An scene from the new documentary on Feist
Billed as a "backstage pass" into the creative process, the new art-house film and DVD Look at What the Light Did Now reveals the artistic collaboration behind Leslie Feist's 2007 Grammy-nominated album The Reminder and the subsequent tour. Director Anthony Seck discusses the film's inspiration, the creative spirit and the bright light that is Feist.
How did this film come together?
It was an archive that was going on originally - there wasn't really any plan for it. But when Leslie was doing her Canadian tour of hockey arenas, she and Clea Minaker were working on the shadow-puppetry projections. She was in Montreal and she called me up and said, "You have to come and start filming this. It's really interesting what's going on."
Was there a concerted effort to show the other artists working on the project, not just Feist?
The idea was to tell the story behind the music. We wanted to look at the people all over the album and tour. Let's talk to Patrick Daughters, the video director. Let's talk to Simone Rubi, the cover-art designer, about what her world of art is, and what image and sound means to her.
And where does Feist fit in?
We looked it like a prism, and what it's refracting - all the light that creates the prism, or creates the white light, Leslie being that white light. Leslie is the thing that brings everyone near. And the opposite as well, all that spectrum of light coming in to form that one beam.
It sounds like a Pink Floyd album cover.
Leslie would approve of Pink Floyd, for sure.
Do you expect audiences to be drawn to the film, purely based on Feist's popularity?
I don't think you can deny the fact that they're loving her, and loving seeing her and her music in a different setting. Her music is what it is: It's stunning and it's moving for people who really enjoy it.
But the film is as much about general creativity as music, right?
Yes. In Chicago a guy came up to me after watching the film and told me he was going home to start working on a four-track album that he'd always wanted to make. Someone else in San Francisco said, "I'm going to do this painting and I've meant to do it for a while." Part of what we wanted to do was to make a film about the process being an inspiring thing - to create with what you have.
We see finger painting happening as Feist's concert is taking place. Other artists, like Daniel Lanois, Neil Young or Shary Boyle with Christine Fellows, are using real-time art and visuals to enrich the concert experience. Is this a trend?
I think people are trying to find more interesting ways to present a concert than just showing a video image behind them. The only way musicians are making a living is touring. And if that's the focus, they're trying to make it special for people to come out. They're trying to keep it artful, and to personalize it.
The same could be said for this film.
We didn't want this to be an eight-camera rock 'n' roll shoot. There's the scene where Leslie is singing I Feel It All, and we're going through all these different arenas. It feels like you're getting glimpses of this thing that is really huge around her. The idea was not to create, or recreate, a perfect or pristine concert.
The development of the cover art for The Reminder album is shown, with Feist in silhouette form. Is she uncomfortable in the spotlight?
Leslie is one of the most generous and giving people that I know. But I also think she has a very sensitive, protective respect for where the source comes from. As far as how comfortable she is with it all, you'd have to ask her that question.
So, there was never any intention to make this an in-depth profile?
I don't think it's necessary to know everything, if you're really enjoying the artist's work. Allow them that ability to return to that pond in the middle of the forest and do what they do, and to come back out with the new pieces.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Look at What the Light Did Now screens at Vancouver's Vancity Theatre on Tuesday; Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, Nov. 21; and Calgary's Cantos Music Foundation, Nov. 24. The DVD is released Dec. 7.