Special Events 2005 / Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2 / USA 2005
After thirty years the director, two actors and crew return to New York’s Central Park to continue shooting a film begun in 1968. But the fiction isn’t important. This fascinating cinematic experiment combines the Stanislavski method and psychotherapy.
1968, Central Park, New York City. The director and crew are shooting a scene depicting a testy exchange between Freddie and Alice, a young married couple. The director repeats the same scene from different angles in various parts of the park. But the melodramatic action unfolding in front of the camera has nothing to do with what’s really going on. An unusual number of cameramen film the reactions of the actors, director, crew and onlookers. Thirty-five years later. The aging director returns to Central Park with the same actors who play the same characters. Freddie and Alice meet again for the first time after a bitter divorce more than three decades earlier. They clearly want to forget about the past. Not the director. William Greaves’ film, combinig cinéma verité with conventional filmmaking approaches, and improvising with rehearsed text, serves as a fascinating vehicle for investigating the difference between fact and fiction.
99 min / Color, 35 mm
Director William Greaves
/ Dir. of Photography Terence McCartney-Filgate, Phil Parmet, Henry Adebonojo
/ Music Ron Carter
/ Editor Christopher Osborn
/ Producer William Greaves
/ Production William Greaves Productions
/ Cast Shannon Baker, Audrey Henningham
/ Contact William Greaves Productions
www: www.williamgreaves.com/symbio_take2.htm
William Greaves (b. 1926, New York City) wears a variety of hats: producer, director, screenwriter, editor, cameraman, actor, dancer, acting teacher. But he is, above all, an independent filmmaker and long-time member of the Actors Studio who made a name for himself with his revolutionary documentaries focusing on the African-American experience. Two highlights of his movie career are Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey (2001; narrated by Sidney Poitier) and the award-winning Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice (1989; narrated by Toni Morrison). Spanning several decades, his career excels for experiments with various genres and styles. As executive producer on the TV series “Black Journal” he was awarded an Emmy. Last year he was honoured by the International Documentary Association (IDA) with a Career Achievement Award.
William Greaves Productions
230 West 55th Street, NY 10019, New York
United States of America
Phone: +1 212 265 6150
Fax: +1 212 315 0027
E-mail: info@williamgreaves.com
William Greaves
Film Director / Producer
Shannon Baker
Actor
Audrey Henningham
Actor
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