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“Turn Her Trauma into Art” | Kate Beecroft, East of Wall

A blonde woman with heavy black eyeliner and a black tank top stands amongst brown horses.East of Wall, courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why?

Our film is centered around the lives of Tabatha Zimiga and her family as they reconcile their unresolved grief after the sudden death of her husband. This film took five years to make. It’s a docu-fiction film, so I lived in this specific area of South Dakota for years—embedding myself for the purpose of learning from and observing this family and their community.

When I was writing this script, there was one scene where I left the scene heading as: “IMPROVISED. REAL TIME.” It’s a scene where Tabatha tells a group of women around a fire about the moment she found her husband’s body. Tabatha had only shared this story one other time…on the first day I met her in 2019. When I asked her, “What happened that night?” she replied, “No one has ever asked me that before.” I knew when I wrote “IMPROVISED. REAL TIME” on the top of the scene heading, I’d be asking Tabatha to do the bravest, most horrifying thing possible for her to do: retelling her story again, but now, in front of cameras.

There were certain individuals I met along the way who led me to Tabatha and who embraced my presence in the community, whose friendships developed into some of the deepest bonds and connections in my life today. These women are women I met at bars, gas stations, rodeos… they welcomed me into their homes and we shared harrowing stories of loss, abuse, joy and survival. I knew I needed to have these women there sitting in a circle with Tabatha. I knew they were strong enough to lay witness to and hold Tabatha as she embarked on the incredibly emotional task of retelling her story.

Saying I was nervous to shoot this scene is an understatement. Even in pre-production and into production I found myself looking at the shooting schedule dauntingly, counting down the days till we shot this scene. I had no plan B if my cast froze up in front of the camera and didn’t have a written scene to refer back to. But I knew Tabatha—the bravest human I know—would find the strength to get through this story, and that the women would be inspired by her strength in order to share their own stories.

Filming that scene was the most powerful night of my life. My crew and I still talk about that night to this day. When I asked her how she was able to do it, Tabatha said, “What happened to me and my kids, I can’t have had that been for nothing.” She was determined to share her story that night; turn her trauma into art…this incredible rancher in South Dakota.

See all responses to our annual Sundance Question here.
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