A Country Auction

The Paul V. Lietzel Estate

A Country Auction Film Project, based on the ethnographic research of Robert Aibel, Chris Musello and Jay Ruby, consists of a trio of films covering a period of almost 30 years.

In 1983 three ethnographers and a documentary filmmaker collaboratively produced two films -- A Country Auction and Can I Get A Quarter? -- that documented ethnographic research conducted on estate sales held in a rural Central Pennsylvania community. Over the next 25 years, these films were screened in numerous film festivals, broadcast on public television, and reviewed in academic journals.

The consensus among the filmmakers was that few people appeared to comprehend their intentions in producing the films. In 2008 they decided to return to the community where A Country Auction was filmed and hold an anniversary screening. In addition, the four filmmakers came together for a critical discussion about the successes and failures of the original Auction film. This discussion became the basis of a third film, Reflexive Musings: A Country Auction Study Film.