Brian Eno – “Lighthouse #429”
A new documentary about Brian Eno called Eno debuted at Sundance earlier this year, where it was revealed that the film — which was directed by Gary Hustwit — will use generative AI technology to change the movie for every audience that screens it.
“I usually can’t stand docu-bios of artists because they are so hagiographic,” Eno told Variety in explaining why he and the director turned to AI in developing the film. “The use of randomness to pattern the layout of the film seemed likely to override any hagiographic impulses.”
AI in this case means that the documentary was created in what Hustwit described as a “modular” fashion, allowing most time periods and topics that the film covers to be presented in a different order; each screening will shuffle the order of events in the film in a slightly different way.
“I was basically getting bored of showing films, because they’re the same every time you show them,” Hustwit explained to Variety. “My background is, before films, in the music industry. I just was dreaming of a way for film to be more performative, where even if you’re playing the same song every night in a band, you can change it so it’s always a little bit different.”
The Eno documentary, naturally, contains a whole lot of Eno’s music from throughout his career, and he’ll release a soundtrack accompaniment to the film later this year. It includes three previously unreleased tracks, including “Lighthouse #429,” which is out today. Eno shared this on his creative process:
Picasso once said: ‘Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working’. I don’t wait to be inspired: I start working and (if I’m lucky) I become ‘inspired’. And if I’m not lucky I keep at it until my luck changes. I’m obstinate and confident that I will get somewhere in the end if I keep at it.
Eno will have its UK premiere at the Barbican in London on April 20. The Eno soundtrack will be released in the UK the day before. Details for more screenings have not been revealed, though the Eno soundtrack will be released in North America on June 7.
Here’s “Lighthouse #429” and a brief trailer:
You can pre-order the Eno documentary here.