45365

Premiered December 14, 2010

Directed by

Bill Ross and Turner Ross

EXPLORE THE FILM

About the Documentary

45365 explores the congruities of daily life in an American town – Sidney, Ohio. An inquisitive look at the lives and landscapes that make up this community of 20,000 people, the camera captures the complexities and ambiguities of their shared experience. The characters speak and act for themselves, and as themselves, as their stories coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events. It is a vèritè look at everyday life in Middle America.

Set against the backdrop of small-town western Ohio, the film lays bare the inner workings of a community and the ways in which its people interact and socialize. From the patrol car to the courtroom, the playground to the nursing home, the parade to the prayer service, it explores their relationships and interactions with each other and their environment. Father and son, boyfriend and girlfriend, cop and criminal, officials and the electorate, patrons and providers — it is a portrait of the city and its people.

Sidney is the small town experience. It is a community of schools and sports and factories and neighborhoods and familiarity. Sidney is not without social hierarchy or crime, or any of the other concerns that are more often associated with more populated urban areas. They are just played out on a smaller stage. It is a microcosm of American life.

Filmed over the course of nine months by two men raised in that town — natives with an intrinsic knowledge of their community and a feel for the tides of the town — 45365 encapsulates the magnitude of small-town America. Sidney and its people offer themes that we can all relate to — no matter how geographically different our experiences.

The Filmmakers

Bill and Turner Ross

45365 is Bill and Turner Ross’s debut film. It was the winner of 2009’s SXSW Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature. The sibling team has gone on to receive numerous awards and nominations, including the Independent Spirit Truer Than Fiction Award; nominations for Editing, Cinematography, and Debut Feature at the Cinema Eye Honors; and a nomination for the London BFI Grierson Award. Their documentary, fiction, and multi-media short films have been featured at museums and film festivals throughout the world.

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