Hot Docs 2008

"She looks very passionate, would make a very good wife," says a stranger describing the face of another stranger. Conversation is a fascinating and frank look at the hidden judgments we habitually make about others based on their faces. In this cleverly composed and edited short doc, filmmakers Lenka Clayton and James Price explore the semiotics of body language. We observe candid interviews with 29 strangers from the streets of London, England, as they read another stranger's face. It's a revealing study of how we readily project our fears and hopes onto people we don't know. What does a face really tell you about a person and what does it tell you about your own preconceptions and prejudices?
-Sarah Whitehouse