Remembering Shakespeare is an original and deeply moving meditation on how Shakespeare’s words continue to shape our lives. Cecilia Rubino, Will Lucas and Peter Lucas’s hauntingly beautiful film, and their unforgettable cast of characters, has transformed for me what it means to “commit” something to memory. I very much hope that many others - young and old - have the chance to experience and be transformed by it.
- James Shapiro, author of The Year of Lear & A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599
We’re happy to announce that REMEMBERING SHAKESPEARE has been launched on Vimeo on Demand. Both versions, the full-length 120 minute film and the shorter 52 minute version are now available to rent or purchase. Please see our Vimeo on Demand page:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/rememberingshakespeare
We were honored to interview Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in the chambers of the Supreme Court for the film. Relating how she memorized Shakespeare growing up in the public schools of Brooklyn, Ginsberg shared her life-long passion for Shakespeare and revealed her favorite female character. To see an excerpt from our interview with her:
News: Remembering Shakespeare screened at the New Haven Documentary Film Festival this past August. The screening was in honor of Margaret Holloway, a central figure in the film and who recently passed away in New Haven of Covid 19. Her life story and her years of preforming Shakespeare on the streets can be found at:
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me... Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee!
What do you remember? How will you be remembered? Shakespeare asked these questions as he wrote over 400 years ago in the age of early print culture. We now live in the era of early digital culture. During Elizabethan times, the reliance on oral culture shifted as public access to print texts expanded and literacy rates rose. Today, we are experiencing a similar process of radical change as myriad forms of digital technology are transforming how we think; what’s important to know; and what we value. If our memories can be contained on our phones, what do we in fact really need to remember?
Our documentary, Remembering Shakespeare, engages participants in a dialogue about memory, memorization and how Shakespeare’s words continue to live in us. Shot mainly in New York, we asked the question, what lines of Shakespeare do you remember and why? In response, we met many people who passionately remember lines and phrases from Shakespeare because the texts continued to be connected to their own personal lives. Called a valentine to the city of New York, our film documents unexpectedly moving personal stories while capturing a visual side of New York that compliments Shakespeare’s astonishing words.