Self-taught filmmaker Stuart Page premieres his feature-length documentary about photographer Larence Shustak at this year's DOCNZ festival.
The film, titled SHUSTAK, examines the legacy of the pop philosopher who left New York in 1973 to move to Christchurch.
Page talked with MiNDFOOD ahead of the festival.
What drew you to Larence Shustak's story?
I was a student of Larence Nathan Shustak in the '70s. I remained friends with him until his death in 2003. I was in Europe 2002 when I heard that he had heart problems and it occurred to me that there was no monograph or any record of his work. I realised then that I had to get some interviews with him while I had the chance.
Upon returning to New Zealand I visited Shustak at his home in South Brighton, Christchurch a couple of times and although he was reluctant, I managed to shoot a couple of interviews with him.
After his death I heard from one of his former students, Elliot Landy, who lives in Woodstock, New York, who said "you have to come over here and interview us, we have much more interesting things to say about him than he does". I knew he was probably right, and at that point I also realised that this film was about to get a whole lot bigger.
I was lucky enough to make a couple of visits to the US in 2004 and 2006, and was able to interview Shustak's best buddies in New York City, his two first wives and all of their children - in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Arizona. In New Zealand I also interviewed his widow Margo Shustak, and their son Henri, as well as former students and colleagues.
What is his profile in New Zealand?
Shustak was a Senior Lecturer in Design and Photography at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury from 1974 till he left there in the late '90s. He had exhibited in various shows during that period, but was not widely known except in photography and university circles.
His final conceptual project that never received the support that he'd hoped for was the idea to build a giant geodesic dome over the entire Brighton Mall in Christchurch. (His hero and the inventor of the geodesic dome was R. Buckminster Fuller, whom he had worked alongside at the University of Carbondale in Illinois just before he emigrated to New Zealand in 1973).
I used to love visiting Shustak at his home in Christchurch while I was a student. We'd talk about all manner of things, play some music (him on banjo or saxaphone, me on drums), and share in some of the most interesting foods and drinks available.
If there was something on my mind, I'd often discuss it with him, and I would usually find that my much narrower perspective would be expanded and scrutinised beyond expectation. His knowledge, energy, excitement and joie de vie was very contagious.
I was in a band called The Axemen and in 1985 Shustak offered to record us. Over the Easter weekend of 1985 we hired the State Trinity Theatre in central Christchurch, a beautiful old stone building with great acoustics and a grand piano and pipe organ. We spent three long days recording onto Shustak's 4-track TEAC tape recorder.
These tapes became The Axemen's Three Virgins double album, our first vinyl release on Flying Nun Records. (Three Virgins is to be re-released after 24 years on US label SiltBreeze).
What did you learn about Shustak when making the film?
I guess I didn't realise that one of his two ex-wives and some of his children still harboured bitterness towards Shustak. Although this wasn't my experience with him, he apparently left his previous wives for other women and neglected his childcare obligations by "running away" to New Zealand.
On the other hand his old buddies in New York City were perplexed that he suddenly up and left for New Zealand and Shustak, not being a big fan of telephones and letters, meant that he left somewhat of a vacuum behind, as he was something of a ringleader within the group of photographers in New York City known as "The NY School". (Shustak was named as a "Young Lion" in the mid '60s for his reputation in the New York City photography scene).
But all of this distills down to Shustak having a somewhat Zen attitude to life in all areas. He did not form sentimental attachments easily, this included wives, family, friends and even his own negatives, cameras and belongings.
He left behind many amazing photographs and a large part of the six years I spent piecing together the story of his life involved searching for and archiving digitally as much work of his that I could. I have built up an archive of several thousand images of Shustak's work, photographs, writings, doodles, and images of him and his family.
Another thing I learnt about Shustak when making the film was just how many times our own interests had crossed paths, despite there being up to 30 years difference in the dates of our respective interests in subjects such as photographing graffiti, urban decay, signs, advertising and musicians; Andy Warhol and Pop Art, Salvador Dali and Surrealism, Duchamp and Dada, and various other subjects. I was flattered to discover photographic evidence that Shustak had re-visited some "public art" I had photographed myself whilst a student.
What did you learn about yourself?
I guess that I learned that I could conceive of, produce, direct, shoot and edit a documentary feature film that must be half decent if DOCNZ has selected it as one of the films "in competition" at this year's festival. This knowledge will give me the confidence to tackle further projects of that scale. I have a few ideas that I am working on.
I also discovered that despite making SHUSTAK almost entirely by myself, that in the future I would really like to involve more people to spread the workload and to bounce ideas off.
What message do you hope for the film to impart?
I didn't make the film with a particular message in mind. If the audience get a message that's great. Shustak himself has a few messages that he conveys in the film. Some of these include "Everything should be legal" and "If you have something to say, say it! If you have something to do, do it!"
Tell us about the process of making this film.
To make the film I first put together a production kit in a bag conforming to airline hand baggage dimensions. This enabled me to travel anywhere in the world and film people and places with ease.
The first thing I did was interview family, friends and a few former students of Shusak's. At the same time I started to scan hundreds of 35mm slides, SX70 Polaroids, black and white photos, negatives, sketches, text and other ephemera belonging to Shustak. I visited and stayed with Margo Shustak (his widow) on many occasions at the old Samoan church in South Brighton, Christchurch, that Shustak bought around 1990 and converted into an amazing living and workspace.
I filmed and photographed the cities and places that Shustak had lived in. I experimented animating photos to simulate for instance the unique look and sound of Polaroid photographs as they're ejected from the camera.
I had a near finished version of the film about a year ago or so, and entered it into various film festivals in New Zealand and overseas as a "work-in-progress". DOCNZ is the world premiere of SHUSTAK.
Tell us about your career so far.
Career is a funny word. I rather like that expression of John Lennon's, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." I totally agree. Since finishing art school, I have pursued my interests in photography, music and later on filmmaking as a naturally organic and evolving process with no real desire or effort to create a career. How my life actually happened seems like a series of happy accidents, with one collision leading to another.
After being in a band, I discovered that I quite enjoyed the process of shooting and editing film. I have since made over 40 other music videos for other bands including The Skeptics, Snapper, Superette and Shaft. The clip I made for The Skeptics song AFFCO was banned by TVNZ for many years due to the "graphic scenes of animal slaughter".
In recent years I have been teaching film and video at an Auckland art school, VJ-ing and filming for Moana & The Tribe on her European tours, and continue to work as a freelance cinematographer/photographer/editor as well as exhibiting photographs and films in various art galleries and museums.
What were some of the difficulties you encountered teaching yourself to be a filmmaker?
I just approached filmmaking in an intuitive way, trying out all manner of techniques that I dreamt up or copied from the many thousands of films that I'd seen.
The cost of making films is always the biggest problem, and I used to get around this by befriending professionals and scrounging or borrowing stuff from them. I have to say that the advent of relatively cheap technology has rejuvenated the filmmaking process for me.
To see a trailer for Stuart Page's documentary SHUSTAK head to his website.
The 2009 DOCNZ Festival takes place in Auckland (February 26 – March 8), Wellington (March 12 – 22) and Christchurch/Dunedin (March 26 – April 5). For more information head to the DOCNZ website.
