| Producer: Jane Gray
Production company: Purple House Productions
Source:
Jane Gray
Purple House Productions
11 Vassal Lane
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Phone: +1 617 497 8723
janegray@purple-house.co
www.purple-house.com
PLAYING HOUSE is a compelling and funny vérité documentary
that presents a portrait of five seventh- and eighth-grade girls during
their first year at Fay School, the oldest junior boarding school in
America. The film takes place primarily in the dormitory the girls share
where we watch their everyday lives unfold as they make friends and
enemies, have their first dates, and sleep with stuffed animals.
Through a series of intimate vignettes, PLAYING HOUSE follows the girls
from September, when their parents kiss and hug them good-bye, to June,
when their good-byes to each other are surprisingly teary given the
rocky year they've shared.
Amanda, an overweight girl with acne from Minnesota, seems out of place
in this privileged setting. Orphaned and sent away to learn manners,
Amanda faces many challenges to fit in with the skinny rich girls around
her. As she begins to dominate the dorm, one is torn between cheering
her on and being astonished by her disregard for others. In particular,
Amanda has it in for Joanna, a petite, blonde goody-two-shoes who seems
to have it all. Perfectly poised and composed, Joanna is more comfortable
pleasing adults and playing with dolls than worrying about cliques,
clothes, or boys. Joanna's roommate Lucia, from Mexico, is caught in
the middle. Over the school year, these girls negotiate brutal social
interactions and cope with cultural and class differences, growing up
while far away from home.
Jane Gray is an associate of Harvard University's Film Study Center.
She has worked as an editor for Errol Morris.
Filmography as Director
PLAYING HOUSE (2003)
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