I wrote the liner notes for Criterion’s new reissue of Medium Cool.
Philippe-Alain Michaud, P. Adams Sitney, and I are going to talk about materiality and experimental cinema at the Pompidou in June as part of Selon Yve-Alain Bois. We’ll be showing films by Stan Brakhage, Su Friedrich, and Luther Price.
Above: Still from Gently Down the Stream, Su Friedrich, 16mm, 1981, 13 mins
A few weeks from now, at 92YTribeca, I’m going to be on a panel about the inimitable Renata Adler.
This is Christmas in America.
I interviewed Albert Serra for Mousse.
TB: There’s a long tradition of filmmakers working with non-professional actors, and it’s a strategy that can obviously be used to a number of very different ends, from Bresson’s “models” to George Kuchar’s ersatz starlets. Why do you work with largely non-professional casts?
AS: Because I don’t like actors as human beings. There are people who don’t like military men, or priests, or bankers on principle. Me I don’t like actors. They are always stupid and not very honest. Polansky once said that an intelligent actor is a paradox. And most importantly, they are fake, they lost the sense of the real, the sense of authenticity, they are acting all the time, even in real life. Me and my crew we are the opposite: even inside the films we are real. Actors don’t deserve anything, they represent the essence of these artists that Plato wanted to expel from civilized society. And it’s insane and disturbing that they consider themselves a professional collective. It’s as if winning the lottery was a profession. Being an actor is about being photogenic plus (in my case) being serious and trustworthy. That’s all. Professional actors should disappear from earth.
Tuesday, June 5, 7pm
Artists Space : Books & Talks
55 Walker Street
