Filmmaker’s Journal: Trouble in Tokyo

I just returned to Paris after a 10-day stay in Tokyo, Japan, where I filmed key sequences and interviews for my feature-length documentary The Illusionists.

Simply put, I had the time of my life. So much so that I miss Tokyo, Japan and the Japanese in an almost visceral way and I’m constantly daydreaming about finding a way to spend part of the year there – on a regular basis. I experienced a calm, serenity and sense of connection there that I hadn’t felt in ages and carry enormous respect and admiration for the innate elegance, dignity and utmost civility of the Japanese. That said, there were low times in Tokyo, a low time to be precise: a rather traumatizing incident involving my gear.

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This past week I’ve been working on a full Feng Shui makeover of my office, filing away papers that had accumulated over the past two years. I found over a dozen Moleskin soft notebooks, some dating back to 2008, which I had been carrying with me everywhere, scribbling down to do lists, notes from events, gallery exhibits, and highlights from books I’ve been reading.

Revisiting these notebooks has been like going through a time machine.

Amongst the gems I found, were notes from a February 2011 masterclass with MAD MEN creator Matthew Weiner.

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Martina Liverani, the journalist in charge of the “Thinking Curvy” column for Vogue Italia, recently interviewed me about my work on THE ILLUSIONISTS.

The interview was featured in the September issue – the most important one of the year (page 132 FYI)!

I’m incredibly grateful for this honor, especially for the chance to speak about consumer culture and body politics to a wider audience, who may not be familiar with these themes. I applaud the pluck of editor Franca Sozzani and the whole Vogue Italia team. Grazie mille!

Here’s an excerpt from my interview:

(Speaking about mass media and advertising’s “illusions”)

The chief illusion is that in order to be successful you must strive for a “perfect body” and eternally youthful looks. In our modern culture, this has become such an obsession that millions of women spend inordinate amounts of time and money trying to reach an ideal that is by definition unattainable. They are thus condemned to a life of perpetual frustration and poor self-esteem.

Full transcript coming soon. In the meantime, you can see the full page interview by clicking here.

A few screenshots from “Three Days to See” – a film on which I am serving as director of photography.

We had the privilege of filming at the Metropolitan Museum before the public got in. For about an hour and a half this past Tuesday morning, we roamed around the breathtaking halls of the MET, capturing the artworks that Helen Keller would have wanted to see. A truly magical experience.

If you’ve missed part 1 of my account, catch up here.

Following the screening of his latest opus Film Socialisme, Jean-Luc Godard opens and ends a two-hour long discussion with the public making personal – and quite incendiary – statements.

When the moderator announces that a microphone will be circulating around the auditorium, Godard stops him in mid-sentence and goes, “I’d like to say something first, before we begin.”

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