Dissonance

Sixteen-year-old Seb, whose origins are unknown, cannot stand boredom. One day he decides to go looking for his biological parents together with a friend. He finds out that his father's name is Pierre Van Hove, then meets several men with this name and tries to ingratiate himself with one of them. Everything goes smoothly until he meets the seductive Julie, Pierre's daughter and perhaps his sister.

This distinctly personal journey into the artistic possibilities of independent film is not to be missed. Jonas Mekas, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Robert Kramer and many other visionaries and mavericks of the silver screen – as well as a book seller, a critic and a psychoanalyst – discuss what cinema has meant to them, what it is and what it could be and, implicitly, how it has changed over the 18 years in which this film was shot. Director Boris Lehman leads the charge, drawing in moments of absurdist humour and inventive camera work; he keeps things raw and spontaneous. His encounters with the now much-missed Jean Rouch and Stephen Dwoskin are particularly touching and stand testament to their personal playfulness and candour. An engaging, absorbing, epic odyssey of a movie.

The dialogue is based on the Gospel according to St John. The apostles are played by friends (the disciples) of Boris Lehman, most of them movie-makers, filmed in front of the last house still standing opposite the new buildings of the European Union. Judas is played by Claudio Pazienza and Christ by Boris Lehman. The film was shot in a matter of hours on a Sunday morning, with an incredible decor in a street that had been razed to the ground by property developers, just before the police arrived.

Through many photographs, he tells the story and allows his story to be told by those photographed. This is where the brilliant documentary reversal takes place.

Adrienne is not my mother. She is not Jewish. I met her five years ago, at Edouard’s, where I’d gone to ask my friend to lend me a dinner jacket for the premiere of my film “Life Lessons”. She came to see the film and we began to meet often (Boris Lehman).