Bill Morrison

This is the first extensive interview with the “Orpheus of nitrate,” Bill Morrison, whose forte is finding interesting imagery, often imagery with obvious film decay, in celluloid film archives, then fashioning this material into works of his own. Morrison has explored American archives—most often, the paper print collection in the Library of Congress and the Moving Image Research Collections housed at the University of South Carolina, which archive the outtakes of the newsreels Fox Movietone produced for theatrical exhibition between 1928 and 1963; and recently, a collection of early silent films unearthed in the permafrost in Dawson City, Canada. Morrison is particularly drawn to moments when obvious film decay seems related to the content or implications of the imagery that remains uncorrupted. Morrison’s breakthrough feature, Decasia (2002), like nearly all his subsequent works, was produced in collaboration with accomplished composer/musicians from around the world. Morrison’s films are to be understood as image-music experiences.