https://jilucommune.com/en/programs/44
Programmer & Curator: Huilin Chen
Lynne Sachs has always defied easy labeling. She captures movement and skin texture, fragments of speech, casual moments, and hidden personal memories, weaving them into unexpected images… She elevates personal experience into dramatic expression… and uses a diverse range of cinematic languages to record and digest the world, presenting it to the audience through the beauty of performance.
—Excerpt from Ren Scateni’s 2020 article
Lynne Sachs, a master of experimental documentary, has carved a unique niche in the field of experimental nonfiction over the past four decades. Her work is diverse not only in form but also in subject matter. She uniquely interweaves the personal and the social, the poetic and the political. Her work often spans a variety of media, including sound, performance, correspondence, and archival footage, integrating nonfiction narrative, poetry, feminism, and experimental aesthetics. She frequently collaborates with diverse artists to explore the boundaries of her work.
Whether she shoots on her own or collaborates with others, her work often begins with an “accident”—a poem, a powerful emotion, a chance encounter with a vintage home video, or an encounter with a friend—rather than a neat documentary proposal. Her films often blur the lines between politics and poetry, family and society, inviting viewers to view cinema as a constantly fluid space of encounters, memories, and genuine emotional concerns.
This masterclass will offer an intimate glimpse into Lynne’s rich and profound oeuvre. She will recount her journey across media, from 16mm film to video to hybrid performance, weaving the stories behind key works such as “A Film About A Father Who,” “A Month of Single Frames (for Barbara Hammer),” “Your Day is My Night,” and “The Washing Society.”