Minute 26

Minute 26 (by Selin Lewandovski)

When I first watched Minute 26 I immediately had the notion that something terribly has to have happened with the women pictured. It’s possible my brain is just too adapted to true crime podcasts and TV shows at this point, but this is where I got my inspiration from. I loved watching a show on YouTube called Buzzfeed Unsolved, where two guys present a case that is, shockingly, still unsolved. That is why I wanted to do something similar. Old detective movies also influenced me in a way. I love visualizing this and having them, not on a computer, but in my hand. It gives it a sense of realness. It helps to connect the dots. That is why I made a murder mystery board as part of my presentation. 

I additionally wanted to do something light-hearted and fun. Which is why I tried to make the way I presented the case fun. I felt like the mood of the film, and also the mood of my other minute, was more muted and darker so I wanted to contrast that feeling as best as I could.

The case was as follows: 

A young woman, named Clara Town was a promising starlet. She was married to Karl Town, a notorious owner of a shipping company with a longstanding criminal record. His employees are also all ex-cons, presumably because Karl wanted to give people a second chance, but in reality, it was because he needed people to do as he asked. Clara was deathly afraid of water and had a rumored affair with a colleague. After her last performance, her husband threw her a party on one of his older boats. This is where Clara was last seen. She disappeared during the party, and only her bare footprint and her powder case were found on the ship. Karl and his crew were, of course, the main suspects. However, before the investigation could really begin, the boat sank the next day. Years later it resurfaced along the coast, but there was still no sign of Clara anywhere. She is regarded as a missing person, but to this day the case remains unsolved.