Film discussion: The B-Side: Elsa Doorman’s Portrait Photography

And if you haven’t been lucky enough to have that happen to you this year, I have the next best thing, which is a documentary about an interview with a wonderful character named Elsa Dorfman. You’ve probably seen stories about Dorfman before; she’s a photographer who specializes in portraits taken with a large-format Polaroid camera. Her portraits are always lit and formatted about the same, so her photos have a distinctive look.

When clients pick up their photos, they are presented with two different shots, and can only take one, which leaves Dorfman with the other, which she calls “The B-side.” And her stories, which come out in conversation with master documentarian Errol Morris, are fascinating, from anecdotes about the people in the photos (including cultural luminaries like Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan) to musings about, time, memory, and photography itself.

Morris, who has a pretty amazing history himself, has amassed shelves full of awards for such films as The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (a personal favorite of mine) and The Unknown Known, a frustratingly illuminating interview with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Morris and Dorfman have been friends for ages (which helps) and he is innovative, curious, skeptical, humorous, in short, everything you could ask for in an interviewer of such a wise and richly entertaining character.

We will be discussing The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography on Tuesday night in The Music Hall Loft. The film will start at 7:00 and the discussion—accompanied by the traditional free coffee and popcorn—will follow immediately.

And speaking of following immediately, we will be discussion The Hero next Tuesday (August 8) and A Ghost Story on Tuesday, August 29. You should inform your mobile device of these dates immediately.

I hope to see your tanned and happy faces there.