Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars

Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars is a 1987 documentary by Howard Brookner about Robert Wilsons ambitious attempt to stage an epic, twelvehour, multinational opera for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The film examines Wilsons unique theatrical style during The Civil Wars A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down, which involves the continual creation of evocative stage sets, owing to a unique juxtaposition of movement, sound, text and image. Known for his precise, painterly images Wilsons work derives more from visual art than the orthodox literary traditions of theatre. As a result, Wilson often challenges actors to perform in a boldly minimalist style, as well as collaborating with nonactors, such as young autistic poet Christopher Knowles in Einstein on the Beach.Like Howard Brookners earlier film Burroughs The Movie, Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars features unique access to its subject, as well as an impressive host of interviewees, including Wilsons longterm composer Philip Glass, Heiner Mller, Lucinda Childs, Sheryl Sutton, Ingrid Andree, Bndicte Pesle, Gavin Bryars, Michel Guy, Isabel Eberstadt and Christopher Knowles. Howard Brookner also narrates part of the film himself, which he shot on 16mm in Minneapolis, Rome, Rotterdam, Cologne, Tokyo and Marseille. ........

Source: Wikipedia