Jessica Curry (UK)
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Interview:10 questions


1. Tell me something about your life and the educational background.
I am a composer and live in Brighton UK. I studied Screen Music for three years at the National Film and Television School in the 90’s. I’ve always loved the merging of sound and image and it was an exciting, if difficult environment. Some directors at film school said that my music was too strong for their images, that it overwhelmed the visuals, so I left that world for sound art and multi-media installations. This film marks a return to that world.
2. When, how and why started you filming?
This is my first film. I made it because there didn’t seem any choice- what I mean by that is that I had something very personal to express, I didn’t know how else to say it and it pretty much made itself.

3. What kind of subjects have your films?
This film is autobiographical and is about motherhood, love, illness, the future, fear and joy.

4. How do you develop your films, do you follow certain principles, styles etc?
This film had two principles,
1) Not shooting any new footage. I used home movie footage, photographs, x-rays and scans- all from my own life, to construct the narrative.
2) That the music would be on an equal narrative and creative footing with the visuals.

5. Tell me something about the technical equipment you use.
DV camera, imovie, Emagic Logic.

6. What are the chances of new media for the genre film/video in general
and you personally?
It can enhance a film beautifully, but sometimes I feel it can be an excuse for laziness- using effects and tricks to detract from the fact that the conceptual or creative reasoning isn’t as strong as it could be. I’m going through a bit of a Luddite phase- returning back to basics.

7. How do you finance your films?
Commissions

8. Do you work individually as a video artist/film maker or do you work in a team?
Both- this film was very much a personal journey and was undertaken very deliberately alone. I didn’t want to discuss it, just to make it.
if you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
Recently I have started to become quite hermitic, and am happiest when I’m working alone in my studio, door shut, headphones on, phone off, immersed in writing music or editing. Bliss.
The only exception to this is being in the studio with musicians- for me that is a kind of euphoria that I find hard to replicate. 

9. Who or what has a lasting influence on your film/video making?
Greenaway, Lynch, Sally Potter, Jane Campion, Luhrmann, John Cameron Mitchell.

10. What are your future plans or dreams as a film/video maker?
None. This was my first and last film. In fact, it probably wasn’t a film at all. It was a manifesto: for love and hope: choosing life over fear of the future.


Can works of yours viewed online besides on VideoChannel? Where?
www.axisweb.oeg/artist/jessicacurry