‘Somewhere to Disappear’ is a movie documenting Alec Soth’s travels in 2008-2009, during the time he was working on the project/book ‘Broken Manual’. The 57 minutes film is made by two young European directors, Laure Flammarion and Arnaud Uyttenhove.

By the words of the filmmakers, the goal was ‘in no way to take a voyeuristic snapshot of someone who himself observes a subject, but rather to follow a character who fantasizes about his subject and gradually merges with it’.

‘They followed me for a couple of years, driving around America, and they’ve become family, I feel very close to them, which doesn’t mean I thought their film was going to be any good. I thought this could be a disaster. But it turns out to be a wonderful movie, focused on the subjects I photographed’ – said Alec Soth.

The documentary gives a nice opportunity to get an inside view on how the photographer works on a project. We know that this project, as well as the movie, is about a dream to disappear. But it’s also about a photographer’s dream to get on the road with a big (or small) camera, looking for the subjects, to experience moments of meeting something or somebody incredible, to have the feeling (once in a while) that you’ve taken a good picture today. Undoubtedly, together with an exhibition and a book, the movie adds another layer to Alec Soth’s project. But, it also portrays a photographer in general, just a guy who wanders around with a camera, going to places and meeting people that we could hardly believe exist. And in the end, a photographer helps us to understand ourselves better through the discovery of ‘another’, uncommon ways of living.

The movie is a part of Alec Soth’s exhibition, Broken Manual that closes this weekend at the Sean Kelly Gallery.

More about ‘Somewhere to Disappear’

Alec Soth: Broken Manual
February 3 – March 11, 2012
Sean Kelly Gallery (528 West 29th Street)