Mary Trunk

The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller (2014)
Documentary by Ma and Pa Films, Mary Trunk Co-Director, Co-Producer The Past is in the Present is a glimpse into the working process and daily life of Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Gunther Schuller. Gunther spends his days in his 20 room home in a rural suburb of Boston composing at a card table, watching sports and writing the second volume of his autobiography. In this intimate visit he reveals his passion for both Classical music and Jazz, how he fell in love with his wife, his creative methods and how he keeps motivated at the ancient age of 88.

Lost In Living (2004 - 2013)
Documentary by Ma and Pa Films, Mary Trunk Director, Camera Operator, Producer, Writer Behind the domestic curtain of motherhood, where the creative impulse can flourish or languish, are four women determined to make a go of it. Filmed over seven years, Lost In Living, confronts the contradictions inherent in personal ambition and self-sacrifice, female friendship and mental isolation, big projects and dirty dishes. The complex realities of family life unfold in this documentary film about the messy intersection of motherhood and artistic expression.

Plain Art (2004 - 2006)
Documentary by Ma and Pa Films, Mary Trunk Director, Camera Operator, Producer One female artist commissions six architects to create spaces for her to paint in. Filmed over two years in Fargo, North Dakota this film documents the challenges and triumphs of collaboration and public art.

The Watershed (1995 - 2004)
Documentary by Ma and Pa Films, Mary Trunk (Documentary) Director, Co-Editor Faced with extraordinary trauma of losing both parents to alcoholism and divorce, seven siblings form a unique family structure. The Watershed is a moving documentary of survival and forgiveness that shows how tragedy can have transforming effects on individual identity. Still lulled by Camelot fantasies, the Trunk family represented both the accomplishment and downfall of the American Dream. For more than four years the Trunk children were left to fend for themselves, often living without a phone, electricity, heat and very little food. Just when life seemed unbearable, all seven children were rescued and taken in by relatives who already had three children and limited resources of their own. It was there that they had a second chance at becoming a family again.