Paul collaborated as Director of Photography with filmmaker Madsen Minax during fall of 2011 to create The Year I Broke My Voice. From the director:
"The Year I Broke My Voice is an experimental film that re-examines the coming of age narrative. The story follows several groups of socially interconnected ‘adolescents,’ (played by trans adults) providing snapshots of the connections and traumas they experience through each other. The video examines notions of time, memory and nostalgia in trans experiences, the erotics of friendships, and the inevitability of being alone. The script for this project was composed in a collage format by excerpting and adapting texts from three Hollywood coming-of-age films." -Madsen Minax
The Year I Broke My Voice has screened at the Richard Hoggart Cinema at Goldsmiths University in London, UK, 2014; Why Marriage? Arts Festival at Darst Center in Chicago, IL, 2014; De Cavia Filmhuis in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2013; Fringe! Film Festival in London, UK, 2013; TranScreen Amsterdam in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2013; Bangalore Queer Film Festival in Bangalore, India, 2013; and The Block Theatre in Evanston, IL, 2013.
The Year I Broke My Voice, is an experimental narrative built from collaged reenactments of three 1980s coming of age films: The Outsiders (1983), Stand By Me (1986), and The Year My Voice Broke (1987), that re-approaches the master narrative of childhood’s transition into adulthood. Examining notions of time, memory and nostalgia, structures of kinship and collectivity, the impossibility of returning home and the inevitability of being alone, this work positions a group of age and gender ambiguous characters in a vacant and post-industrial landscape, within which they must navigate death and development. Misadventures that include impromptu races, nighttime spooning, cheating card games, attempts at hypnotism, pocket knife haircuts, and sexual fantasies all function as means for the characters to attempt knowing one another. Through re-enacted vignettes and landscape meditations, The Year I Broke My Voice offers an alternative perspective on coming of age that emphasizes perpetual states of becoming over conventions of linear development into adulthood. Written and Directed by Madsen Minax, Cinematography by Paul Kruse, Assistant Director: Sara Kerastas, starring: Andrew Brown, Cat Hammond, Baylie Roth, Levi Pine, Elias Krell, Malic White, AJ Jennings and Vi Ray-Mazumder. Original Music by Gowns and Jail Flanagan. This project was made possible by the Chicago Instructional Technology Foundation Grant, administered by Chicago Filmmakers, as well as the Illinois State University Artist in Residence Program. www.BrokeVoiceFilm.com Total Run Time: 47 minutes, HD 16:9, NTSC, 2012