KEEP IT CLEAN
Donation protected
“If you washed your hands with soap every day, you would do more to eradicate and reduce the incidences of disease and death of all of the high faluting medical practices and innovations and breakthroughs that we have” -Barry Gaberman
Hi I am Denise Gaberman and I am raising money for a short documentary project called KEEP IT CLEAN: an intergenerational soap journey that stars my father, Barry Gaberman, my mother Joansie, and my daughter, Ramona.
For years, I've been trying to make a film about my family's history but I never wanted it to be the typical historical documentary format. I needed an angle and didn't realize until a few years ago what that was. I decided to tell my family's story, through soap.
Why soap?
My dad has been collecting soap for years, mostly hotel soaps from where he has travelled, each one telling a story of his trips around the world, working at a job that took him away from his family. I remember him coming back from long trips and putting his new soaps away, never once using them. We were told we were not allowed to even touch them without his permission.
Why were the soaps so precious to him? That's what I wanted to find out.
Years passed and the collection grew, he even built a custom armoire in their new condo in Florida to house them. Then after retirement, he started giving the away, some to shelters, others to family and friends. That's when I started documenting his collection. I wanted a record of his obsession before the "family inheritance" was gone.
At four years old, my daughter Ramona was introduced to his soap collection, she instantly fell in love and started collecting. Sometimes it's not easy for generations to speak to one another but I noticed if you have a project or interest that you share, world's open up. Literally. He introduced our family history to my daughter through their mutual love of soap. As I filmed them, I starting to hear stories he never told me.
Not only did my dad collect soap for personal reasons, he also believes that soap is the most important public health tool we have at our disposal and in 2020, soap seems to be more important than ever.
Please join me in bringing this story to a wider audience, the money raised will be used to pay our editors and to help with the cost of distribution.
With each donation we will send you a hand curated soap from Barry and Ramona's personal collections.
Hi I am Denise Gaberman and I am raising money for a short documentary project called KEEP IT CLEAN: an intergenerational soap journey that stars my father, Barry Gaberman, my mother Joansie, and my daughter, Ramona.
For years, I've been trying to make a film about my family's history but I never wanted it to be the typical historical documentary format. I needed an angle and didn't realize until a few years ago what that was. I decided to tell my family's story, through soap.
Why soap?
My dad has been collecting soap for years, mostly hotel soaps from where he has travelled, each one telling a story of his trips around the world, working at a job that took him away from his family. I remember him coming back from long trips and putting his new soaps away, never once using them. We were told we were not allowed to even touch them without his permission.
Why were the soaps so precious to him? That's what I wanted to find out.
Years passed and the collection grew, he even built a custom armoire in their new condo in Florida to house them. Then after retirement, he started giving the away, some to shelters, others to family and friends. That's when I started documenting his collection. I wanted a record of his obsession before the "family inheritance" was gone.
At four years old, my daughter Ramona was introduced to his soap collection, she instantly fell in love and started collecting. Sometimes it's not easy for generations to speak to one another but I noticed if you have a project or interest that you share, world's open up. Literally. He introduced our family history to my daughter through their mutual love of soap. As I filmed them, I starting to hear stories he never told me.
Not only did my dad collect soap for personal reasons, he also believes that soap is the most important public health tool we have at our disposal and in 2020, soap seems to be more important than ever.
Please join me in bringing this story to a wider audience, the money raised will be used to pay our editors and to help with the cost of distribution.
With each donation we will send you a hand curated soap from Barry and Ramona's personal collections.
Organizer
Denise Gaberman
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA