"Belly Talkers," a documentary about ventriloquists and their art, will be screened on Tuesday, March 4, at 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. The event is free and open to the public.
The film was directed by Sandra Luckow, a professional ventriloquist, visiting instructor of film production at the University and a 1987 Yale College graduate. It was produced by Maude Chilton, Yale Class of 1987, and her sister, Eve Chilton.
The film's title alludes to the etymology of the word "ventriloquist," which comes from the Latin for "stomach" and "speech." The film centers on a road trip exploring the personalities and purposes of an assortment of ventriloquists. Archival footage and interviews are mixed with cinema verite. "Belly Talkers" features footage of veteran entertainers discussing their work, including Shari Lewis, Paul Winchell, David Copperfield and Candice Bergen, reminiscing about her father, Edgar. In fact, at one point in the film, ventriloquist's dummy Charlie McCarthy goes head-to-head with Miss Piggy of the Muppets.
The film shows one ventriloquist/psychologist who uses his dummy in therapy sessions, and another, with an evangelical bent, who uses ventriloquism to spread the Gospel. The documentary also shows Ms. Luckow and her wooden comrade, Juanito, at the 21st International ConVENTion, a gathering of 400 "vents" from around the world.
Ms. Luckow will introduce "Belly Talkers" and lead a discussion after each screening. The event is sponsored by the Film Study Center and film studies program.
"Belly Talkers" was shown at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, one of 14 documentaries chosen from 200 submissions, as well as the USA Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival and the Northwest Film Center's "Oddities, Enigmas and Obsessions" series.
Ms. Luckow majored in film studies and American studies at Yale, and was the recipient of the Louis Sudler Prize, Yale's highest award in the performing and creative arts. Her senior project, "Sharp Edges," was a documentary on then-14-year-old Tonya Harding, a struggling young ice skater from Ms. Luckow's hometown; portions of that film were used on "60 Minutes" in 1994.