Most people will not know who Buckminster Fuller is, your author admittedly one of them, so when it was announced that director Sam Green would be “performing” his new documentary on Mr. Fuller in Vancouver at this week’s PuSh Festival accompanied by live music from Yo Lo Tengo, it was met with an air of mystery.
Sam Green is a documentary filmmaker based out of New York who made his name with 2002’s Academy Award nominated documentary The Weather Underground, as well as his 2010 “live performance” documentary Utopia in Four Movements. After being approached by The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art about making a film on the polymath Buckminster Fuller, Green rose to the occasion, becoming “completely intrigued, both by him as a character but also the ideas that he really fought for”. We spoke with both Sam Green and Yo Lo Tengo bassist James McNew about the upcoming performance of The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller and how this new form of “live documentary” is making an impact on the way we experience film.
So who was Buckminster Fuller? Known as an inventor, designer, architect and engineer who was most popular in the 60’s and 70’s, he preached the importance of sustainability, being wise with our resources, and creating an idealistic, optimistic view about the future of the planet. Sam Green notes that during this time he became “one of these pop culture pop stars, like Marshall McLuhan or Andy Warhol or Tom Wolfe.” In other words, he was famous; an icon of an era.
When making a film about such an innovative character, it is only natural that the medium is as unique as the subject. This is where the “live documentary” comes in. A live documentary, or “live cinema”, draws inspiration from travelogues, Ted Talks and of course, the idea of seeing a film the same way just once. Green elaborates: “In the world today you can download any movie and watch it on your laptop while you’re doing facebook, and personally theres something I really like about film that’s ephemeral, film you can only see live and its never the same way twice.”
Adding to this experience would be the music of Yo Lo Tengo. A lifelong fan, Green was also impressed by their work on The Sounds of the Sounds of Science, a soundtrack to the undersea films of Jean Painlevé. Their music’s wide ranging emotional palette were a perfect match for a film about such a colourful character. “So many of their songs are really lovely and sweet, but there’s also a yearning to them.”
Upon being approached by Green, Yo Lo Tengo were immediately attracted to the mechanics of the live performance.
“It was all pretty enticing” says James McNew, “I thought it was an insane yet great idea – and it worked. He knew exactly what he wanted and it worked out great.”
The group collaborated in Yo Lo Tengo’s Hoboken rehearsal space, coming up with thirty minutes of brand new instrumental music to accompany Love Song. Sam would bring in a projector and show the band footage, while they worked out the parts. There is no definitive way to describe the music, though James McNew notes “There’s a lot of us, and a lot of our personality in the music that we’ve written for this show, but for the most part it’s unlike any of our other work”.
Staying true to the ephemeral nature of Love Song, the soundtrack will not be recorded and released.
“It speaks more to the actual meaning of the film for you to have to be there and see it, rather than for us to market it and have a product available” says McNew, “Not very smart business wise, so much! But I don’t know… It feels right!”
Next Wednesday, logout of Facebook, shut your laptop and get yourself to The Vogue to witness history in the making. And as far as Green’s hope for the film? To make something that sticks- to make a mark: “that to me is the highest goal of art- to make something that will linger in people’s thoughts.”
The Love Song of R Buckminster Fuller promises a fascinating take on the Utopian dream. Fuller’s infectious idealism is omnipresent. “Not to sound too much like a Californian,” concludes Green (who splits his time between New York and San Francisco) “but that kind of energy, that social energy, energy from other people is invigorating, its inspiring… its good for you.”
The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller, presented by PuSh Festival is at The Vogue Theatre November 12th, 7 pm. $30.50 Tickets are now on sale online at Northern Tickets, or in person at Zulu Records, Neptoon Records and Highlife Records.
