What is Love?
When humanity recognizes the power of love it will be like discovering fire for the second time.
- Interviewee Stephan Rechtschaffen from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
What is Love? is a seven-episode documentary. Multi-media artist and filmmaker JANE MARTIN will present the first episode and previews of the second episode of her documentary series, currently in the final stages of post-production. She will speak to the origins of her documentary, the process of filming, the successful Kickstarter campaign, as well as the process of editing seven episodes with over 150 participants (edited with Alex Mankiewicz of the renowned Hollywood family).
Love is a word we all use, but rarely stop and try to define. In this seven-part series, the question 'What is love?' is posed to people from all walks of life, ages, sexualities and cultures. None of the participants knew the question in advance. Each one brings unique stories of love: love lost, love won - perspectives both personal and universal. They speak from the depths of years of experience, the freshness of youth, and the battlegrounds and successes of love.
Over 150 people generously agreed to be interviewed on camera, ranging in age from three to ninety-five and representing several countries and continents and over 100 East End inhabitants including Alec Baldwin, Rodney Yee & Colleen Saidman, Mercedes Ruehl, Edie Windsor, Ron Guttman, Lynda LaPlante, Sylvia Overby, Bridget Fleming, Bill King, Bruce Wolosoff, Esperanza Leon, Hans Van de Bovencamp, Stephan Rechtschaffen, Paton Miller, Loring Bolger, Lynn Blumenfeld, Kate Rabinowicz and Rameshwar Das, among many others. Many topics are addressed in the episodes including self-love, vulnerability, loss, challenges, lust, social media and unconditional love.
An understanding of the power and role of love is more necessary than ever in a world that is plagued by negativity and polarizing conflict. The aim of What is Love? is to create a positive and dynamic dialogue for all of us. After the film is screened and comments or questions addressed, the room will be opened up for a dialogue on the age-old question: what is love?
Producer: Jane Martin
Jane Martin is an award-winning multi-media artist represented in corporate, private and museum collections worldwide, including the Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall Museum. Her work embraces the worlds of photography, painting, video stills and installation in addition to filmmaking. She has had exhibitions in numerous museums, art fairs and galleries in New York City, the Hamptons, Miami, Santa Fe, Dallas, Los Angeles and Europe - including solo exhibitions at Guild Hall Museum and Islip Art Museum.
After her B.A. in Studio Art she completed her film studies at New York University. She subsequently worked in the film and television industry for 12 years in both New York City and Paris (where she lived for eight years) as director, cinematographer, editor, associate producer and production manager for independent films and television networks (fiction, documentary and commercial). She was an assistant and 'experimental' editor for Al Pacino on his first film and shot and edited Gregory Colbert's documentary on AIDS.
Her first documentary, Silent Sentries, an ode to Manhattan's water towers and skyline, was broadcast on several PBS stations nationally, including numerous times on Channel 13, WNET as well as WNYC. It also premiered at several film festivals in Europe and the United States.
As with other multi-disciplinary artists, she finds that the mediums of paint, photography and film enrich, expand and complement each other.