Interview on splicetoday.com: Christian E. Klinger about Jock Sturges, Movies and Line of Beauty and Grace …
August 11th, 2008
Interview with Christian E. Klinger about Jock Sturges ….
The official filmwebsite:
LINE OF BEAUTY AND GRACE * A documentary about Jock Sturges
Here is a beautiful, silent and politically incorrect interview with our director Christian E. Klinger from John Lingan about women, Jock Sturges, filmmaking and love….
SPLICETODAY.COM: This is the second in a continuing series of Splice Premieres, articles that profile artists, musicians, and filmmakers that are making careers outside the mainstream media. Along with interviews and background information, these articles will contain samples of the artists’ work, including unreleased or newly debuting material. The first Premiere was Zach Kaufmann’s interview with St. Louis alt-country band Theodore.
Christian E. Klinger’s first documentary, Line of Beauty and Grace, concerns the controversial American photographer Jock Sturges, whose plaintive images of nude children and young women have attracted accusations of child pornography. Sturges shoots his photos in Montalivet, a town in coastal France noted for its hospitality to naturist vacationers, and Klinger traveled there to film the photographer and his models as he worked. Sturges typically works with the same models for years on end, and he brings his family to the shoots, as well. Line of Beauty and Grace therefore documents an artist who creates his own spare, comfortable worlds in both his work and life.
The movie aired on German television and is now available on DVD from the website for Klinger’s production company, Amadelio Film. It briefly mentions the controversies surrounding Sturges’ work (a phenomenon, Klinger points out, that only occurs in America), but begins with the assumption that his photography is inarguably important and viable artistically. After watching Klinger’s film, which glides along with a calm, placid tone that mimics Sturges’ otherworldly images, it’s hard to feel any other way. Line of Beauty and Grace is a stylistically appropriate celebration of an artist and his vision, an informative documentary that, like its subject, looks for moments of startling beauty during humans’ interactions with the natural world. I exchanged emails with Klinger about his film, his production company, and Sturges’ work.
Jock Sturges. Christina and Camille; Northern California, 2006.
Photos from the book “Life-time” by Steidl, Germany.
SPLICE TODAY: Tell me about your career thus far. What kind of film and video work did you do before getting involved with Amadelio? What are your goals for the production company?
CHRISTIAN E. KLINGER: I’m a photographer and studied by the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig (“Leipziger Schule”). I worked for magazines and Internet platforms like nerve.com. So photography is my great passion in my life. I started [taking pictures] when I was 14 years old. Here you can see some of my work.
Jock Sturges. Misty Dawn; Northern California, 2004.
Photo from the book “Life-time” by Steidl, Germany.
ST: What was the process of making Line of Beauty and Grace? Did you show it at festivals or do a straight-to-DVD release? What kind of marketing goes behind a movie like this, and how do expect or hope viewers will encounter it?
CEK: No festivals! We only produce this DVD and negotiated with a German TV channel to broadcast our film. That’s all. We believe in the long tail. This means we’ll sell this documentary via the web, throughout the world. We prefer to be independent.
We didn’t spend a single Euro on marketing. We have 30,000 unique visitors on our websites per month. That’s enough to sell the film in a good way. And we really sell it worldwide. Most DVDs we sell go to the United States, Canada, and Japan. Then comes France and the United Kingdom. But we also sell DVDs to Singapore….
Interview on splicetoday.com # Click here!
Interview with Jock Sturges on amadelio.com
Official Filmwebsite:
LINE OF BEAUTY AND GRACE * A documentary about Jock Sturges (Trailer, Galleries … DVD)
LINE OF BEAUTY AND GRACE
A documentary about Jock Sturges
About the film
Watch the trailer
Buy the DVD
2 comments on “Interview on splicetoday.com: Christian E. Klinger about Jock Sturges, Movies and Line of Beauty and Grace …”
01
More about Jock Sturges and LINE OF BEAUTY AND GRACE:
http://www.photography-collection.com/2008/08/jock-sturges-line-of-beauty-and-grace.html#links
02
Sirs,
I recently purchased and viewed your documentary on Jock Sturges and, as one who has known Jock for many years and who regularly sells his work, I thought I would take the liberty of making a few comments about the film. First, I would have liked to see the interviews which only appear in the “extras” part of the DVD be interspersed within the body of the film. I think that would have improved the “texture” of the film and given the viewer much needed insight. In general, I would say that tighter editing is needed to keep the hold the interest of the viewer. There were several scenes where the camera simply lingered too long. This was harmful to maintaining the energetic pace necessary to hold the viewer’s attention. Aside from these two criticisms, I thought the film handled this delicate subject matter quite well.
Thomas V. Meyer
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