Q&A panel with THE VELVET UNDERGROUND documentary filmmakers:
Todd Haynes, Director and Producer
Carolyn Hepburn, Producer
Julie Goldman, Producer
Christopher Clements, Producer
Moderated by Anne Thompson, editor-at-large at IndieWire, who first saw the film at the Cannes Film Festival.
In his film career, Todd Haynes has explored glam rock, Bob Dylan, Karen Carpenter and the Barbie Dolls, but he had never directed a documentary film before. It was challenging because The Velvet Underground did not have a lot of the traditional archival material you would expect for a documentary about a band, i.e. promotional materials, concert footage, etc. Instead, the most compelling archival footage came from the avant garde art scene and the filmmaking of Andy Warhol. The limitations became the creative opportunities to explore a unique formal aesthetic for a music documentary. All of the interviews had been shot in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the classic 16mm "square." This became the visual vernacular of the documentary. Sometimes you could have 2 squares side-by-side in a diptych, like Andy Warhol did with Chelsea Girls. Or if you have 4 squares like in the Stan Brachage section, and then explode into 12 frames for the 1960s section.
Carolyn Hepburn helped get the ball rolling with the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. They couldn't have made the documentary without Warhol Films and without the participation of John Cale, Jonathan Richman, and the Lou Reed estate. Sterling Morrison. Angus MacLise. Moe Tucker. Doug Yule. Walter Powers. Larry Estridge. Willie Alexander.
Shot and edited by Viva Videography.
26 июл 2024
