Phil Solomon

In a sense, I consider all my footage as "found". (Eureka! I found it!) Being both cinematographer and realizer results in a shift in responsibility. As a realizer, I try to look at the material as SUCH and not as MINE. The person who shot the material no longer exists, he left a trace, an impression, some clues. I often try to make the raw footage look as if it was shot by an unknown camera person at an unknown time - very little "personality", very little camera movement, etc. The print begins with the realizer's edits (both chemical and optical) and juxtapositions. I become an archaeologist in reverse at the optical bench - layers of debris (feelings?) are added to restore the precious object. My artistic project seems to me like a perpetual attempt to sew my original material seemingly seamlessly with the remains of others. A bit like Dr. Frankenstein. 

There are many stories I would like to tell (or retell). However, telling other people where to go ("marks"), what to do ("theater work"), what to feel ("acting"), and what to say ("script") is thoroughly embarrassing and rather silly, in my opinion. Most film work of this sort is merely "execution," i.e. HOW GOOD HAVE WE DONE? I have to believe that the two-dimensional material has a truth content according to my general knowledge ... It is not easy for me to adjust my distrust concerning my own material, which I have invented myself (other people lead me around by the nose all the time) . . . Like a thief, I break into the movie house at night and borrow (copy) other people's "executions" only to return them in the morning. Hopefully (again, like Dr. Frankenstein) I will succeed, with the help of chemistry and electricity, to bring the material to LIFE, to make it new.
(Phil Solomon, for the catalogue "Found Footage Film"; VIPER 1992)

Program
The Secret Garden (USA 1988, 16mm, colour, 23 Min.)
Nocturne (USA 1980/1989, 16mm, b/w, 10 Min.)
Remains to be seen (USA 1989-90, super-8, colour, 17 Min.)
The Exquisite Hour (USA 1989, Super-8, colour, 14 Min.)
The Passage of the Bride (USA 1979/80, 16mm, b/w, 6 Min.)
What's out Tonight is Lost (USA 1983, 16mm, 16 B.p.s., colour, 8 Min.)
Clepsydra (USA 1992, 16mm, b/w, 15 Min.)
Elementary Phrases (Stan Brakhage/Phil Solomon, USA 1994, 16mm, colour, 35 Min.)
The Summit (USA 1994, 16mm, colour, 17 Min.) 

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