SXSW '26: Victoria Trow and Kaylee Kotkins Talk the Burp Heard ’Round the World in “Eructation”
This interview was originally published on Film Obsessive.
Before you read any further, think about how loud you imagine a burp could be. Yes, you read that right. How loud could a human woman burp? To give you some background, a normal conversation is about 60 decibels, a dishwasher is 55–70 db, a rock concert is 110–120 db, and heavy traffic averages about 85 db. In Victoria Trow’s SXSW world-premiering documentary short, Eructation, Kaylee Kotkins believes she has put together the winning recipe to defeat the current Guinness World Record entry for loudest female burp. It currently sits at 107.3 decibels, but Kotkins thinks she can break it.
So how does one become aware that they have a louder-than-average burp? And then how does that register as a potential documentary subject? Unsurprisingly, Kotkins and Trow reside in Portland, probably one of the only cities where someone admitting their pursuit of burping glory wouldn’t be met with a raised eyebrow. The two are neighbors, but it was through a mutual friend that their paths officially crossed.
“We first met in 2021,” recalls Trow. “I picked you up and we drove out to our mutual friend’s house because we didn’t know each other before that.”
“I don’t like driving, so I was like, does anybody live near me that I could ride with?” explains Kotkins.
“Our friend Amanda is an excellent connector of people. We would just kind of see each other at different parties. We’d have a little chat, maybe a little dance,” says Trow. “Eventually, we were out in central Oregon at a place called Tygh Valley for rodeo weekend. Kaylee ripped this massive burp up as we were sitting by this canyon.”
“It was a nice canyon. I wanted to see how it sounded,” smiles Kotkins.
Courtesy of Eructation
“Just echoing, reverberating off these rock formations,” laughs Trow. “I complimented you on your burp. Kaylee said, I’m going for the world record. I just thought that was utterly amazing, so I asked a bajillion questions. I think we chatted for about two hours and I asked if she wanted to make a documentary.”
“I said yes, and then I got kind of nervous after and I was like, I don’t know actually. At first I was so on one with the burps that I was like, I got this in the bag, this is going to be sick,” remembers Kotkins. “Then, I don’t know, I got nervous, cold feet. I was kind of dodging her a little bit, but I kept running into her because we’re neighbors.”
“At first, I was thinking it was just going to be me burping all the time. I was like, I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like that was very classy,” says Kotkins. “But then I talked more with Victoria and she was wanting to do it really beautifully. I’m a sucker for beautiful color and beautiful visuals. Something about the juxtaposition of it actually drew me closer. Her vision was the opposite of what you think of when you think of burps.”
Trow has spent the last fifteen years in advertising and, by her own admission, has also spent “fifteen years plotting her escape.” That decade-and-a-half in the industry has been quite productive. She’s won a collection of awards and lived all around the world. On paper, advertising and documentary work appear to be at odds with their given goals. Documentaries want to capture reality, while advertising influences consumer desires. Trow believes she owes her documentary voice in part to the years spent in the industry.
“In advertising, every single frame counts. You’re making a thirty-second commercial, so you’re thinking about the set design, the outfits, the lighting, what people are saying, what they’re holding, the way they’re holding it in every single shot and every single frame. That’s something I brought into this documentary,” says Trow.
“Like Kaylee was saying, I didn’t want to just make a documentary, I wanted to make a beautiful piece of film that really elevated the subject matter,” explains Trow. “I sent Kaylee a treatment, and every single shot I was thinking was bolded and described in detail. How we would treat the scene or what would be happening around it.”
Courtesy of Eructation
“I felt like it was still me,” adds Kotkins. “It didn’t feel like I was having someone put on a different vision of what I was. It was in my apartment, and it was a color palette that’s pretty consistent with what I actually like. I felt very at home. I didn’t feel like I was trying to do something, or I was some product being manipulated.”
“Everything was so born of Kaylee,” elaborates Trow. “The palette was based on how you dress. I mean, you’re wearing this burnt orange right now that’s so heavily featured in the film. I was inspired by your apartment and by Portland, where we both live. I think you’re a very Portland creature.”
Folks at home might be interested in making a go at a Guinness World Record and might be surprised to know that it’s quite a lengthy process. It’s not as simple as setting up some microphones at home and burping.
“There’s tons of rules,” says Trow. “You have to be eight feet, two inches from a C-weighted decibel reader in a dead room. In order to get the chance at a Guinness World Record attempt, you have to submit a video recording. Not everyone has access to a C-weighted decibel reader in a dead room, so this documentary was essentially the attempt to get it verified depending on which way it went.”
