Editor’s Note: Utahns are getting a first look at an impressive biographical documentary film directed by Torben Bernhard and Travis Low, recent Utah Valley University graduates. The film explores the life, art, and the creative process of Alex Caldiero. More comfortable with the title of sonosopher as opposed to the more traditional tag of poet and author, Caldiero has been among the preeminent literary personalities in Utah for 30 years. A native of a small ancient town near Catania, Sicily, he came to the United States at the age of nine and was raised in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Bernhard and Low, working with a handful of other UVU students and faculty, produced more than 100 hours of film footage that follows Caldiero from Orem, Utah to a remote dark cave – “The Ear of Dionysus” — in southeastern Sicily. The film echoes his voice in the heart of New York City as well as his intimate basement workshop in his Utah home.

Caldiero, 60, — an artist in residence at UVU — has traveled through Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey, and Greece collecting proverbs, tales, and folk instruments. He is co-founder of Arba Sicula, the society for the preservation of the Sicilian language and traditions, and is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Utah Performing Arts Tour, and the Best Poetry Award from the Association for Mormon Letters.

Perhaps one of Caldiero’s most memorable performances was a 2005 reading in Salt Lake City of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl on the 50th anniversary of its publication. Ken Sanders of his eponymous rare books store in SLC described Caldiero’s performance as directly channeling Ginsberg.

The completed film, initially a project of the school’s integrated studies program, also is being submitted to various festivals for consideration.

Indeed, Caldiero’s imposing personality, whose art is not satisfactorily defined by conventional labels, would present a cinematic challenge even for a veteran filmmaker. However, because the young pair of directors had the distinct opportunity to see their relationship with Caldiero in many roles on and off campus, the film also reflects their own coming-of-age as creative producers. As Low describes:

“Throughout the making of the film we were in extremely close proximity to both Alex and his work. I think that this closeness allowed us to portray him and his work in a more honest and mature way than if we would have filmed him from more of a distance. Our relationship has a number of configurations: collaborator, friend, mentor/teacher and pupil, etc.

“We’ve tried to keep a healthy distance from each other in the editing process in order to allow ourselves to edit the film fairly. Throughout the project, Alex himself repeated this piece of advice to us over and over: ‘Listen to everybody’s opinion, but never abandon your own.’ (It’s ‘an old Sicilian proverb’ … one of an endless collection that Alex has stored away in memory.).”

Low and Bernhard are hosting two fundraising screenings to help with the costs of moving the film on the festival circuit. The film will be screened on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7 p.m. at the Ragan Theater at Utah Valley University. Tickets for this screening are availabe at Campus Connection for $5. On Friday, Oct. 2, the film will be screened at the Salt Lake City Library auditorium at 7 p.m. Tickets for this screening are available at Ken Sanders Rare Books for $5.

More information about the film also can be found here.

The Selective Echo interviewed Bernhard and Low about their work. I am pleased to feature excerpts from that interview. Below are Bernhard (left) and Low.

SE: Given the typical challenges of making a definitive biographical film documentary, what were some of the challenges and complexities in making this film and overcoming them to reach the final version?

Torben: Well, we decided pretty early on that the film would not be a traditional definitive biographical film documentary. Instead, we wanted to focus on three things about Alex: his life, his work, and his artistic process. We wanted to render the experience of being at Alex’s performances, and we knew to a great extent that would mean sacrificing quite a few biographical points. I feel like the film is less wrapped up in the facts, and more geared towards trying to communicate essences. The film ends up being a patchwork — an inventory of experiences with Alex that hope to paint a mosaic of who he is.

Travis: I would say our greatest challenge was in identifying a cathartic/climactic arc for the film. The narrative of the film is fairly non-linear, so the main arc is an emotional one. In earlier cuts, the film felt as if the energy would rise up and drop down, with extreme peaks and valleys. The emotional arcs were working, but the ups and downs in energy quickly became exhausting.

The emotional content seemed to be what was going to pull us through the mass of material, so that is what we gravitated toward. We streamlined the emotional content into a longer, more singular arc and built the film around that. That meant cutting out a lot of precious material for the ‘greater good.’ It also took a lot of time, blood, sweat, and tears to even identify and realize this.

SE: How did your vision (and perhaps even that of Alex) evolve over the length of this film project?

