Grace Jones has been commanding attention for decades as a singer, actress and icon. Now filmmaker Sophie Fiennes crafts a documentary as unconventional as its subject in “Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami.” The film immerses us into Grace’s life on the road – from her childhood home in Jamaica to the recording studio of “Hurricane” to stops in London, Paris and New York. Interwoven with these scenes is a concert staged for the film with set designed by Eiko Ishioka.
Pure Nonfiction host Thom Powers interviews Sophie about her path to making the film. She discusses growing up in an artistic family and being inspired by films such as Frederick Wiseman’s “Titicut Follies,” Charles Atlas’ “Hail the New Puritan” and Victor Kossakovsky’s “Belovy.”
She discusses why Grace wanted to do the film, why it took several years to complete and what happened the night of its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
On Instagram: @bloodlightandbami @thompowers1 @purenonfiction
This interview was recorded at SVA’s MFA Social Documentary program.
Pure Nonfiction is distributed by the TIFF podcast network.