In some of the most beautifully illustrated drawings, Kotkins details her explorations into ways to increase the decibel level of her burp. It’s not an exaggeration to say that you have never seen the fundus of a stomach drawn so strikingly. These drawings are part of what Kotkins and Trow refer to as The Burp Diaries. Trow had asked Kotkins to keep a record of her attempts as something she might use in the film, but also as a place for Kotkins to gather her thoughts. Through all of her attempts, Kotkins found that the winning combination was beer, cereal, and soup.
“I’m definitely a soup bitch,” laughs Kotkins. “The soup I chose wasn’t my favorite soup. For the soup, I have to be able to eat it really fast. You can’t be chewing on a beef stew. You have to be able to basically drink it. You want more air and you can’t just swallow air. It doesn’t work. I tried. I figured out pretty quickly that blended soups were the best option.”
It’s a pretty far cry from discovering you have a loud burp and dedicating a portion of your life in pursuit of world record greatness. For Kotkins, though, it only took about two weeks to decide this was something that intrigued her.
“I got a decibel reader on my phone to measure how loud different shows were because my husband’s a musician,” Kotkins says. “Then I was curious at home. I was like, how loud is a blender? Should I put in ear plugs for that? One day, I was in the bathroom, I burped, and I was like, damn, that was really loud. I wonder what the world record is. I looked it up and I got really excited because that burp was louder.”
“For two weeks, I was bragging to everybody. I was telling everybody that I had the record in the bag. I had delusions of grandeur,” jokes Kotkins. “Then I started to train and keep track because I was like, okay, it’s not burping on your phone in the bathroom, it’s going to be harder, so I have to actually train.”
“You were trying a lot of things,” adds Trow. “I’d get a text from Kaylee being like, popcorn is great, lying on the couch eating popcorn and then I sit up. You tried that for a while, and then you were like, actually, popcorn’s not so great, it’s the lying down that’s really effective. That gave me the idea to tilt these top-down shots of her lying down. It was a real ongoing process.”
Courtesy of Eructation
No matter how silly the idea of a world record in burping may sound, it’s still the pursuit of something greater than oneself. With the film and The Burp Diaries, Kotkins and Trow dedicated months of their lives to creating something that will outlive them. There is something inherently beautiful about what it means to work toward a goal that requires dedication. Through that process, both Kotkins and Trow learned about their own creative sensibilities.
“We went on in this pursuit together, which is really lovely. This was the first film I’ve ever made,” says Trow. “I didn’t think I could make films. I always just thought I was a writer and that I would give my projects to other people and be, like, direct this. Directors always want to direct their own stuff. When Kaylee burped in my face, I had this idea.”
“I thought I’d just produce it. When I tried to give it away to some friends who are directors, they were like, no, you should do this,” continues Trow. “It was a real journey for me to realize that I can do this and that I don’t have to know about lenses to make a piece of film. That was an amazing process for me. I think there are a lot of really talented people out there who can do amazing things with their bodies, but who also have that determination and that drive and the belief to go, I’m going to go for this. It was so fun to document and celebrate that. What I think is the core of this story is that belief. Kaylee says it in the first line in the film. She’s like, if you’ve got a talent, you’ve got to go for it.”
“Eructation has been one of the best creative experiences of my life,” continues Trow. “It’s been so fun to make something fun in this time. It was just such a joy. It was always a joy to work on, think about, and talk about. I love talking about it to anyone who wants to hear about it. I cannot wait to watch it in a room full of people, hear them laugh, enjoy it, and hear that final burp.”
“There are some people in the Guinness World Record book that have really long nails. I’m like, you could do that, or you could burp,” explains Kotkins. “It doesn’t have to be something super beautiful to make a statement. You just don’t ever meet people who do it. This was something that is under-competed and that’s cool.”
Eructation is a really pretty word for a burp and it’s a perfect summation of what Trow has created here with Kotkins’ story. It’s a beautiful piece of filmmaking about something that a lot of people are grossed out by. To have it premiere at SXSW feels a bit full circle for Kotkins and Trow because the idea did hatch surrounded by cowboy hats. If you’re expecting Kotkins to burp during the post-screening Q&A, though, she’ll do it, but with one condition.
“Only for money,” Kotkins deadpans. “Large amounts.”
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