Song of Myself: Caveh Zahedi's Cinema of Self-Exposure. Article by Jason McBride

After reading Jason McBride’s article, Song of Myself: Caveh Zahedi’s Cinema of Self-Exposure, about Zahedis new film I Am A Sex Addict, I have became more intrigued in Zahedis’ way of film making. Zahedi’s films are like a mix of reality TV and documentary, all stemming from his own biography. “Zahedi’s films are largely concerned with his turbulent romantic life and artistic struggles, his fondness for psychedelics, and his penchant for philosophical gab”, which also star himself, his friends and family members (McBride). Zahedi sees life and art not as two separate things but as one thing. To him, life is art and also something that should be captured. What intrigues me is the use of himself in all of these films, and how open he is to filming his own life. It makes me wonder about my own life. Many of the ideas that I’ve had for movies have been taken from my life and I view them as being re-enacted by someone else. I’ve never thought of myself re-enacting them. But Zahedi has this bold attitude that seems to say, this is me, this is my life and this is my story. Not to mention he even gets his own friends and family members to re-enact in his films as well.
This article also made me think more about reality TV and documentaries. Though Zahedi is trying to present us with a reality TV like film, one in which captures everything as it is, but is it ever really real? Is reality TV real, or is it just another re-enactment? It seems to me that it has become more rare to find footage of something happening that does not have any planning behind it. Even on talk shows when they interview actors, they don’t know what is going to be said word for word but they plan out where the conversation is going to go. It doesn’t seem real because real life is usually unplanned. Then it is much more of a shock when something is captured on TV that is not planned. Zahedi’s films try to capture the action as it is happening but unless a camera follows him every waking moment of his life it’s not going to seem real. However even though his films are re-enactments because they are made like reality TV/documentary there is a sense of wonder to them. It’s the same kind of wonder and curiosity most people get from watching reality TV; they want to believe that what they are watching is real even when its not. But maybe that’s ok; maybe it’s the power of believing that shapes us.


Film making today is organized.

Films By Nathaniel Dorsky

The three films by Nathaniel Dorsky were all silent. I think the silence was supposed to help us focus more on the imagery, edits, and film work but I found it distracting. Silence is awkward and sometimes uncomfortable. Having to sit in a dark theater, and watch a film with no sound is very different from the average moviegoer’s experience, where sometimes the sound is so loud it’s deafening. I found it hard to concentrate; my mind seemed to wander endlessly. I would try to bring it back and keep focused on what I was watching but it was difficult. I started to hear more of the sounds around me, someone coughing, someone eating, the humming of the building and the sound of my friends stomach growling. If the point of Dorsky using silence in his films was to create this awkward atmosphere for his viewers, then he accomplished that. Maybe the point was to heighten the awkwardness so much that you were forced to pay attention to the film in front of you. I would have wanted to hear something, maybe even the sound of a projector going. I’m just so used to having sound playing while I watch a film that this seemed foreign to me. Maybe if I do it enough I will learn to appreciate it for what it is.

Wednesday Performance with Aaron Ximm

Aaron Ximm’s performance on Wednesday was very similar to what Glenn Bach did on Tuesday. Aaron played a series of his recordings that he interconnected with other recordings. All of the sounds combined together created this lasting song that was controlled by him. I found that the best possible way for me to really listen to all of the sounds was by closing my eyes. This way my sense of hearing was heightened and I was more in tune with what I was listening to. At times I couldn’t tell the difference between the two recordings he was playing because I heard them as one recording. Each new sound was different and with every new sound my imagination wandered to different places. Each memory differed based on what sound, or sounds, I was listening to. I think that that is Aaron’s goal; he wants his recordings to give the listener a sense of nostalgia. This way, the experience is different for everyone.
I also find it interesting how often we ignore the sounds around us. Aaron seems to capture those everyday sounds that most people would ignore. When talking about his piece Guantanamo Express he says, “I believe that the piece is also musical in ways that derive uniquely from the use of field recordings as a medium. In particular, I believe that there are aspects of arbitrary sounds and soundscapes-sound that until recently was dismissed as “noise” in the derogatory sense-that work on us at something very like the visceral level that traditional musical materials do” (Ximm). Very often what we might think is noise could very well be used in one of our favorite songs. It’s the difference between what society tells us is noise and what is music. We have to allow our ears to be open to all sounds and see the potential for possible music. Aaron is open to and listening to all sounds and therefore sees the potential for music in these sounds. What we define as music is really open-ended however I found his work to be musical.