Everything Is Original

// video added July 01, 2009 // 12 comments // // Embed video:
svanes

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Filmed in Los Angeles, Everything is Original is a brief behind-the-scenes exploration of a photo session and its aftermath, negotiating the space between a German photographer and her subject, a Mexican woman who cleans houses.

"What I initially found interesting in photographer Birgit Richter's project is that she chooses to focus her energy on people who are often overlooked in this society. And in so doing, her camera records a dignity in these women that has always been present yet is often never acknowledged.

I wanted to tell this story and share Birgit’s project so that other people would take a look around themselves, wherever they are, and discover something similar.”

more of birgit richter's photographs from this series are available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/b-richter/sets/72157607203244931/
  1. groups:
    Culture,   Art,   VC2 Top Contenders US,   cultural film,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Culture,  Current TV,  Art,  VC2 Top Contenders US,  5 more
  3. credits:
    svanes Director, DP, Editor, Producer, added this

12 comments // Everything Is Original // Video

  • ronicita50
  • svanes
    • 0
      svanes  

    • again, thank you everyone for commenting.

      someone wrote to me off-line with the suggestion that the film perpetuates a victimization of cleaning women...

      i'd like to ask people if they think that this is the case.

      from my point of view, the film tells us that the photographer feels that the cleaning woman is overlooked (and therefore on the margins of society) but i submit that there's nothing to suggest that the cleaning woman is a victim.

      does the film not get this across?

      whether or not estella (the cleaning woman who is the subject of the photographer's project) is a victim is, perhaps, a whole other conversation... but, this particular film about the photographer and the cleaning woman tries to steer clear of such assignations.

      just curious if the film has failed to get this right...

      thanks!

    • 7 months ago
  • Divina
  • syllable
    • 0
      syllable  

    • Hi Christian,
      I really like this and apart from enjoying seeing Birgit at work it makes me want to follow her further. I believe this could easily be a PBS 25min format.
      Would be interesting to see more of your work.
      Best
      Sib

    • 7 months ago
  • axe
  • saskia
  • svanes
  • canofmeatfilm
    • 0
      canofmeatfilm  

    • This is a very well done piece the world of Brigit and estella are very clear and bright, and all the cameras don't seem to get in the way, subtle and interesting.
      -David

    • 7 months ago
  • svanes
  • svanes
  • stevedebrun
  • hustlerofculture

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