About Us

In the autumn of 1971, artist Robert Frank came to Rochester, New York to conduct a course on film-making at the recently established alternative art school, Visual Studies Workshop (VSW). By the time he came to Rochester, Frank had made seven films and was in production on the autobiographical fiction About Me: A Musical, while preparing to shoot the controversial Rolling Stones documentary Cocksucker Blues (1972). In need of money to shoot his next film, Frank proposed a non-traditional course to friend and VSW founder Nathan Lyons, suggesting the students work together to make their own movie, with Frank acting as more of a collaborator than an instructor.

In a note to Nathan Lyons shortly before his arrival at VSW, Frank wrote:

‘Hello Nathan

I want to describe the chaos of the present

That’s what I’m up against

Maybe the students will feel sympathy

Anyhow – that’s what it will be

See you

Robert’

Frank’s approach to working with the group of six VSW students was simple: load up a camera and start shooting the world around you, including yourselves. Over a three-month period, the students were tasked with re-interpreting the idea of the self-portrait and reflecting the reality of the present. Each student shot a section of the film, putting their own twist on traditional techniques to create a more authentic document of their experience of the world. A true collaborator, Frank himself joins them as they attempt to break through the security patrol at Kodak headquarters, frolic on the hillside of the Cobbs Hill Reservoir, improvise an altercation with a gas station attendant, and gather in one of the students’ living rooms to drink, smoke and carry on. The resulting 38-minute film is a valuable portrait of a creative collaboration between artists and a stimulating document of what Frank refers to as ‘the chaos of the present’.

This film was preserved in 2018 through a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.