Torben: At first, it was more of a simple curiosity than anything else. I saw him perform early on and felt intuitively that his work wasn’t just weird, but that there was something there worth investigating.

I’m happy I took the red pill. It’s felt weird lately as we’ve been wrapping up the project. I feel like I’ve been so immersed in Alex’s world over the last couple years that it’s been difficult orienting myself back to this other world.

So much has changed throughout the course of making this film. I feel like the experience has altered me in profound ways. We began as two guys with an abstract vision and a borrowed camera. I think we resurfaced as people who might be able to make films in the future. I hope so.

Travis: My visions, perceptions, and feelings about our project, of Alex’s work, and of Alex as a person have constantly been in flux throughout the project … and they continue to change.

I must admit that I entered this project with a lot of naiveté. But I believe it was a naiveté with a good sensibility about the material and how to handle it. … I suppose that I previously thought that we could string together our most compelling scenes and segments and a compelling film would emerge. Could I have been more wrong?! To have compelling material is great, but it is only a great first step. It is how that material is cut together, shaped, juxtaposed, and manipulated that makes a film.

SE: In terms of the filmmaking project, what were your inspirations? And, how did they play in shaping the presentation of Alex’s artistic vision and statement? What aspects of Alex’s artistic persona seem to be really best captured in this cinematic medium?

Torben: An instant inspiration that comes to mind is Bruce Conner. His films are beautiful and influenced a lot of the experimentation we used in the film. Also, interestingly, a lot of the experimental and avant-garde films we watched in Alex’s classes prior to making a film about him were influential. Beyond that, I’m kind of a documentary nut. In the past I’ve watched any documentary I can get my hands on. Herzog’s documentaries also stand out to me as influential — especially his idea of ‘ecstatic truth.’

I think film captures Alex’s performances better than any other medium, of course with the exception of being there (and using your own body as the medium.) Because, though he focuses so much on sound, his performances are gestural. So much of his performances exist in being able to see him — his eyes, his chest moving as he breathes, etc.

Travis: We are highly influenced by many avant-garde filmmakers and other experimental film techniques. Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage were most influential to parts of this film. Their films are not based around narratives in any traditional way, they function much more like music or abstract painting. We incorporated some of their methods, techniques, and visual imagery during many of Alex’s most intense, abstract, and intimate performances.

We also experimented with our own techniques, and we were fortunate enough to be able to incorporate and be taught by some happy editing mistakes (e.g. almost like the free-jazz concept of happy tonal mistakes).

We did not use techniques simply to be flashy or stylish. They were only justified when they contributed to the impact and delivery of already existing material. These techniques and inspirations were utilized most as we tried to transfer the deeper essence of Alex’s performances onto the screen … in a more primal, experiential, and cinematic manner. Sometimes the film footage can be left untreated and that does the trick, specifically if Alex is reading a more traditional poem.

Other times the material required much more work. We’d re-imagine and manipulate the material in order to match and magnify the original inner experiences we had. These parts of the film are easily identifiable when you see them. I think these parts are some of the strongest parts of our film. I think they reflect some of our best work. I also think that these parts showcase Alex at his best, most intimate, and most intense … this is definitely the place where Alex’s persona comes through the most.

There are also other times where the camera was on and Alex’s persona just bled straight into the camera and onto the screen … this is a direct result of filming with Alex for endless hours in close proximity.

SE: Sicily certainly figures prominently in this film. Indeed, it anchors the mise-en-scène of Alex’s story. Why was this so essential to making a realistic, honest portrayal of Alex and his work?

Torben: So much of who Alex is exists in Sicily. It’s a difficult quality to describe. It’s in the bones. Without Alex’s Sicilian heritage, the film could not be honest. That would be like presenting Alex’s body with missing limbs. I think going to Sicily was crucial for us.

Going to New York City with him was equally important. The different locations allowed us to couch Alex’s story in a context. They also gave us permission to trespass into personal space. Being in those spaces with him felt, somehow, more intimate. His life and the influences that have formed him became more clear. In general, though, trespassing into people’s personal space does that. There’s not too much difference between going to Sicily with Alex and being invited into his workshop. Both give you access to an essential quality that’s lost in the description.

