The Cinematheque

“By foregrounding disability, Lord creates a film not only about debt, but also the fatigue it engenders. It’s a tremendous evocation of exhaustion, the process of aging, the maintenance of security (in one’s own life and image), and above all, capitalism’s breathless bureaucracies.”

Emerson Goo, Screen Slate

Foregrounding accessibility as a participatory strategy, Shared Resources is a documentary that is as critical as it is sincere, as formally inventive as its themes are familiar. The project unfolds over five years, after filmmaker Jordan Lord’s father Albert is fired from his job as a debt collector. Through Hurricane Katrina, a health scare, and bankruptcy, the film reconsiders debt through the relationships of a family in front of and behind the camera. Audio descriptions performed by Lord’s family members add to already reflexive conversations, posing questions about comfort and consent. By unsettling documentary conventions, Lord reframes debt—what we owe to each other—not simply as obligation, but as a practice of access, care, and trust. 

Co-programmed by Casey Wei and Sara Wylie (Experimental Media Access Project).

Post-screening virtual Q&A with director Jordan Lord.