Based on a Story

Based on a Story explores the widely-publicized encounter between a Jewish Cantor, Michael Weisser, and Nebraska's former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon, Larry Trapp. After months of harassment from Trapp by mail, phone and cable TV, the Weisser family befriended Trapp, who then renounced the Klan, moved into the Weisser family's home and converted to Judaism. Trapp, who was a double amputee and blind from childhood diabetes, died in the Weisser's home six months after he moved in. The Weisser/Trapp story, which was sold by the Weissers to the Disney Corporation, is presented as an intimate tale of family and childhood that evolves into a media event, built around the fear and shifting terrain of public and private life. The unique visual construction of the video concludes with the narrator appearing on camera, suggesting that the piece's narrative shares the constructive nature of the interview footage.

Original Music: Michael Becker & Pamela Z.

This title is also available on O Night Without Objects.