Step Across the Border

The documentary is built around the English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. The film draws no straight portrait; it uses an avant garde construction and follows the musician playing, travelling and meeting others. The account offers no explanation, follows no biographical order and does not use interviews as a means of conveying information. The black and white image and the sound move independently of each other, which makes the film resemble its own subject: improvisation. Passages filmed in different cities and with different musicians are set side by side. The film does not attempt to recount the musician’s life and stays at length with the moment of playing. The ninety minute documentary by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel was completed in 1990.