Director: Braden King
Run Time: 3:58
Website: www.truckstopmedia.com
Official Film Festival Selection: : Rotterdam Film Festival (Jan. 2007); Noise Pop San Francisco (Feb. 2007); Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival (April 2007); IndieLisboa (April 2007); Vera Zienema (Netherlands) May 2007; Final Cut (UK) May 2007; SilverDocs Film Festival, June 2007; Silver Lake Film Festival, June 2007; Rooftop Films (Brooklyn, NY) June 2007; Filmer la Musique (Paris) June 2007; NewFilmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives (NYC) June 2007; Sydney International Film Festival, June 2007; 15th Curtas International Film Festival (Portugal) July 2007; Film and Music Festival (Tuscon) September 2007; Film Pop (Montreal) October 2007; IN-EDIT International Music Documentary Festival (Barcelona) October 2007; Viennale, October 2007; Anchorage International Film Festival (AL) December 2007.
Both a document of the thrill of live performance and a poetic elegy to a legendary landmark: New York’s recently-closed CBGB punk club, “Sonic Youth: Do You Believe In Rapture?” transcends the traditional music video to create an impressionistic tribute to the memory of all the great shows we’ve all ever been to.
What inspired you to make this piece?
I’d been looking for a way to collaborate with Sonic Youth for some time before this project came up. It became clear in the summer of 2006 that CBGB (the infamous New York club) was going to close, and I knew that I had to find a way to pay tribute to this institution that had influenced myself and so many in New York City so deeply. Once Lee Ranaldo told me that the band was going to play one of the club’s last shows, I knew immediately what I wanted to do – create an elegy for this disappearing icon. I wanted to make a kind of documentary of memory and feeling... a slippery dream record of all the great shows we’ve all ever been to. Having the opportunity to do this in collaboration with SY and the other artists involved was a dream.
Briefly tell us about how you made your film or video: what camera and format did you use to shoot your piece, and what system did you use to edit it? What is your working process? Did you use any special techniques to make this work?
The piece was shot on several formats, in collaboration with several artists. Filmmaker Jem Cohen shot Super-8 film; the NYC music and film photographer Godlis shot 35mm stills. Sam Levy was our video DP – he and several others were shooting DV and HD video cameras.
The video was edited between New York and Los Angeles with Brett Nicoletti on Final Cut Pro. Jack Myers did all of the final finishing and color correct work in FCP and After Effects.
Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this particular
work?
They are all in the piece.
What is the relationship between your work as a video/filmmaker and life in the New York metropolitan area?
I studied film in Los Angeles, but the city was never exactly a perfect fit. I have always felt more comfortable in New York, in this place where people tend to find ways of making things happen. I also greatly enjoy the fact that New York is not a single-industry city.
What films/videos and makers have inspired you or influenced your work? And why?
This question is too big to answer concisely. It changes daily, weekly, with the seasons. I have been greatly influenced by music. Perhaps even more than by film. As Brakhage often said, of all the arts, film is the closest to music. Or, at least, it should be.
If viewers are interested in obtaining copies of your work for rental or purchase, whom
should they contact and at what address and phone number?
I can be contacted via my production company’s website,
www.truckstopmedia.com
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