The Film
When I was approached by Richard Anderson (my father) about shooting a documentary about their drive across country in 2009, I was torn. It’s never easy to turn the camera inward and aim it at your family. Exploring life’s intimate moments, stresses and successes is something not many people want to do with a camera shoved in their faces. And for me as a filmmaker, to take my professional life and unleash it onto them is seemingly cruel.
But, with rather little struggle (only a few years of hemming and hawing), I warmed up to the idea, realizing that there are a many more amazing stories to tell in tandem with the immediate (and amazing) story of my sister driving an antique automobile across America to celebrate Alice Ramsey - the first woman to drive across America.
Why not talk about women’s history? Why not talk to women who have blazed trails and risen to meet the challenges of adversity? To be a part of something as broad sweeping and positive as Alice’s Drive is more than just filming my sister eating bugs and getting sunburned at the helm of the 1909 Maxwell, although I admit I will probably edit some of that into the finished film whether she likes it or not…it is an opportunity to explore a very often neglected history: women’s history.
Emily and I have often talked about what exactly the drive means and why our family has dedicated such an effort to making it happen. The more I listen to her, the more I understand her passion for celebrating Alice and wanting to share her spirit with women everywhere. Emily has her very own spirit…similar to Alice’s in many ways. She’s independent, strong, curious, loving and totally adventurous.
From suburban and inner-city elementary, middle and high school students, to young mothers, aimless minimum wage college grads, a new generation of immigrants, to mothers and daughters, Emily wants to use the drive to inspire the simple idea of embracing your own unique potential and living your life to the fullest
Alice Ramsey took 59 days to drive across the U.S. at 22 years old. It was adventure Alice wanted and in the process of reaching that goal, she broke countless social boundaries and had the time of her life.
The momentum of a cross-country celebration of women is a gradual process. The drive is just shy of a year away at this point, but so far amazing things have started to happen. Women from around the country have begun extending themselves to Emily, wanting to participate, wanting to hold hands, wanting to share stories, wanting to have fun and recognize that life is about growth and having shared experiences.
Capturing these shared experiences and inter-weaving them with interviews exploring Alice Ramsey’s story as an entre into a century of women’s history will be the main thrust of the film. Was Alice a suffragette? Why did she did she do the drive, was she out to prove something? How did the automobile help to shape, or harm, the women’s movement? How have the automobile and women’s history grown in tandem? The film asks these questions and further investigates the effort of integrating women’s history into our global consciousness. With any documentary one can’t pretend to know what to expect…life will take over, there will be bumps in the road and there will be moments I will never be able to predict. Alice’s Drive is a celebration at its core and one of the largest under-takings of my life thus far.
Sincerely,
Bengt Anderson
Director
Alice’s Drive- Women Who Drove The Century
