Film maker Roger Horrocks
Film maker Roger Horrocks worked with Len Lye when he was younger and says in a sense he’s been working with him ever since - writing his biography, restoring his films, and now making a dramatic short film about him.
“He was a person hard to forget. I remember one of his artist friends (Hilary Harris) characterising Len as 'a crazy, excited and exciting guy.' And poet Alistair Reid described him as the least boring person who ever lived.”
The 18 minute film, Art that Moves, dramatises Len Lye’s teenage years and his “Eureka!” moment when he first came up with his idea of a new “art of motion.”
As part of the New Zealand International Film Festival, the Len Lye programme ‘Discoveries and Rarities’ includes a variety of little-known and in some cases completely unknown films by this great film maker.
During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?
Having kids and maintaining a day job has partly re-wired my body clock over the years. But my favourite work situation always has been late night – with good music in the background.
How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or style?
Very persistent. Len Lye, the artist who’s been the subject of my latest project, was a great advocate of what he called “daily practice.” He used to tell his students: “Right now you should be building your boat to go way out there and catch a really big fish.”
What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?
Like most people involved in film-making, I think more often about bills than thrills. There’s so much struggle involved with any project in the arts. But this year I’ve been lucky to have a great team working on my film project - Leon Narbey behind the camera, Eve de Castro-Robinson providing the music, Nick Braxton as editor, and my wife Shirley as producer. Happiness is a smooth film production.
You have two screenings coming up during the Film Festival, can you explain this project?
I’ve made a film which is 18 minutes inside the head of Len Lye as a teenager, as he has his ‘Eureka!’ moment, his idea that there could be a new kind of art based on motion. Appropriately, the rest of this Festival programme will be made up of films Lye made later in his life.
You've worked with Len Lye when you were much younger. He must have left a lasting impression?
In a sense I’ve been working with Mr Lye ever since - writing his biography, restoring his films, and now making a dramatic short film about him. But then he was a person hard to forget. I remember one of his artist friends (Hilary Harris) characterising Len as “a crazy, excited and exciting guy.” And poet Alistair Reid described him as “the least boring person who ever lived.”
Are these Len Lye films people will have seen before?
All the Lye films in the Festival programme are new in some respect – either re-discovered or restored. There will be lots of surprises for those who think they know his work – rare animated films such as “Life’s Musical Minute” (with jazz by Woody Herman), a March of Time documentary that includes Albert Einstein, and a sequence of dancing girls in space that Lye contributed to the feature film “Mad About Money” – along with restored versions of some of his better-known films.
These films are handmade objects in themselves, how does that translate in the digital age?
Len’s hand-painted and scratched films are among the most difficult films of all to digitise. I’m pleased to report than Park Road Post has just used its wonderful high-definition equipment to digitize some of them. But for the Festival programme we are screening most of the films in their original format on celluloid. Film is becoming an endangered species – but perhaps a few decades from now it will have a revival, like vinyl records.
Have these films been remastered or restored in any way or are they the originals?
Strictly speaking, we never see “an original film” – we see a particular copy in a particular cinema on a particular day. Unfortunately Len Lye is no longer here to say whether the colour is right, just as Beethoven isn’t on hand to object when the NZSO plays his symphony too slow. Having said that, you can be sure that the Film Archive and I have put in months of work to select or process the best copies we can. (Not like the crap copies of some of Lye’s films that have somehow made their way onto YouTube.)
How does the environment affect your work?
Public interest in Lye’s work continues to grow. The Stout Trust has generously supported our restoration of his films. And I’ve just been to Melbourne to see a huge, wonderful exhibition of Lye’s work at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, and to show my film. The problem in New Zealand continues to be the lack of funding for work on his sculpture. But there is real grass-roots enthusiasm for his art.
Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?
I like to see the big picture. I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life, and still find many aspects of the country claustrophobic, but over the years I’ve seen some huge changes for the better. When I was a kid, there was virtually no film industry, and hardly any book publishers, record labels or dealer galleries. The big picture has been transformed!
What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?
New Zealand is a very small country, and it’s important for anyone in the arts to develop a clear and realistic sense of its niches, its sub-cultures, its micro-economics. You also – as always - need lots of determination and a very thick skin.
Which of your projects to date has given you the most satisfaction?
I’ve worked in several areas – film, literature, music – and enjoyed all of them. I think that’s a common New Zealand experience – for better or worse, we are not narrow specialists.
Who or what has inspired you recently?
I’m lucky to get lots of inspiration from the people round me. My wife makes great documentaries (she has one in this year’s Wellington Film Festival, Dance of the Instant). My daughter Simone is busy editing her first feature film, After the Waterfall. My other kids also keep me inspired in their various ways.
If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?
When I was a kid, I studied to be an astronomer. Lately I’ve regained a strong (armchair) interest in science – especially all the fascinating work in neuroscience.
What place is always with you, wherever you go?
My turangawaewae is Sandringham. I grew up there in raw Auckland suburbia, a long way from the Queen’s country retreat of the same name. I’ve always liked Denis Glover’s poem “Home Thoughts,” and I too wonder “what may yet be seen” in our suburban streets.
What's the best way to listen to music, and why?
Funny you should ask, as it’s the next book I hope to write. I’m still getting my thoughts together (and still buying CDs, even though the record stores are disappearing fast).
You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make?
If I was Len Lye, I would play or “doodle” with them. He made a great film (Colour Cry) out of fabric and string and other bits and pieces which he positioned on strips of film stock and then exposed (without a camera).
What's the best stress relief advice you've ever been given?
Shirley has made so many films that she knows exactly when to shrug and be philosophical (though she also knows when to keep fighting). I’m more of an over-anxious control-freak and I haven’t yet learned exactly when to let go.
What's great about today?
The annual Film Festival is always a cause for celebration. I have tickets for three more films today (including The Strength of Water).
What’s your big idea for 2009?
I’ve written a book (as well as made a film) called Art that Moves. And that’s my big idea – an aesthetic for a new art of motion, with Len Lye’s ideas as my starting point.
- More Information
Roger Horrocks
Roger Horrocks has been involved in the growth of the New Zealand film and television industries since the 1970s. In addition to several screen credits as writer, he was founder and Head of the Department of Film, Television and Media Studies at Auckland University and one of the founders of the Auckland International Film Festival.
He has written on many aspects of moving images including a biography of experimental filmmaker, Len Lye. Curator of Len Lye - Discoveries and Rarities of the 2009 NZ International Film Festival, Roger has also directed his own film, Art That Moves which also features as part of this programme.
Roger will be attending both the Auckland and Wellington screenings of Len Lye - Discoveries and Rarities to introduce the programme.
If you think you know Lye’s work, there are a number of surprises in store, including animations such as “Life’s Musical Minute” (with jazz by Woody Herman), a March of Time documentary that includes Einstein, and a sequence of dancing girls in space that Lye contributed to the feature film “Mad About Money.”
The programme (supported by the Stout Trust, the NZFA and the Len Lye Foundation) also includes “Art that Moves,” the first Wellington screening of an 18-minute film by Roger Horrocks, produced by Shirley Horrocks, with Leon Narbey behind the camera, and Creative NZ funding.
There will be two screenings of this programme in the Archive theatre (the ideal venue because the NZFA restored many of the films) on Saturday August 1st, at 3 pm and 5 pm.
