CPH:DOX panel discussion<\/a> this week, Bini shared that \u201ca lot of what I\u2019ve done is feature-length documentary that\u2019s a very specific form,\u201d before surprising the audience by adding: \u201cMy feeling is that it really doesn\u2019t work half the time. There are much better forms of documentary and much better forms of cinema.\u201d His conclusion: \u201cAuthorship more and more now is [about] the person taking it in,\u201d rather than the filmmaker or writer.<\/p>\n\n\tAnd that\u2019s where Burden of Other People\u2019s Dreams: Chapter One \u2013 Ganymede comes in. After all, it may proudly defy classification. But once you do sit down in that room and pick up that iPad, you will likely find that the experience is a mix of book, film and your own imagination. <\/p>\n
\n\tBini wrote and directed the project, produced by Orla Smith and Kimia Ipakchi. The technical director
is Nick Bush, and the composer Max de Wardener.<\/p>\n
\n\tTHR met up with Bini over coffee in Copenhagen to talk a bit more about the creative adventure that is Burden of Other People\u2019s Dreams: Chapter One \u2013 Ganymede. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSomething I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot in my career as an editor is the idea of audience,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd a lot of what the piece comes out of are things I never liked about the film business. I don\u2019t like the whole role of what the director is. And a lot of producers, or funders, when they imagine the audience, it\u2019s adversarial,\u201d meaning that the thought is that you have to make movies \u201cokay for the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSo Bini started thinking about who the audience for his films is or could be. \u201cInstead of a film goer, I started thinking about a reader,\u201d he told THR. \u201cI like the idea of a reader, because a reader thinks you\u2019re really smart and laughs at your jokes and all that kind of stuff, which to me was very freeing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBini felt it would make sense to write Ganymede in character. \u201cThe whole thing is a character. He speaks, he writes,\u201d he shared. And yes, the voice you hear when seeing something on the screen is Bini\u2019s. \u201cThe character is similar to me, but it\u2019s not me. It\u2019s based on things from or about my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSo, wait! What does all that mean for authorship? \u201cI have always been interested in that [Michel] Foucault idea of the death of the author,\u201d Bini explained. The French philosopher argued that the author is not a true creator but a functional, historical construct designed to classify and limit the meaning of texts. \u201cThe author thing is [BS]. We put too much precedence on that when, in fact, you\u2019re reading a novel, so it\u2019s so much about you. You have that control. So these were just some of the things I thought were interesting to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd that he does with Ganymede. Using the language of open cinema, the experience mixes text and imagery, giving the audience room \u201cto put their own meaning on it,\u201d Bini said. Does he consider the experience to be cinematic? \u201cYes, for sure,\u201d he told THR. \u201cI think that\u2019s a really important message. You don\u2019t have to spend five years on one movie. I love the art of cinema. That\u2019s the reason I do it. And if you like cinema, then you should be creating.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe long title of Bini\u2019s live cinema creation, which the writer of these lines has started shortening, as you have likely noticed, is a reference to Les Banks\u2019 Burden of Dreams, his doc about the chaotic production of\u00a0Herzog\u2019s 1982 film\u00a0Fitzcarraldo. The mention of other people\u2019s dreams is a nod to the role of the editor.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe pragmatic challenge of Bini\u2019s live cinema content, for now, is that time and delivery limit how many people can actually experience it. But he said he is looking into options to address that. A guest book, in which people can make entries after experiencing Ganymede, already includes thankful comments, a flow chart of sorts will all sorts of thoughts and arrows, and a short piece of music composed in reaction to the experience.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne person fell asleep during the final minutes of Ganymede, Bini shared. And he was happy about that. \u201cI thought that was the greatest thing in the world,\u201d he told THR. \u201cThey got into that state of mind to such a degree that they felt comfortable enough to fall asleep. I didn\u2019t take it as an offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe title of the wild ride that Bini has served up at Copenhagen makes one wonder if there could be more experiences in the vein of Ganymede in the works. Shared the creative: \u201cI have ideas for others.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine sitting down in a room with an iPad, a screen and loudspeakers. After a brief introduction to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[219109,177841,88,2091,240437,206,77297],"class_list":["post-536119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-andrea-arnold","tag-cphdox","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-joe-bini","tag-movies","tag-werner-herzog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}