Vivien’s Wild Ride

Director - Vivien hillgrove • Editor - Eric Ivey, vivien hillgrove • co-Producer - Eric Ivey • Cinematography - Eric ivey

Vivien Hillgrove has been a film and sound editor all her adult life. She's worked with many filmmaking greats: Francis Coppola, Phil Kaufman, Milos Forman, Walter Murch, and celebrated documentary filmmakers Lourdes Portillo and Deann Borshay Liem. When Vivien’s eyesight starts to deteriorate, the shame and loneliness she felt in 1964 come flooding back—having relinquished her baby as a teenage unwed mother when there were few choices for women was a loss that resonated throughout her life. Now she faces a new feeling of isolation and loss. Recalling her resilience as a young woman, she summons it anew and reinvents herself as a person with a new way of being and seeing, an artist with a disability.

Directed by Vivien Hillgrove, Vivien’s Wild Ride is a story of resistance and resilience. Uncovering the past proves to be a detective story in which Vivien’s longtime partner, Karen Brocco, steps in to investigate. Meanwhile, to survive the demands of filmmaking, Vivien and Karen create a sanctuary: Mom’s Head Gardens. They live two different lives, the fast-paced world of feature films and living on a little farm. Drawn to documentary films, Vivien begins connecting the two worlds. Vivien’s Wild Ride captures a story of transformation on many levels, reimagining what it means to see and to belong through acts of creation, connection, and caring, not just biology.