and artist. I learned the importance and magic of a director/actor relationship and what nurturing that relationship can produce better art over time. My relationship with the actress in this animation, Isobel Arnberg, is still alive and strong today. She continued to appear in two more of my short films after this one and I look forward to what we will create together in the future.

Not only was Growing Girl important for my immediate career, it also showed me the importance and power in being open and honest within my work.

Directed/Animated - Marnie Ellen Hertzler
Sound/Original Score - Dan Deacon
Original Poetry - Maya Martinez
Producers - Jillian Mayer, Matt Porterfield
Starring - Isobel Arnberg
Additional Animation - Albert Birney

Official Selections/Screenings
2019 Museum of Modern Art New York
2018 Oak Cliff Film Festival
2018 Indie Grits Film Festival
2018 Florida Film Festival
2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival
2017 Borscht Film Festival
2017 Maryland Film Festival
2017 New Orleans Film Festival
2017 Cucalorus Film Festival

Press:
Good Short Films: Growing Girl - 2018

(2016, 11 min.)

Growing Girl Animation

Utilizing unconventional animation platforms, and stock photo characters, Growing Girl is an animation that explores the form and setting of office culture, the reclamation of an empowered female identity, and a remedy for the internalization of an all-too-common social conflict. (2016, 11 min.)
Growing Girl animation still

Video still from Growing Girl animation
Growing Girl animation still

Video still from Growing Girl animation
Growing Girl performance photo

Photograph from Growing Girl live performance Miami, FL 2017 -- Borscht Film Festival
Growing Girl performance photo

Photograph from Growing Girl live performance Miami, FL 2017 -- Borscht Film Festival
Growing Girl performance photo

Photograph from Growing Girl live performance Miami, FL 2017 -- Borscht Film Festival
Growing Girl performance photo

Photograph from Growing Girl live performance Miami, FL 2017 -- Borscht Film Festival