Checkoway caught up with Free Cinema Now while she was in Chicago, not too long after the Oscar nominations were announced.
Free Cinema Now: How did the project of Edith+Eddie come together?
Laura Checkoway: A friend texted me a photo of the couple [Edith and Eddie] that was circulating online when they got married at age 95 and 96. They were being called "America's oldest interracial newlyweds." I was just so taken with them in this photo. I wanted to know more about them so I connected the dots to the family and they invited me down to meet them. Within a couple of days I was on a bus from New York City to Virginia. Actually, the opening scene in the film, where we see them dancing, is the first time we [all] met.
FCN: What's interesting is that it was an actual image that provoked you.
LC: Yes! I was zooming in [on the picture] on my phone and staring into their eyes and was scrolling to see -- how can I find more pictures of them? Then I went to meet them...
FCN: And here you are! You've expanded the narrative [behind that image]. I like that. So, you knew you had the story of them being the oldest interracial newlywed couple, but how far in advance did you know about this [other] conflict [of being forcibly removed from one's home] that was happening to Edith?
LC: When I went to meet them, I thought it would be a short portrait of tender love, you know, of finding love at that [later] time in your life. Then, right away, I found out about the disagreement within the family and that it had wound up in the court, because Edith's daughters disagreed on what was best for their mom. I saw that this was a bigger story than just a couple falling in love. I wasn't planning [on it]. I had vowed to myself after a long journey with my first film, which I self-financed, that I would not make another documentary in the same way. [With Edith+Eddie] I thought, "I'll just go down and capture this one weekend..." but then I knew there was no turning back. I was like, "Oh, wow, here we go."
FCN: Towards the end of Edith+Eddie there's a stretch of time that's only a black screen with subtitles, because I guess you weren't [allowed] in the room or the house, while [Edith and Eddie are] having that conversation with guardian. I think it's very powerful. Now, when you look at the finished piece, if given the opportunity to shoot that section, would you have used the footage?
LC: If we had the visuals, then we likely would have used them. You know...in the editing of that, it was a bold decision to keep that with just the black screen. And I'm really glad that we did.
FCN: There are some very urgent and intimate shots filmed inside of a hospital -- I don't want to give too much away -- how did you film that? Was the hospital really that cooperative or, what I'm hoping is, you snuck in those shots?
LC: (Nods) Yeah. We shot that with a 5D. The rest of the film was shot with a much bigger camera. [In regards to the hospital scene] at first I was like, "Oh no...we're going to shoot this on a 5D because we have to." But it wound up working really well in that scene.
FCN: "Guerilla" filmmaking in that section...
LC: Super "guerilla."
FCN: I know you've done a lot of profile pieces on celebrities and public figures. How does this experience, on the micro-level, with Edith and Eddie, compare? Is your approach different?
LC: People are people. For me, in my documentary work, the woman [named] Lucky, that my first film was about, you know she's a young homeless woman who lives in the streets and she's an absolute star -- to the extent that I spent many years following her and making a film about her. I felt the same way with Edith and Eddie. I just was so excited to meet them and to get to know them. For me, we're all the same.
FCN: And finally, how does it feel to know that you'll be known as "Academy Award Nominee Laura Checkoway"?
LC: Awesome! (Laughs)
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Watch the official trailer for Edith+Eddie below and be sure to watch the Oscars this Sunday March 4th!