Rainer Variations

2002, 41:30 min, b&w and color, sound

Employing archival film clips and new video, Atlas' self-described "video montage" is a documentary sous-rature. In his portrayal of filmmaker/choreographer Yvonne Rainer, Atlas undermines genre conventions to pose some of the same questions that have long concerned her. While an extended interview with Rainer runs throughout the piece, Atlas' editing takes up the four "performers" (Rainer herself among them) who enact and re-enact the interview, shuffling and superimposing image and voice tracks to yield a video palimpsest of theatricality and ambiguity.

Videomontage: Charles Atlas. Original Footage: Gregg Bordowitz, Yvonne Rainer, Rainer's films and archive. Performers: Gregg Bordowitz, Kathleen Chalfont, Richard Move, Yvonne Rainer. Camera: Robert Alexander, Roddy Bogawa, Michael Fajans, Mary Patierno, Jason Simon. Sound: Harriet Hirshorn, Alisa Lebow.