Val

Val Kilmer has been filming himself for forty years. Behind the scenes, auditions, home video, his children, his brother's death, his attempt at Broadway. The documentary is built from thousands of hours of that archive. After treatment for throat cancer Kilmer lost his voice; he cannot narrate his own film, and his son Jack reads the text. The film is not interested in a career. It is interested in a man who has lost his voice still wanting to tell: Kilmer speaks through a device at his throat, is barely audible, and will not put the camera down. Its hardest passages are the scenes shot while he signs autographs at fan conventions. The form rests on archive: his own tapes, covert footage from film sets and Kilmer today. The set recordings from the Batman, Top Gun and The Doors years had never been seen. Ting Poo and Leo Scott directed. It screened at Cannes in 2021 and was released on Amazon. The section on the making of The Island of Dr. Moreau is the film's most open passage, with Kilmer recounting from his own side how his reputation as a difficult actor was built. Who it is for: viewers who like portraits of actors and archival documentary. Who it is not for: anyone expecting impartiality. All the material comes from Kilmer's own camera and the narrative is built entirely through his view.