Archaeology of a Woman

ARCHAELOGY OF A WOMAN is award-winning and groundbreaking filmmaker Sharon Greytak’s gripping drama of a woman’s fierce determination to save her mind from spiraling into delusion as she attempts to keep a chilling secret from her past buried. The film stars Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Kirkland and Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark. ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN received two Gold Remi Awards at Worldfest Houston, including Lifetime Achievement for Sally Kirkland and Outstanding independent Film. It was honored with a CINE golden Eagle Award and was also an official selection of the Woodstock Film Festival. Greytak has been defying stereotypes over the course of her esteemed career as one of the only disabled filmmakers directing, writing and producing from a motorized wheelchair. The Boston Globe has cited Greytak as “having a unique vision of humanity” and The Independent has named Greytak one of “10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2014.”

In ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN, Margaret (Sally Kirkland), a feisty, tormented former newspaper columnist, fights to protect her freedom in spite of the dementia she cannot control. After an episode in a shopping plaza parking lot where she is unable to find her car and is driven home by the police, her daughter Kate (Victoria Clark), an aspiring New York City chef, is beckoned upstate to her mother’s side. While there, Kate has a tryst with a rookie police officer as she deals with her mother’s demands. Kate attempts to get Margaret involved with activities at the senior center, but Margaret is apprehensive and resentful. Soon a man from Margaret’s past, Sergeant Calder (James Murtaugh), re-enters her life, causing Margaret to fear she will no longer be able to protect herself. Before returning to New York, Kate installs a small surveillance camera to monitor her mom at home, revealing a far more private life of fear, lust and longing and her connection to a 30-year-old crime. Through its disconcerting narrative structure, ARCHAEOLOGY OF A WOMAN tells a visceral tale of the unsettled lives of two very different generations of women -- one whose secret is buried deep inside her memories, and the other who wants to dig up the truth.

"Sally Kirkland's remarkable performance touches raw nerves. You can't take your eyes off her. It's surprising, emotional, gut-wrenching and moving. Watching her in this film is like taking a master class in acting and realizing all its possibilities. Victoria Clark is superb. Director Sharon Greytak knows exactly how to bring home these remarkable performances in all their glory. All I can say is "wow"." --Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood

“Sharon Greytak's enigmatic, mesmerizing "Archeology of a Woman" affords Sally Kirkland her best role since "Anna," which won her a best actress Academy Award nomination as a middle-aged Czech movie star struggling to survive in New York. Similarly Oscar-worthy is Kirkland's galvanic portrayal of an independent, highly intelligent woman in denial over the onset of dementia. Greytak's astute writing and direction provides Kirkland, a fearless actress, to tap into the full range and depth of her talent and skill. Kirkland seamlessly expresses this increasingly anguished woman's ever-shifting fluctuations between assertiveness, confusion and terror as she is confronted not only with her memory fading but also the crumbling of her suppression of a dark secret in her past. It is Kirkland's confident, disciplined acting, her gift of living fully in the moment of whatever her character is experiencing, that sets off the sharp intensity of the impact of this woman's increasingly chaotic predicament.” --Kevin Thomas