Julie Doucet & Michel Gondry: My New New York Diary
In 2008, the famed director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Green Hornet, You'll Like This Film Because You're In It) wrote to legendary cartoonist Julie Doucet (of My New York Diary fame) to propose that they make a film together. Little did Gondry and Doucet know that the process itself would be the film, and they'd soon be starring in a "reality" comic and film of their own devising. They settled on a process that involved inserting the "real" Julie into a landscape of her own drawings. After meeting and filming with Gondry in Brooklyn, Doucet returned to her native Montreal and created dozens of drawings for the scenery, while Gondry, in New York, worked on editing the footage itself. Over time, these two elements were combined, and the result is a magical, funny and touching 20-minute film. My New New York Diary contains all of Doucet's drawings for the film, as well as the DVD containing the film itself. Both the film and Doucet's graphic novella are being released only in this deluxe, hardcover volume from PictureBox, which does full justice to the richness and warmth of Doucet and Gondry's collaboration.
"I had this idea I always wanted to try with a comic book artist, an idea that derived from the art form itself. Autobiographical comics are like autobiographical novels: the story revolves around the author's character. The author is constantly present, and because comics are drawing-based, becomes overwhelmingly prominent. Yet he or she is not part of the story on the same level as all the other characters are, because he or she is also functioning as 'the camera.' Autobiographical comics give the artist a special status that I thought I could illustrate by replacing his or her drawn representation with a video image. That was my idea: I would shoot Julie on a blue screen, replacing her drawn image in each frame of the story by having her re-enact what her character is doing on the page. She would be the only 'live' character in her graphic universe. I know it doesn’t sound groundbreaking, but watching the artist herself evolving inside the very drawings she had done is pretty cool, if you ask me…. After agreeing to my plan, her next question was, 'What is the story?' 'Well, the story is…you coming to New York to visit me and shoot this project, me explaining the concept…,' etc. Since she already wrote My New York Diary, this would be called My New New York Diary and be tinted by the melancholy of reminiscence, which would at the same time satisfy my nostalgic bulimia."
FORMAT: Hbk, 7.25 x 6.25 in. / 80 pgs / 80 b&w / DVD (NTSC & PAL). LIST PRICE: U.S. $24.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $27.5 ISBN: 9780984589203 PUBLISHER: PictureBox AVAILABLE: 11/30/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA EUR ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Julie Doucet & Michel Gondry: My New New York Diary
Published by PictureBox.
In 2008, the famed director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Green Hornet, You'll Like This Film Because You're In It) wrote to legendary cartoonist Julie Doucet (of My New York Diary fame) to propose that they make a film together. Little did Gondry and Doucet know that the process itself would be the film, and they'd soon be starring in a "reality" comic and film of their own devising. They settled on a process that involved inserting the "real" Julie into a landscape of her own drawings. After meeting and filming with Gondry in Brooklyn, Doucet returned to her native Montreal and created dozens of drawings for the scenery, while Gondry, in New York, worked on editing the footage itself. Over time, these two elements were combined, and the result is a magical, funny and touching 20-minute film. My New New York Diary contains all of Doucet's drawings for the film, as well as the DVD containing the film itself. Both the film and Doucet's graphic novella are being released only in this deluxe, hardcover volume from PictureBox, which does full justice to the richness and warmth of Doucet and Gondry's collaboration.
