TYING THE KNOT
When a bank robber’s bullet ends the life of police officer Lois Marrero, her wife of thirteen years, Mickie, is honored as her surviving spouse but denied all pension benefits. When Sam, an Oklahoma rancher, loses his beloved husband of 22 years, long-estranged cousins of his late spouse try to lay claim to everything Sam has. As Mickie and Sam’s lives are put on trial, they are forced to confront the tragic reality that in the eyes of the law their marriages mean nothing. From an historical trip to the Middle Ages, to gay hippies storming the Manhattan marriage bureau in 1971, Tying the Knot digs deeply into the past and present to uncover the meaning of civil marriage in America today.
TYING THE KNOT began production in early 2001 with $10,000 grant from The Jerome Foundation. The project quickly operated without budget, sustained primarily by an incredible breadth of volunteers and donations from the project’s friends and families. TYING THE KNOT was shot over 3 turbulent years of marriage’s history in Florida, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington DC, Oregon, New York, California, Connecticut, Holland and Canada. TYING THE KNOT had its world premiere in May 2004 at the Tribeca Film Festival. The final version, as seen in theaters, was completed in August 2004.