Synopsis
Anton Corbijn Inside Out is an intimate and revealing portrait of an influential artist and the result of almost four years of filming by director Klaartje Quirijns. Her personal tie with Anton gives her unparalleled access to both the man and his work.
Anton Corbijn is one of the most versatile and authoritative visual artists in popular culture of the past thirty years. He has had a vast influence on what defines fame and artistry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Initially as a photographer, he has played a large part in building the image of artists such as Joy Division, U2 and Depeche Mode. He also contributed to the redefinition of the iconography of artists like The Rolling Stones and Metallica for a new generation. Early on he made the crossover to film by making music videos. The last decade he has also gone on to make feature films. His first film, Control, about the life and death of Joy Division's Ian Curtis
was honoured in Cannes and during the BAFTAs. 2010 saw the release of his second feature film The American with George Clooney in the leading role.
A fascinating paradox is discernible in Corbijn's character. For someone who from a distance, leads a glamorous life surrounded by celebrities, he is surprisingly uninterested in fame and fortune. He is modest and above all very level-headed. He lives for his work and maybe even suffers for it. This corresponds with his strict protestant upbringing in the small village of Strijen on the southern-most island of Zuid Holland where his father was a minister. Corbijn grew up in a house with a cemetery for a back garden, both consciously and subconsciously these elements from his youth seem to be reflected in his work. Corbijn is uncompromising in his work and seems to live according to the values that he was raised with. He also works constantly and has given up the opportunity of having a family of his own, for his career. Inside Out examines Anton's youth and current life and in doing so searches for the source and meaning of the themes in his life and work: sacrifice, fame,
religion and death. The film shows what drives him and what his ideas are on the modern icons that he has created. For the first time Corbijn has granted full access to his life and contacts. Klaartje Quirijns reveals the artist that has spent much time hidden from the public eye and uncovers how he sees himself. She exposes his character and work method through critical and comprehensible interviews with, among others, Bono, Herbert Grönemeyer and
Metallica, but above all the man himself. This has resulted in an intimate and revealing portrait of a very important artist of postmodern pop culture.
