Barney Snow | Where Has Eternity Gone?

FILM NOTES

The film is 48 minutes long and was directed, produced and shot by myself. It was edited by Greg Harris. It was made without any external funding.

I screened it first at the Horse Hospital in London in 2001. It then went to the Slamdance Film Festival, Utah in 2002 as a competition feature. It was shown at The Edinburgh Film Festival 2002, Britspotting (Berlin) 2002 plus several others that year. It had several one-off screenings at art schools in the US and UK and small film theatres.

THE POLLEYS TODAY

The Polleys eventually moved away from North Dakota and ended up in Maine. Very sadly Gerald died in 2012 and Linda has stayed on in Maine. Over the years they maintained their creative output both musically (with the addition of Kurt Cobain) and with some interesting animations. The film's other character, Jesse Torres, remains a close friend of Linda but didn't move east.

REVIEWS

Guardian: "a touching and amusing film"

Dazed and Confused: "an affecting portrait of outsider culture"

Mojo: "One of the most remarkable scenes in the film is Gerald going by bus to his job as an early-shift dishwasher, calmly explaining how he is the most important man in creation."

Variety: "An alternately sad and hilarious venture into middle America's eccentric underbelly, Barney Snow's Where Has Eternity Gone? spends 49 riveting minutes in the company of Gerald and Linda Polley…"
Read the full review here.

WHERE HAS ETERNITY GONE?

I came across Gerald and Linda Polley and their story while I was looking into people who believe themselves to inhabit or to commune with the souls of famous people. The character of John Lennon had come up a number of times by the time I found the Polleys. Being something of a Beatles fan myself (John was my favourite Beatle. The boringly obvious choice, I know) I was intrigued to hear that the Polleys claim to channel his music from the afterlife. Furthermore, when I heard the title track ‘Where Has Eternity Gone?’ – which feels both ethereal and heartfelt, along with a confounding title – I was ready to find out more.

Meet the Polleys and friends:

[Show slideshow]

I asked them if they’d be interested in a visit which they readily agreed to, largely as I had called at a critical time, namely the US Presidential elections which they were following closely and were attempting to influence with the help of Lennon’s musical powers. It was November 2000 when I packed up my camera gear and flew to the US, arriving at the Polley’s home in Fargo, North Dakota as the first snow of winter was falling. George W Bush and Al Gore were contesting the Presidential Election and John Lennon was trying to swing the vote to save the afterlife from annihilation by the dark forces.