How many of you have walked into a friend’s apartment, or walked down the street, or been to a photo exhibition and have paid no mind to one image whilst focusing on another that is more interesting to you? Who hasn’t seen a propaganda sticker with a public figure preaching a certain rebelliousness against Government initiative and wondered what the association is?
For film-maker and cinematographer Peter Stein, who built up a filmography working on such films as FRIDAY THE 13TH, PART 2 (1989) and PET SEMATARY (1989), it was the desire to showcase his late father Fred’s own photographic legacy which now sees the light in the form of a documentary he has co-directed with writer Dawn Freer.
OUT OF EXILE – THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF FRED STEIN is in fact two stories about the same person being told – the desire to get the work showcased and to tell the incredible story of how one person escaped Nazi Germany whilst training to be a lawyer, couldn’t finish his schooling because the oppression of Hitler’s power denied him the facility, relocated to Paris and then to America where his talent for photography, which he discovered by chance, led him on a path to photograph some legendary figures, including Marlene Deitrich, Henry Kissinger and – in one of his most famous examples – Albert Einstein.
Using transcripts from Fred and his life-long wife Lilo, narrated by actors, the film encapsulates much of the passion and spirit that led Stein into the hearts and minds of many public figures, using a more intimate and personal touch to create some iconic photos.
However, the film does yield some incredible archive footage and a context of how challenging it is to get an unknown artist and photographer out into the world and Peter Stein does reflect on how difficult it is in America to showcase work if you are anonymous. However, as he discovers, his father’s birthplace of Dresden does have its’ own challenges when he tries to book an exhibition of the photos in a desire to see it where his father’s life well and truly began.
This is a truly amazing and inspiring chronicle that will certainly contextualise the incredible images on show – and perhaps might even motivate a few more museum curators to take stock – and perhaps take a chance.
One of the picks of 2022.
[…] PARIS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2022 REVIEW: OUT OF EXILE – THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF FRED STEIN […]
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