10 Things You Would Put in a Time Capsule by Matt Wolf

Slow and Steady Wins the Race has always addressed the issue of time by proposing ideas that balance the timely with the timeless. For our blog we asked friends, family and other people we admire to share with us what they would put in a time capsule.

MATT WOLF was recently named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine and he is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow. His critically acclaimed and award-winning feature documentary Wild Combination, about the avant-garde cellist and disco producer Arthur Russell, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and played in over 60 international film festivals, museums, and cinemas (Edinburgh, AFI Silverdocs, IFC Center, MoMA, ICA London) and was included on a number of “Top 10” lists of 2008. The film was released theatrically in the US and UK, distributed worldwide by Plexifilm, and was broadcast on the Sundance Channel.

Matt has produced and directed short documentaries for The New York Times, the series “High Line Stories” for the Sundance Channel, and he recently co-directed documentary components of NY Export: Opus Jazz, a feature length dance film in collaboration with New York City Ballet dancers and PBS Great Performances.

His upcoming documentary "Teenage" is based on a groundbreaking book by the punk author Jon Savage, an unconventional historical film about the invention of teenagers. Bringing to life fascinating youth from the early 20th century—from party-crazed Flappers and hipster Swing Kids to brainwashed Nazi Youth and frenzied Sub-Debs—the film reveals the pre-history of modern teenagers and the struggle between adults and adolescents to define youth.

1. My VHS bootleg of Todd Haynes’ Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

2. A copy of my favorite photography monograph by the late great Larry Sultan:
Pictures from Home

3. A seminal book for me by the incredible artist and AIDS activist David
Wojnarowicz, who has recently been the subject of controversy and censorship at
the Smithsonian

4. VitaCoco gives me natural energy!

5. All this stuff, by the way, could fit in my backpack. I have many, but my blue
Eastpak is my favorite.

6. My favorite single of all time, Sara, by Fleetwood Mac needs to be preserved.

7. One of my prized daguerreotype photographs of ambiguously gay men together

8. My classic, trusty Swatch, of course!

9. This one wouldn’t be so pretty in a time capsule, but if I could freeze it—a
Scuttlebutt sandwich from my favorite restaurant Saltie

10. And why not a big hard drive with all my music, photos, and masters of my
movies. Gotta have the media.