What Does Magic Mean to You?! S/he is Still Her/e

Pioneering electronic musician/avant garde artist/spiritual explorer/gender revolutionary/cult leader(?) Genesis P. Orridge has been featured in numerous films and videos, but never the full story…until now. In this “authorized” but extremely raw and personal documentary, award-winning director David Charles Rodrigues (GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH) documents the final year of P-Orridge’s existence as they grapple with mortality in the final years of their life. Featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gyson, Timothy Leary, Alice Genesse (PTV), David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), Nepalese monks, African Witch doctors and a special cameo by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, plus never before seen archival treasures, performances from COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Very few artists lived their art, but Genesis died three times for it.

Interview w/ Director David Charles Rodrigues by Julie Krejčí.

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JK: This is my introduction to Genesis and their work and I must say, I’m in awe! How were you first introduced to Genesis and their work? What made you decide to make this “authorized” documentary? (and what do you mean by “authorized”?)

DCR: I grew up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, which is like the Chicago of Brazil, the third major city. I was lucky enough to have older friends who introduced me to goth-industrial music and then I went hunting for the origins of it and found Throbbing Gristle and consequently Psychic TV. I have to say my favorite era is the PTV acid house era and that drew me closer to Genesis. But it was only after I discovered Gen’s Pandrogyne artwork that I got fully hooked into their world. I really subscribe to Gen’s sometimes extreme but always artful ways of expressing unconditional love and the power of being your true self, which in her view that means that your true self can change all the time.

A few months after the NY TIMES wrote about Gen’s terminal leukemia — and months before I met her. Genesis visited me in a dream and within that dream she held my hands and said “darling, I am transferring all of my knowledge to you right now.” I woke up in disarray and for some reason fought against turning this dream into reality. But then I ended up meeting Gen and after 12 hours of inspired conversations we made a spiritual contract to make this film.

JK: Did you learn anything from or about Genesis throughout the making of this documentary that particularly surprised you?

DCR: The greatest and happiest surprise was how amazing of a father Genesis was. I remember I was in a cab with her going to a shoot location, when suddenly her eldest daughter Carese calls and Gen transformed into this incredible father figure — grueling her on doing her taxes right, being a loving grandad to Carese’s daughter on the call. So it was extremely important to explore and show that side of Gen through the film, especially while filming with his daughters in the original home where they spent their formative years.

JK: Your film includes some amazing archival content and works by Genesis and their many collaborators. How did you make your selections? Were there any pieces, archival materials, and/or interviews that were particularly difficult to cut?

DCR: I was very fortunate to work closely with Genesse (Gen’s younger daughter) and Ryan Martin who run the estate and know everything about Gen’s archive. They helped guide me through endless materials. And then, of course, our cut-up master/editor Dillon Petrillo really helped shape that archive in the film in such a brilliant way.

It was a very challenging project to edit down to a 98 minute film and truth be told everything left on the cutting room floor came with a lot of pain and sorrow. :)

JK: Genesis is an interdisciplinary artist in every sense — a shapeshifter of sorts — why so many mediums? What is the message?

DCR: I think Gen’s ultimate art was the shapeshifting itself. Genesis was a voracious curious creative soul and once they dominated a medium, they would move onto the next, but also once they realized that the medium had run its course and reached the maximum people it could reach, they just found another one that would reach more people. Going from underground performance art to experimental music all the way to writing “GodStar” a pop-song which became a hit in England at the time. Not to say the TOPY cult that still exists till this day and took the pop-culture strategies of cults and turned it into the ultimate fan club.

JK: Genesis was quite the mentor and friend, and to some a cult-like figure… what’s one piece of wisdom that sticks with you after making this film?

DCR: That’s a great question. For me it’s a reminder, that human beings, have a powerful trait we rarely tap into, which is the ability to shape-shift and be a different person everyday. The idea that to be your true self you should embrace all of your selves. Because people are, and exist in many dimensions. Movies and video games and even social media tries to sell us the idea of the multi-verse — when in fact WE ARE the multiverse, we just don’t go there often, because we are conditioned to think we can only be a certain way.

JK: Can you comment on the process of collaboration and exchange taking place here? How did you and Genesis meet and what was it like to work together in this way?

DCR: I filmed with Genesis for a little under one year. We started on her 69th Birthday and I last filmed her a few days before her 70th Birthday. And then she past away a few weeks later. We filmed together a total of 6 times. The last three shoots I decided to switch off the camera and only use audio due to Gen’s frail conditions, but that really unlocked a lot of depth and vulnerability in our conversations.

Hat&Beard is about to publish my final interview with Genesis (only a couple weeks before she passed) completely uncut and unfiltered. It’s a really special piece and I hope it can inspire a lot of people.

JK: What are you hoping that audiences will take away from your film?

DCR: Don’t judge a book by its cover. And find the parts in the “book of Genesis’s life” that can help expand your own consciousness and improve your own life and the one’s you love the most.

JK: And lastly, what does magic mean to YOU?

DCR: Magic to me is our ability to expand ourselves beyond the ability of one person. Magic to me is collaboration, its the superhuman things we are capable of doing when we do it in community and for the community. It’s also our relationship with nature and constantly reminding ourselves that the true teachings come from it.

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S/he is Still Her/e screens on Saturday October 12 at 5:00 PM at North Park Theatre.