Peter Valentine, living on disability in an apartment, fought MIT while they demolished his neighborhood to develop University Park, claiming he couldn’t leave because it was his electromagnetic laboratory. Eventually, MIT gifted him the entire building, moving it to another street. Peter was diagnosed schizophrenic and unmedicated all his life.
SYNOPSIS
My uncle Peter Zak Valentine was born on Valentine’s Day 82 years ago and died in his basement in August of 2022. Long ago diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic but choosing to live his life unmedicated, Peter lived independently, riding the edge between mental illness and magic. Peter was an eccentric, beloved, and respected local legend of the city of Cambridge.
The film follows Peter’s unusual journey, weaving around the extraordinary events surrounding his house, MIT, and the city of Cambridge. In the late 1980's, Peter was not the owner of his rent controlled three-story house. It was divided into apartments, and he rented one of them, living on disability payments. When MIT wanted to demolish his neighborhood to develop and build University Park, Peter refused to move, insisting that he could not leave his apartment because it was his laboratory for research on Electromagnetic Arts, a psychic defense system he had created, developed, and taught. After seven years of Peter’s insistence and many legal hearings, MIT physically moved his house 900 ft to Central Square, positioning it at the exact odd angle which he specified. They also sold the entire house to Peter for a dollar. The rest of the neighborhood was demolished and MIT moved forward with their development of University Park.
The MIT story brings in many larger conversations and questions which are woven throughout the film, specifically around themes of gentrification, rent control, and the increased, looping level of housing shortage that cities such as Cambridge face.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Amber Bemak
Bemak is a filmmaker, artist, and educator whose creative practice is based in experimental and documentary film. She often works cinematically and performatively with her own body to represent different symbolic cultural codes and structures of power. She is a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow. Her work has been seen at venues including the Brooklyn Museum, the Rubin Museum of Art, SculptureCenter, the Schwules Museum, and the Tamayo Museum. Festivals include Oberhausen, BAMcinemafest, Ann Arbor, DocLisboa, BFI London Film Festival, Morelia, and the European Media Art Festival. She has taught film theory and practice in India, Nepal, Kenya, Mexico, and the United States.
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