THE PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME
Feature / hybrid documentary / in-development
LOGLINE: The Performance of a Lifetime is a hybrid documentary that explores the anxieties and undue pressure faced by children in the performing arts from the perspective of filmmaker Brendan Prost as he investigates his own fraught experience as a child actor through home video, dramatizations, and interviews with family.
SYNOPSIS: When filmmaker Brendan Prost begins exploring a wealth of home video related to his years as a child actor, he begins to realize that this early experience may have formed the negative self-image that underlies his longstanding depression. Sensing an opportunity to heal, Brendan sets out to make a personal documentary that explores the origins and impact of his fraught early experience in theatre and film.
As he begins to interview family, friends, and collaborators, the complex web of forces that guided him into the professional world of acting at eight-years-old begins to unravel. The film examines the influence of a bipolar drama teacher dad with his own creative aspirations, the looming shadow of an identical twin sister’s perfect family, an unexpected move to a new city, a family bankruptcy, and a parent’s divorce, all through the eyes of an impressionable and sensitive kid. Through a dynamic and impressionistic blend of continued conversations, archival material, and dramatizations, Brendan revisits buried memories such as the humiliation of almost being fired by a stage manager, the confusion of being prematurely sexualized by older child actors, and the shame that drove him to attempt suicide after not landing a role in the school play.
Through creatively re-engaging with these painful early experiences, Brendan begins to understand how his sense of self-worth has become inexorably tied to his artistic life. He begins to question whether the professional path he’s on is truly of his own making, while the film raises crucial questions about how children form identity, develop needs and desires, and make decisions about their future. .
CONTACT: Email brendan@sadsackcinema.com for more information.
