plural blog

Conversations at the Edge
w/ Ben Russell
Thursday, December 10 @ 6:00
Gene Siskel Film Center

“Fresh from its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago-based filmmaker Ben Russell’s stunning feature debut is an epic road movie that draws from documentary and ethnography to imbue its images with a sense of mystery and enchantment. Set in contemporary Suriname (in northeastern South America) and unfolding in 13 extended takes, the film follows two unidentified brothers as they trek from the capital of Paramaribo to the rainforest villages of the Maroons, descendants of African slaves who rebelled against their Dutch captors 300 years ago. Retracing these ancestors’ footsteps, in the opposite direction villagers now take to pursue the global enterprise of the city, Let Each One Go Where He May charts a reverse course through urban congestion, illegal gold mines, Maroon communities, and trance ceremonies to capture a place where history, the supernatural, and modernity collide. ” - Amy Beste

A longer analysis of the film (with a few potential “spoilers”) can be found courtesy of Michael Sicinski and Cinemascope here: http://cinema-scope.com/wordpress/?page_id=1004

Not only is LET EACH ONE GO WHERE HE MAY the project for which I received a Guggenheim Fellowship but it is in competition at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival and is, in all likelihood, the best thing I’ve put out into this world thus far.  Given the nature of long-form hybrid experimental ethno-fiction art cinema, it is also unlikely to screen again in these parts for quite some time… -Ben Russell