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which can be proven to be random. I wanted to see what that would do to those ten scenes: what new juxtapositions would occur and how that might change your perception of the original image. It's a tedious part of the film, but I like the sound that's derived from the random positioning and certain juxtapositions.
MacDonald:
A specific question about the long continuous shot of the sign on top of the building that reviews some of the history of pi. Halfway through, a guy comes out and almost gets hit by a car.
Benning:
He's carrying a pieanother stupid pun.
MacDonald:
It was too obvious for me! But once you start reading that sign, it's hard to look at anything else.
Benning:
That was the idea behind putting the one little narrative element down below. I wanted you to wonder whether something happened earlier that you missed while reading. There's competition: should you read or should you watch the image?
MacDonald:
Can you say a bit more about the film you're working on now?
Benning:
I've written a script [the working title was "New York, 1980"; it became
Him and Me
(1982)]. It has dialogue, and I'm going to try to use actors. I'm not sure how it's going to be stylistically, probably something like
11 × 14,
but with a stronger narrative.
MacDonald:
Are you going to continue to work in 16mm?
Benning:
Yes, but my fear is that this could be my last film. Film's getting so expensive that we're going to have to raise rental prices. The people who rent our films now are so marginal that any increase could put them out of business. There has to be a larger market. Maybe I'm ready to stop making films. I don't know. I've been doing installations. They're more fun, they're quicker, and you get to use tools and build stuff.
I still like the films I made in the past, but I'm past all those issues, and I'm starting to react against a lot of avant-garde film. One thing that's affected me a lot is the films of Vivienne Dick and a few other Super-8 filmmakers. The whole mentality of making the film, finding your own showcase, renting a storefront if you have to, is very exciting. It's like the early Warhol factory. I'm thinking about making films that are much more accessible.
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Part 2
MacDonald:
This may be a strange question, but it seems an obvious one. In the films you've made since you woke up in bed with a friend of yours who had diedI'm not sure exactly when that was . . .