somewhere to disappear

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Synopsis

For his project, Broken Manual the photographer Alec Soth traveled across America looking for people whove retreated from

society. Some live in mountain cabins, some in caves, others in the desert. It is through Alecs eyes that we try to understand why

those modern hermits want to escape. The photographer shows us a new fantasy, the dream to disappear.


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About the movie

When Laure and Arnaud approached me I explained to them

I was doing this project that was about my desire to run away

and to get away from people, and that therefore this was very

problematic to have a film crew following me, running away ! Alec Soth, February 2009.

I really enjoyed watching the movie ! Martin Parr, January 2011.

They followed me for a couple of years, driving around Ameri-

ca, and theyve become family, I feel very close to them, which

doesnt mean I thought their film was going to be any good. I

thought this could be a disaster. But it turns out to be a won-

derful movie, focused on the subjects I photographed.

Alec Soth, September 2010.

This is best movie Ive ever seen about a photographer John Gossage, September 2010.


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Presentation

Somewhere to Disappear is a 57 minute documentary in which Alec Soth is the hero.

For his project Alec undertakes to write a manual that will provide the basic tips on how to disappear in America. We follow him onhis search for men who live on the margins of society. People who ran away from their natural environment, to find their own world.

Each of these people have chosen to live in a different way. We wanted to find out why they live like this: did they deliberately

make this choice? Do they regret it? What are they really looking for? Did they find it?

This project was born during the last month of George W. Bushs era. It captures the country during a unique period of historical

change that is mixed with the torment created by the financial crisis and the hope emerging from the election of Barack Obama.

This movie is by no means a voyeuristic clich about someone who himself observes a subject, but focuses on a character who

fantasizes about his subject and gradually blends with it.


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Directors note

As we often have to explain to people in France as well as in the U.S., we are a team and not a couple!

Arnaud and I met 7 years ago, during our final study project. It was professional love at first sight and it was obvious to us that wewere meant to continue working together. We both wanted to do a project on the photographer Alec Soth, who we both admire

and who has the charisma and the qualities required for a portrait. Both of us needed an alter ego to accompany us in this pro-

ject, me in my second film and Arnaud in his directorial debut. Our collaboration is an intricate balance between a permanent but

obvious synergy, a real mutual trust and a fruitful confrontation. For something to be created out of this collaboration we therefore

need to be in constant consensus, which sometimes can be quite complex but ultimately more interesting.

We thus contacted Alec via email: we wanted to follow him in the development of his new project. We knew he was a doing

another gallery of portraits across the United States and we wanted to find out more about his work methods and the different

steps that he takes to find his subjects. More precisely where and how does he find them? And how does he work with them?

We first met Alec when he was in France for the Paris Photo festival. During that first meeting he described his project: searching

for people who deliberately choose to disappear in America, but he also expressed the fatigue and weariness he was feeling at

the time. Halfjokingly he then added :I am actually the one who wants to disappear, I cannot take it anymore, I take refuge in

my office, my assistant even calls it the cave!.


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The meeting went very well. We came out of it happy. The photographer was generous, attractive and exciting but he felt more

like isolating himself right then than sharing his life and he was therefore forced to dismiss our offer.

Following that meeting, Arnaud and I were as much amazed as we were intrigued by Alec: was he kidding? We realized at that

moment that the boundary between the photographer and his subjects is not as clear as he claimed.

A few hours later, in downtown Paris, serendipity puts us back on the path of Alec. We take this unexpected new opportunity to

try to convince him: Alec chooses to believe in this sign, and half-amused, half-intrigued, he finally accepts the challenge. A few

months later we joined Alec in his hometown of Minneapolis. We embarked in his small van and started location scouting which

proved to be conclusive.

We undertake our journey alongside the photographer secretly hoping to confront the man on his own will to disappear.

Our goal is in no way to take a voyeuristic snapshot of someone who himself observes a subject, but rather to follow a character

who fantasizes about his subject and gradually merges with it. Through that journey we had many encounters: a former homeless

homosexual, a repented nazi, a drug addict, a father of two, a disillusioned retired military man... But what interested Alec, the

40 year old father, American model and world renowned photographer, is nothing of that sort. What fascinated Alec Soth was

how these men had achieved what he did not even dare to try: how did they gradually leave society? Howd they disappear

from America as everybody knows it? He wanted to make a sort of guide, a technical manual and in order to reach that goal he

approaches as a student approaching his masters. What answers did he find in Garth, Dustin, Abstract and the others?


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Trips

FIRST TRIPThe first trip was in February 2008 and lasted for three weeks. We set out from Min-

neapolis, Minnesota in the centre of the United States and travelled in a north-westerlydirection towards the states of South Dakota, Montana and Idaho. A second part of

the trip took us to the east through Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota,

Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania

and New Jersey, finally ending up in New York.

During this first trip, we covered over 5000 miles.

SECOND TRIPThe second trip lasted for 5 weeks, from 25th July to 27th August 2008. We met up

with Alec Soth in San Francisco, California and set out via Los Angeles to the south.

Once we reached the Mexican border, we started driving to the east through Arizona

and New Mexico. After that, we headed more to the north, close to the border with

Canada, specifically through Colorado, Utah and Idaho.

In the second part of the trip, we went back to Minneapolis, Minnesota, passing first

through Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota.

That summer, we covered approximately 7000 miles.

THIRD TRIPThe last trip lasted 4 weeks in may 2009. We started in Minneapolis driving to theeast to Washington DC. After that, we headed more to the south to Nashville, Atlanta,

Savannah, Memphis. Finally, we went back to Minneapolis, Minnesota, passing first

through Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa.

During this last trip, we covered over 7000 miles.


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The directors

Laure Flammarion is a 27 year old director from France. After working in media production and various art projects, she finishedher first film in The Corner., a portrait of the musician and entertainer Gonzales in 2008. She is currently writing a comedy and

working on the adaptation of an Agns Desarthes novel, and developing a road movie between Beirut and Paris.

Arnaud Uyttenhove was born in Belgium in 1981. After studying cinema in Paris, he began working as an art director for various

production companies. Somewhere to Disappear is his first film. He is currently working on a new fictional project.


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Alec Soth

Born in 1969 in the United States, Alec Soth lives and works in Minneapolis. He is part of the younger generation of American

photographers. His work attracted considerable attention, and has received several awards: The McKnight Foundations and

Gerome and the Santa Fe Prize for Fotography in 2003. He is represented in several private and public collections and the pres-

tigious Gagosian Gallery in New York. His books, Sleeping By The Mississippi, 2004, Niagara, 2006, were published by Steidl.

In 2004, he is also noticed during the Whitney Biennial in New York. Alec Soth is a member of Magnum Photos.

His photographs have their roots in the tradition of Walker Evans, Robert Frank and Stephen Shore. His portrayal of daily lives

accentuates the ideals of independence, freedom, spirituality and individualism of the American society.


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Credits

Directors Laure Flammarion & Arnaud Uyttenhove

Produced by MAS FILMS, Sophie Mas

& EPIDEMIC/CCCP, Eurydice Gysel

Music LAiglon & RobDirector of Photography Laure Flammarion & Arnaud Uyttenhove

Editor Benjamin Favreul

Sound Editors Jon Goc, Alexandre Widmer / Analog Factory

Postproduction Julien Amiard / Firm Studio

Colour Direction Olivier Dassonville

Opening-ending credits David Fonseca, Matthias Weber / Autre Chose


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somewhere to disappear

Documents

Transcript of somewhere to disappear