Hotshoe #215

‘At the Movies’ is the theme of this latest edition, which focuses on the imaginative potential for photographers working to a commission within the fixed constraints of a film set. Spanning cult classics to contemporary masterpieces, the photo series’ featured this issue are affective works in their own right, surpassing conventional ‘behind-the-scenes’ photography.

Inside; Donata Wenders plays with the hallucinatory visual effects of the interaction between leaves and light—a poetic phenomenon known as ‘Komorebi’ in Japanese—on the set of husband Wim Wenders’ latest film, ‘Perfect Days’; Alejandro González Iñárritu mines his archives for hitherto unpublished images from ‘Amores Perros’, his 2000 debut—a disturbing VHS-blur of car crashes and dog-fighting; in keeping with his reputation as the ‘Pope of Trash’, John Waters presents a series documenting abstract tape marks left by the gaffers on the set of his 1998 satire ‘Pecker’; and, Pieter Hugo stages ‘macabre’ scenes in Nigeria, collaborating with a local makeup artist in lieu of securing a commission for a Nollywood film already in production. 

Between each series, you’ll also find interviews with the featured photographers, reflecting on the often spontaneous journeys that came about as a result of their initial commissions. Plus, reviews of new photobooks by Todd Hido and Marina Luz, Roe Ethridge, Judith Black, and Claudia Andujar round off the issue.