Tragedy struck New Orleans and the experimental film community yesterday. Mother, wife, and experimental filmmaker Helen Hill was brutally gunned down at her door early yesterday morning. Few details are known, but it is one of a rash of five murders in the span of 14 hours in New Orleans. You can read the AP report here. Her husband was also shot in the attack, but survived along with their two-year-old son.
Some of Helen’s friends have started a memorial web page. I’m sure more info will appear there soon.
I didn’t know Helen personally, but came across her work when a friend helped her reprint her well-know Recipes for Disaster book to raise funds to help restore the home and films that were damaged by hurricane Katrina. The amazing book is a cookbook of sorts for DIY filmmaking and has been an inspiration and tool for independent filmmakers for years. I’m sure the book, Helen’s films, and her memory will continue to inspire people for years to come. She will be sorely missed.
If you have photos and memories you’d like to contribute to Helen’s memorial site, you can email them to memory[at]helenhill.org
Thanks to Alfonso Alvarez, Larry Urbanski and all those on Frameworks and the AMIA listserv who have shared news and memories.
It is always a tragedy when crimes such as these are
committed against good people. Helen & her husband were
there to help. Perhaps those who were filled with evil
could not accept there presence in their world of darkness
any longer. The news of this light that has left the world has placed a wound in my heart. Soceity as a whole has been
raped and left with a gapping wound. I hope we will all heal soon with the capture of those guilty of this cowardly act. I would like justice for our on shining example of goodness gone now from us forver. RIP HELEN!!!! There is a
silver lining and a message for all of us here somewhere.
Sincerly,
Tamika Abdulrahman
(former uptown resident)
Comment by Tamika Abdulrahman — January 11, 2007 @ 12:57 pm
An email was sent to our company in Montreal, from a digital compositor friend of Helen.
When I saw the forward email and read the tragic end of her life. I have to say that I was moved.
The website in her memory gave me a glimpse of her life. I could see in her smile, a genuine angel, the goodness of her eyes, a simple, captivating woman.
I send my condolences to her husband an daughter. family and friends. Helen will be in our prayers.
with respect and admiration for her life,
Joan Daniel Lillo
Comment by Joan Lillo — January 15, 2007 @ 10:28 pm