The filmmaker Mark Lewis was born in 1958 in Canada and now lives in London. He represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2009. Seven of his films are being screened for the exhibition Above and Below at Le BAL in Paris through May 3rd. We spoke with him the day after the opening.
How did you decide to start making movies?
First I studied art. I tried my hand at everything: sculptures, installations, photography, etc. I try to include in my work my interest and knowledge of these art forms, but above all I make films. It was an accident, really. I was talking with a filmmaker friend of mine, Laura Mulvey, about some photography projects and she said it would make a good movie. I took up the challenge and we did a documentary film together about Russia. It was a lot of fun. She told me that I had a talent for framing and composition. I had no idea what she was talking about. I guess it was instinctive. When I finished my first film, I wanted to do another, but not a documentary. I wanted to make an art film. After a while, four or five films later, I realized that I’d become a filmmaker. Looking back, I think a lot of artists try out a lot of things out until they find what “belongs” to them. All of my work, in photography and in other forms, had never really been personal. It was always an imitation of the work of other artists who were doing it better than me. I found my way with my films. It was something I loved and something I was good at. That’s why I’m here today. I didn’t think about it at the time, but now I see it. In the beginning, I kept taking pictures. But nobody wanted to buy them and I realized that they weren’t all that interesting. I still take pictures but only for my research.
All the videos at Le BAL are filmed in a single shot.
My first films were edited like regular movies. The Pitch (1998) is the first I filmed in a single shot. I had just come to see that I needed to make films adapted to the gallery setting. When you make “classical” films, cinematic ones, there are all kinds of decisions to make: When do you start and end it? How long should it be? I wanted to make these questions the content of the film. So I adopted the format of 35mm reels that ran for four minute or ten minutes. Ten minutes was too long, so I went with four. It seemed like the right length if someone were watching it in a gallery. The film starts at the beginning of the reel and ends with it. That solves a lot of questions. When I switched to digital video, the situation changed, but I still think that a film should be short. It’s more flexible. My videos last between one and eleven minutes. You can see all seven films in the exhibition in 35 or 40 minutes.
How do you choose your subjects?
I don’t really know. I come across things that I think would make a good subject. Most of the time, I realize that I’m wrong. I can have 20 idea and never find a way to make them work. I spend a lot of time walking and riding my bike around London and the cities I visit, like Sao Paolo. I don’t think I’m looking for anything in particular. The subjects find me. Over time, I’ve gained confidence in my ability to work, and when the moment comes, I know it. It’s strange, even a little disturbing. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ll remake the same film no matter where I go. I respond to things that I find curious. In everyday life, when I’m traveling, like everyone, sometimes something stops me, takes me out of my routine, interrupts and suspends time. I try to reproduce that experience and share it with people who might also feel it. That’s what I find interesting.
This interview was back-translated from the French and does not represent Mark Lewis’s words verbatim. Read the full article on the French version of L’Oeil.
EXHIBITIONS
Above and Below de Mark Lewis
Through May 3rd, 2015
Le BAL
6, impasse de la Défense
75018 Paris
http://www.le-bal.fr
Invention au Louvre de Mark Lewis
Through August 31st, 2015
Le Louvre
Paris
