Michael Almereyda’s documentary follows acclaimed artist William Eggleston, whose hallucinatory, Faulknerian images have been called “the beginning of modern color photography” (John Szarkowski, MoMA). Known as “one of the most significant figures in contemporary photography” (Charles Hagen, The New York Times), it is rare for an artist of such stature to allow himself to be shown as unguardedly as Eggleston does in Almereyda’s intimate portrait. The filmmaker tracks the photographer on trips to Kentucky, Los Angeles and New York, but gives particular attention to downtime in Memphis, Eggleston’s home base. The film shows a deep connection between Eggleston’s enigmatic personality and his groundbreaking work, and also reveals his parallel commitments as a musician, draftsman and videographer.

“(An) after-hours view of the artist feels raw and disturbingly intimate. It’s a glimpse of a profound unease that may explain, a little, the nagging strangeness of his art: its restlessness, its eerie stillness, the hung-over brightness of its colors… William Eggleston in the Real World… casts more light than you expect, and deeper shadows.” —Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times

Directed by Michael Almereyda.
2005, USA • 87 minutes • Digital Projection