by Camille Guichard, FR 2012, 89'
| WRITTEN BY: Camille Guichard, France Saint Léger, Anne Morien | PRODUCERS: Anne Morien, France Saint Léger | |
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Gordon Spooner | PRODUCTION: Terra Luna films, with the participation of Iliad Entertainment, BIPTV, CICLIC - RÉGION CENTRE, TVRENNES35 BRETAGNE, VOSGES TÉLÉVISION with support from Programme Média de la Communauté Européenne, of CNC, PROCIREP and l'ANGOA in partnership with ActuPhoto | |
| SOUND: Dino di Stefano | DISTRIBUTION: DOC&FILM INTERNATIONAL | |
| EDITING: Elodie Olivieri | LANGUAGE: English, with French and Italian subtitles |
Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte Film Festival 2013Duane Michals is internationally recognized as one of the most original photographers of our time, the originator of a new way to tell stories through photos, and highly influential to the work of many contemporary authors. One of his pieces, hung on the walls of her doctor/collector father’s house, encouraged Sophie Calle to pick up photography.
Like Michals’ B+W photo-sequences, the film wends its way through a series of vaguely surreal “microstories”. Traveling with his suitcase, an umbrella, a bowler hat and a pair of wings, the 'young octagenarian' shows and interprets moments of his life and episodes inspired by his work with touching delicacy and brilliant irony. A special place is reserved for the portfolio dedicated to Réne Magritte, shot at the artist’s house in Brussels in 1965. With his interlocutors and his own mirror-image, the documentary’s protagonist speaks of art and poetry, love and death, returning time and again to his relationship with photography, re-proposing several of his famous compositions, written on paper in his unmistakable handwriting: “[...] I am a reflection photographing other reflections within a reflection. To photograph reality is to photograph nothing”.
Camille Guichard
A director and screenwriter who, after studying Mathematics, produced many documentaries devoted to art, the theater, architecture and contemporary dance; has written for the cinema and television, as well as novels, including Amour a vif. Nominated for a César, for best short feature, he won the Fondation Beaumarchais et de Sources Prize. In 2009, he was a finalist at the Grand Prix du meilleur Scénariste Sopadin.
Selected Filmography
2000: Daniel Buren; 2003-2004: Amour a vif; 2009: Lalique, cristal sculptor; 2010: Pique-Nique
www.docandfilm.com
Duane Michals, The Man Who Invented Himself from gordon spooner on Vimeo.