Packed In A Trunk: The Lost Art Of Edith Lake Wilkinson

Award-winning filmmaker Jane Anderson tells the story of her great aunt in the lively, passionately personal documentary "Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson."

A trained, talented and prolific painter, Edith was committed to an especially cruel West Virginia asylum in 1924, at age 57, and all her possessions and output were stored in an attic.

Anderson saw the cutting edge, "white line art" in her house as a child, and was inspired to become an artist herself. She spent the last 40 years researching Edith's artistic contributions and the reason for her commitment. She was diagnosed in a "paranoid state," with "delusional ideas," but was likely put away because she cheated on her lover Fannie and an unscrupulous lawyer wanted her small fortune (Edith's parents died of gas asphyxiation).

Anderson, who feels she is living the life that Edith should have had as a gay artist, is finally able to assemble a gallery show in Provincetown, Edith's favorite place to make art.

"She didn't have a strong person in her corner to get her out," Anderson says. "So it's time to give her story a better ending."

For information on screenings, visit http://www.packedinatrunk.com