Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse

Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse is a documentary film (2007) by Swiss journalist Thomas Haemmerli.

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Synopsis

Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.

Two opposing storylines developed out of the film material. On the one hand, there is the struggle against chaos, during which the apartment becomes increasingly empty and clean. On the other hand, there is the story of the family, which becomes increasingly confusing.

The film deals intensively with compulsive hoarding.

Background

Thomas Haemmerli is a Swiss TV journalist. On March 8, 2004, when he received the ominous phone call from Zurich's criminal police department which launched one of the most harrowing weeks of his life, Haemmerli reacted the way he was used to: he took out his camera and started shooting. It came out of 30 hours of DV footage which Haemmerli intended to turn into a short film "which we might be able to show our friends".

My brother and I had suspected the apartment would be in disorder. But what we found exceeded our worst expectations. Like most "Messies" my mother would do anything to make sure no one ever saw the inside of her home. It took us an entire month to clean out the apartment, and we had to work our way through mountains of things. We unearthed a lot of documents about our family history, including photos going back to the 1880s, film footage from the 30s and 40s, and all the home movies my mother shot from the 1960s onward. This precious material – roughly seventy years of an unusual family history – became the first impulse for making a film. And the possibility of filming in the apartment, without interference from relatives.
- Thomas Haemmerli, Director

I detest films conceived as therapy for their maker. I believe films should be made to tell a story, not as self-help for the filmmaker.
- Thomas Haemmerli, Director

Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse got to obtain a film subsidy of CHF 90'000 (about 75.000 USD) from Zurich's film foundation in 2006.

Reaction

It is not the story itself which is unusual, but the fact that it has been documented: that Haemmerli continued shooting in situations where we would all prefer to keep our eyes closed – especially when our own family is concerned.
- Mirjam von Arx, Producer

Trivia

Young Kofi Annan makes an appearance in the documentary as he had been invited to the wedding of Haemmerlis parents.

International release

The first release of Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse outside of Switzerland was at the hot docs Canadian international documentary film festival, April 2007, in Toronto/CA.