S/he is still her/e - The Official Genesis P-Orridge Doc * special screening*
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A MEMBERS ONLY EVENT
in partnership with The Aster
MONDAY 18th NOVEMBER
S/he is still her/e
The official genesis p-orridge doc
Lab Mag & Aster Members are invited to a private screening of this extraordinary film.
Q&A with Filmmaker David Charles Rodrigues.
Genesis P-Orridge lived their art to the extreme. A pioneering musician, avant-garde artist, spiritual explorer and gender revolutionary, Genesis has been featured in films and videos, but never the full story… never this intimate... until now.
In this authorized but raw and personal documentary, award-winning director David Charles Rodrigues (GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH) documents the final year of P-Orridge’s existence as they grapple with mortality and, in the process, reveal the many sacrifices and ultimate payoffs of a life that transcended boundaries. Featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gyson, Timothy Leary, Alice Genese (Psychic TV), David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), Nepalese monks, African witch doctors, and a special cameo by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, plus never-before-seen archival treasures, including performances from Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.
THE DIRECTORS STATEMENT
A few months before meeting her, Genesis came to me in a dream. She put the palms of her hands over mine and said “darling I am transferring all of my knowledge to you, right now.” Despite being a longtime fan of her work and, most importantly, her ideas, I tried my best not to see it as an omen to make a film about her.
However, in the next few weeks, she kept showing up in my life in mysterious ways, until our fateful encounter at her home — we were supposed to meet for 45 minutes and it turned into a 12-hour cosmic information download. That same day, I learned she had less than a year to live due to terminal leukemia and also that her mentor Brion Gyson (William Burroughs’ creative partner) once said “wisdom can only be passed through the touching of hands.” I honestly didn’t know who Brion was, but in that moment I knew this was a now or never situation and I saw the entire film unspool in my mind.
I spent the next 12 months filming with her, drinking cran-grape vodkas (her favorite drink), and documenting some of the greatest concepts about our human existence I had ever heard. And then with the help of the Genesis estate (who gave us unlimited access to the archives) and our insanely talented editor Dillon Petrillo we were able to cut up Genesis’ many life-times into one story.
To me, the film is the ultimate transference of knowledge from one of the most uncompromising artists of our times to everyone who watches it. Genesis lived for their art and lived to bring some pretty crucial and timely messages to the world.
A few of them strike a deep chord with me: That our mission as creatives is to short circuit control, so we can help people see the world through multiple lenses and not just one. That humans have an untapped superpower where we can wake every morning and choose to become anything and anyone we want. And, finally, that unconditional love is accessed through loving boundlessly, beyond gender and even the limitations of being alive, or “trapped in our bodies,” as Gen says.
One unexpected discovery I made in the process was how much of a loving parent Gen was and how well he raised his children. Filming with his daughters opened up a whole new perspective of who she was, a layer that not many people get to experience, definitely never on film like this before. I love that it reinvents the narrative of the uncompromising artist — one can live to the extreme, but still have a solid foundation and values.
At the end of the day, my hope is that this film can inspire people to live their own truth and create their own reality, whatever that may be.
— David Charles Rodrigues
WATCH THE TRAILER
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