Jon Jost
Notes from a workshop with Jon Jost:
1. pejorative = ?
2. meditative
3. spell
4. goal is not to entertain
Is it sad or inspiring to hear Jon Jost complain publicly about not making any money? Here we have an internationally famous filmmaker guy who gets offered $100,000 or $1 million dollar budgets to create movies. Or he used to. Or so he says. And now he's sworn off film, sworn off the industry in favor of zen video diaries of his life. He has his own shelf in the directors section of the local independently-owned video store. And yet he's hauling his ass through media arts centers across the U.S. at $500 a pop. He spends six months on the road, on tour to raise funds to support his art somewhere in Rome. Or is it California? He proselytizes digital video camera effects. Is this a joke to sabotage amateur filmmakers in some twisted form of revenge? His spirituality is a mediation of and meditation upon his existence through the lens of video. He reflects upon his life through the viewfinder of a video camera, the monitor of his software-based non-linear editing system, and the two-dimensional images that light up a projection screen in front of a room full of avid strangers. He is a Famous Filmmaker. At the end of the workshop, he begs a ride and a place to stay from these same strangers. He wears the same clothes two days in a row. His luggage is worn and beaten. He is kind. Approachable. Down to earth. But what a strange existence. Success, yet anonymity. Fame, yet poverty. Respect, yet self-doubt.
Defend your ideas with confidence and arrogance and learn what follows.
