There are few things in life that engage the eye or are more mesmerising than identical twins. Every aspect of their appearance is remarkable from the exact duplication of their features right down to the exact position of their freckles.

Each year in August, Twinsburg, Ohio, is host to a festival that attracts almost 2000 twins, triplets and quadruplets. It is an extraordinary gathering that Mary Ellen Mark and Martin Bell visited in the summer of 2001-2002 . Martin Bell made Twins in the summer of 2002, while Mary Ellen Mark was completing the photography for her book Twins.

Mark’s studio was a tent, pitched on a volleyball court, at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. When Mark finished photographing a set of twins, they were directed to a small studio behind the backdrop. The twins were interviewed in front of two cameras. The interviews were guided by a set of twenty questions, which Mark and Bell developed to provide a structure for the film.

Twins played at film festivals across the United States. New York Film Festival, October 2003; Sundance Film Festival, January 2004; Aspen Shortsfest Film Festival, April 2004; Jacob Burns Film Center, May 21-23, 2004; Newport Film Festival, Jury Prize for Best Short Film, June 2004; Maui Film Festival, June 2004; Nantucket Film Festival, June 2004; IFP Los Angeles Film Festival, June 2004; Philadelphia Video Festival, June 2004; Boston Film Festival, September 2004; Calgary Film Festival, September 2004; Real Art Ways Theater, September 2004; Ojai Film Festival, October 2004; Woodstock Film Festival, October 2004.

TWINS

CAST & PRODUCTION CREDITS