Tristan Reveur (2008)
mockumentary short
21 min, HD, color
Honored with “Best of Diploma” at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts.
This project introduces an identity, which was created in cooperation between strangers on the internet. Tristan Reveur is their common creation. His artworks started to multiply on the internet by unknown people.
Making this mockumentary was just like making a documentary. I researched the facts made up by other people, than I summarized, arranged and illustrated them to show. The video uses classic documentary style to convince the audience about its authenticity. The movie has an additional feature during the exhibition, which works only in Hungraian. The part which are not subtitled contains spoiling information: well known theorist, J.A. Tillmann comment on fake identity in the age of online existence. The audience who just passes the work, and not being listening to the headphones would do not know about the twist. Therefore the project can be interpreted in two ways.
After I first had heard about Tristan Reveur, I started to follow his forming on the internet. Although I was interested in the process, I wanted to show the result. This projects introduces the ideal artist imagined by the audience. I wanted to take part of this global creation of Tristan Reveur as well. The film, uploaded to the internet, can also contribute to the growing identity of Reveur. I also created an installation complementing the film, with faked historical object and data as well as a painting by Reveur. They can have quite ambivalent meanings, regarding whether the audience knows the truth or not.
This was my thesis work at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts and I found that it was maybe the last opportunity to experiment and study within the safe framework of a school. It is important to know every aspect of motion picture and through making a mockumentary I got to know the grammar of documentaries.
Made with the help of Myles Painter, Katherine Gray, Katrin Hellermann, Justin Mounet, John Feeham, Roger Evens, Anna Meller and Gill Addison.