Ann Hodges: The Woman That Was Hit By A Meteorite (2021)
In 1954, an Alabama woman named Ann Hodges was hit by a meteorite that crashed through the roof of her home. For years, this was the only documented case of an extra-terrestrial object injuring a human being. Despite turning Ms. Hodges into an overnight celebrity, the bizarre event marked the beginning of her tragic demise.
The film was made during the Lens-based masters programme at the Piet Zwart Institute. You can watch the full short documentary film down below.
Premiered at Sidewalk Film Festival, Birmingham, USA on 29/08/2021
Screened at George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, Florence, USA on 05/03/2022
Screened at Durango Independent Film Festival, Durango, USA on 06/03/2022
Screened at Fairhope Film Festival, Fairhope, USA on 13/11/2022
Backstory
When I stumbled upon the remarkable story of Ann E. Hodges online, I was immediately captivated by the grainy black and white pictures that captured this bizarre footnote in history. As a visual artist that has a deep and dark fascination for forensic and (historic) news photography, I found the images that recorded the Sylacauga meteorite event almost too good to be true. After doing more extensive research on the event, I learned that the hero of the story was also the victim. With this experimental short film, I wanted to tell the incredible but tragic story of Ann Hodges and simultaneously reflect on my passion for low budget Hollywood science fiction films. I hope my film gives some recognition to the late Ann Hodges, whose short life was as wondrous as it was tragic. Ann Hodges: The Woman That Was Hit By A Meteorite showcases the gritty way in which humankind preserves history and violence through photographs while functioning as a homage to the incredible sci-fi films that dominated box offices in the 1950’s. I could not have made this film without the help of the staff of The University of Alabama and Getty Images, which supplied me with most of the pictures used in this short film. Because I couldn’t travel to Alabama myself because of COVID-19, I reached out to numerous Alabama locals through Facebook groups and forums. A special thanks to the people from these local communities, who were really kind and got out of their way to help me.