Guy Bourdin pioneered the importance of image over product, so central to contemporary visual culture. Beginning in 1955 with his provocative first shoot for French Vogue, for over three decades Bourdin was lauded as the photographer darling of Europe's most prestigious fashion magazines. Despite his success Guy Bourdin remained an enigma - he never gave interviews, shunned being photographed & refused to publish outside the pages of glossy magazines, yet his influence on contemporary culture is profound. Guy Bourdin Image Maker invites the viewer into Bourdin's surreal universe to explore his process and his ground-breaking artistic legacy.
NTRO Output Category
- Original Creative Work : Other
Place
Melbourne, AustraliaVenue
Les Rencontres D'Arles 2022, Arles FranceNTRO Publisher
ARTE (France/Germany) SVT (Sweden)Medium
Documentary FilmResearch Statement
Explores the representational challenges faced by documentary filmmakers working within the biopic genre when access to the film's protagonist is not possible. It asks how documentary filmmaking can authentically represent the perspective of a protagonist who is not able to speak for themselves.
In the case of Guy Bourdin, who died in 1991, the representational challenge is further complicated by a refusal during his lifetime to be documented. Eschewing attempts to solve the puzzle of Guy Bourdin, this project draws on Bourdin's anarchic spirit and surrealist influences as a representational strategy. Utilizing an aesthetic approach that embraces a fragmentation of the visual archive Guy Bourdin Image Maker extends the formal boundaries of the documentary film biopic.
A co-production with ARTE Frances' premium arts and cultural channel, the film was selected to celebrate ARTE's 30 year anniversary at Recontres D'Arles 2022, marking it's international festival premiere. Also in 2022 the film was broadcast on the ARTE channel in Germany and France, and on SVT in Sweden. It was favourably reviewed in the French national newspaper Le Monde and selected to screen in 14th ASVOFF film festival in Paris.Size or Duration of Work
55 minutesAffiliation
Shannon Owen, University of Melbourne
