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Overlooked & Underrated Docs & Features
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The Blinking Madonna: Doc Maker Shoots Herself No, no, no. Not with a gun, with a camera. Let me explain.
Beth Harrington is an accomplished documentary filmmaker. In the mid-1990s she was covering an Italian-American religious festival in the ‘North End’ of Boston, Massachusetts. She captured a large statue of the Virgin Mary as it passed by. Harrington hadn’t yet seen this footage when she received a phone call from a small group of men who had just viewed a copy of the tape. They asked her to come to them and see this moving image which—the title says it all—blinks. The word and image spread, there was the inevitable media coverage, and Harrington became a local celebrity. They asked her if this was an artifact of the camera or a miracle. She wouldn’t say.
Miracle or not, the event changed Harrington’s life, and she wrote and produced this hour-long hybrid auto-biographical documentary.
Playing herself, Harrington reenacts a broad outline of her life—including the event’s impact—with actors playing key roles. Narrating her story, Harrington reflects on the nature of miracles and the nature of life.
This is one of the most unusual documentary films I’ve seen. It’s a sweet story, a sweet film, and Harrington is that rare documentary filmmaker who can act.
“The Blinking Madonna” was produced in conjunction with Independent Television Service, and broadcast on public television.