When I spoke with Meghan Eckman last March about the Corner parking lot, the subject of her in-progress documentary film, the local filmmaker had 125 hours of footage and an increasingly clear idea about the lot’s role in the city and the people that gravitate towards it.
"The amazing thing about the lot is that it is an autonomous space,” said Eckman. “It’s surrounded by formal structures of establishment—businesses, bars, the University’s system of rules. But it’s an in-between place.”
At the time, it was hard to get a feel for how such a film might turn out. Now, thanks to a pair of trailers, it’s possible to tease out details about what The Parking Lot Movie might look like upon its completion. Watch the trailers now.
The lot, managed by filmmaker Chris Farina (who filmed the asphalt-concerned West Main Street) has a history of employing students and locals, in addition to the occasional budding rock musician, and the employees seem to be cut from a distinctive type of cloth, although I’d be reluctant to say what that cloth is or where it came from. Instead, you tell me: Anyone have an interesting run-in at the Corner lot? Figurative or literal?
Whole lot of love: Meghan Eckman releases trailers for The Parking Lot Movie. Which is probably easier than parking a trailer in the Corner lot.