Cindy Sherman: An Interview (1981)

Overview

Artist Cindy Sherman first came to widespread attention in the early 1980s with evocative photographs that simulated film stills. Posing as "B" movie characters, she cast herself as director, producer and protagonist, masquerading as a startling range of female identities. The stylized scenarios of these photographs were the inspiration for the staged talk-show interview format adopted here by MICA-TV, in which Carole Ann Klonarides plays the role of a quasi-talk show host/art dealer handling Sherman's photographs. As they talk, Sherman metamorphoses into the different characters that she assumes for her photos. The cinematic backgrounds are created — as in her photographs — with rear-screen slide projection, a device that conveys the visual and conceptual themes of Sherman's early work. Muzak film scores accompany the transitions.