Sean McCord (left) with Stephen Winter
In response to Shirley Clarke’s 1967 Portrait of Jason, filmmaker Stephen Winter offers an imaginative look into the making of the documentary. Based on Clarke’s original 12-hour film shoot in her Chelsea Hotel apartment, Winter digs into the complicated power dynamics of the relationship between the documentarian and Jason, a gay Black man. A hybrid of drama, fantasy, and documentary, the film exposes the heightened emotions and power struggles that arose as a part of Shirley Clarke (Sarah Schulman) and Jason Holliday’s (Jack Waters) artistic process.
The 2018 Virginia Film Festival runs November 1-4, 2018.