Now Available: New Digitization of Deborah Stratman’s In Order Not to Be Here

Posted September 3rd, 2025 in Announcements, New Acquisitions, New Digital Files, News / Events

In Order Not to Be Here (2002, 33 minutes, color/b&w, sound, 16mm or digital file or DCP)

An uncompromising look at the ways privacy, safety, convenience and surveillance determine our environment. Shot entirely at night, the film confronts the hermetic nature of white-collar communities, dissecting the fear behind contemporary suburban design. An isolation-based fear (protect us from people not like us). A fear of irregularity (eat at McDonalds, you know what to expect). A fear of thought (turn on the television). A fear of self (don’t stop moving). By examining evacuated suburban and corporate landscapes, the film reveals a peculiarly 21st century hollowness… an emptiness born of our collective faith in safety and technology. This is a new genre of horror movie, attempting suburban locations as states of mind.