On this week’s episode of Crossing the 180, I speak with a special kind of doc filmmaker. Joële Walinga had an entry at this year’s SXSW that one show organizer said was their favorite. The name of the film is “Self-portrait,” and it’s a documentary is unlike any you’ve seen. It’s just over an hour of surveillance camera footage from around the world. Here’s the SXSW description: “A tapestry of footage collected from surveillance cameras over the last four years, Self-Portrait moves from moment to moment around the world, beginning with the frozen storminess of winter, to the melt of spring, the lush heat of summer, and finally the decay and cooling of autumn: the dawn of winter. The film shows a candid peek at humanity as it has chosen to document itself – all of these cameras set up for primarily capitalistic, “property”-protecting purposes, but yielding a beauty and a truth – an incidental portrait.
My conversation with Joële is one of those evocative conversations that cover a whole range of topics that intrigue the inner artists: parental relationships, faith, curiosity, passion, etc. You’ll be as intrigued with this conversation as you will with Joële’s interview.
Crossing the 180 theme music “Gettin’ Paid, Part II” by Alec’s Band (CC BY) and curated from FreeMusicArchive.org.
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