Travis: I think that the places that we visited and filmed served as a stage for Alex to come into full bloom, a space for him to express and communicate himself in a familiar, native environment. Whether it was in performance or in interview, our deepest, most interesting, and most illustrative footage came from our trip.

I think that it was a deep psychological trip for Alex as well … many things came to surface that wouldn’t have come up otherwise. The scenes in Sicily play prominently in the film, but they usually also tie directly to his work. Sicily is also represented in Alex’s personality, his stories, his poetry, etc. In fact, his life and his work converge so often that they are virtually inseparable.

Some of what was said above can also be said of New York City, and also Utah. So all three environments are important to the film and to Alex’s work. Maybe each place is even equally important. Each place brings out, accentuates, magnifies a different part of Alex. Physical spaces affect Alex and his work very profoundly. Indeed, a lot of Alex’s work is about his relationships and interactions with physical spaces (e.g. indoor/outdoor … inner/outer).

SE: In what ways do you believe the film echoes and parallels Alex’s artistic voice, particularly in letting those who may or may not be familiar with his work recognize his unique creative character?

Torben: He has been our teacher and mentor over the last three or four years. As such, I think the philosophies we gained in his classroom pervaded throughout both production and pre-production. He was a collaborator, in that sense.

At first, I think Alex’s voice completed drowned our voices out. We were almost too careful, not allowing our voices to surface at all. It wasn’t until we began to superimpose some of our own structure and voices onto the film that it began to take form. We tried to stay true to Alex’s work and artistic voice while allowing our voices to emerge.

Travis: A main goal of ours was to render some experiences of Alex in performance and in life onto film. We had to facilitate that, but it is often his poetry, performance, or dialogue (e.g. interview) that is articulating everything. So, we are often singing in harmony with him, so to speak.

Sometimes Alex pops straight through the camera. Different aspects of his personality come straight through in interviews or in performance. So, it really is just his voice in those cases. Then again, we are the editors juxtaposing those scenes.

Other times we had to see his work or biography in an entirely new light, from a different perspective. We had to craft something new in the film medium. Sometimes our voice dominates as filmmakers, these are the more experimental pieces. But, interestingly, I believe that these are parts when Alex’s voice is magnified.

So, I guess it is a big identity crisis! When is it our voice, and when is it his voice? We are trying to communicate and to render what Alex does, but we were the ones doing it. It is more of a chorus of voices, a collaborative effort. Sometimes one of us takes a solo, but the others are always there to hold down the rhythm.

SE: What have been the most surprising reactions from those who’ve already have had a chance to screen the film?

Torben: What has been really interesting for me is that my reactions differ almost every time I watch the film. Some of my own reactions have really surprised me. I’ve been elated, depressed, weirded out, scared, confused, disoriented, and invigorated.

Some times the film makes sense to me. Other times, I feel a sense of inadequacy. I guess that’s common. I wish I was in love with the film every time I saw it. Or maybe that would be a curse People have responded really well to the film so far. Of course, it’s always hard to gauge responses when you are in the room. Most people don’t want to tell someone who has been working on something for two years that it sucks. Then again, with some of our early rough cuts, people seemed pretty open to smashing it.

Travis: Some folks have seen the film exactly as we hope people will see it; where they understand many the connections we are trying to make. They felt and experienced things emotionally where we intended things to be felt and experienced rather than analyzed intellectually. They were able to intellectually analyze the things that we want to be thought deeply about. This is extremely comforting, surprising, and gratifying.

Other folks don’t understand why we chose the direction that we did. They may have wanted a more traditional narrative, a more structured and descriptive document. They weren’t feeling some of the emotional content, which the film relies on heavily. They thought some stuff didn’t make sense or was senseless. This was obviously disappointing, but it also made us question ourselves deeply. It became a good time to reflect on what we had done and why we chose to do it that way.

Alex is, of course, very close to the material, but it has been incredible to know that we have his blessing on what we’ve done. Alex has been very critical of our process, and very helpful to it. Some parts of the film are extremely difficult for him to watch, he may not even want them in the film, but he has told us numerous times that he trusts us completely.

Haha … his reactions to the film are always surprising … but he is so close to the material (in both advantageous as well as disadvantageous ways) that he cannot be trusted on any given reaction to a viewing. We have to keep him at a certain distance and we have to hold him accountable. This absolutely goes for our own reactions to the film as well!

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