Q&A with Pedro Costa following the July 23 screening

The films of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, whose body of co-directed work spanned four decades and whose masterworks include The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, Moses and Aaron, and Class Relations, are among Costa’s deepest and widest influences. In 2000, Straub and Huillet decided to create a new version of their film Sicilia! with the art students at Le Fresnoy in France. Filming the couple in a stripped-down editing room, Costa focuses on uncovering their actual working relationship: Straub, easily distracted and prone to lengthy philosophical asides to justify his ideas about the film; Huillet, more focused and practical, challenging him to make up his mind and move forward. There are moments of great humor, as well as great tenderness, in this revealing study of two of modern cinema’s most intrepid pioneers.