ILOVERUSS

Russell Kingston is barely making ends meet in the shade of Hollywood’s starlight. He, too, is an actor, but making the jump from assistant roles with no spoken lines to the sweet stardom is not easy. Although a few lines of dialogue and a little more substantial paycheck would not hurt, Russ enjoys performing and considers his roles learning opportunities. In the documentary film, he says he has acted in 178 films in the span of 14 months.

Tova Mozard is a Swedish artist, filmmaker and photographer, as well as Russ’ friend. According to Tova, the documentary project started from a shared desire to hang out and experiment with a camera, with Tova behind it and Russ in front. As such, the film’s material spans a time period of some twenty years.

ILOVERUSS is about Russ’ life, but the line between author and subject becomes blurred. Tova does not remain an objective observer; instead, the film is built around the interaction between the two people. There are ordinary interview scenes where Russ describes his life, but there are also times where the two artists let loose, along with a more experimental touch. Sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction – is Russ putting on an act for the camera, or is it the real him we are seeing?

In addition to Russ, the main character of the film is Hollywood. That iconic place is familiar to all of us from the silver screen, through both its glamour and its darkness. ILOVERUSS is an homage to Hollywood and Hollywood’s significance in film history. It takes its place in the canon of films depicting Hollywood, while also putting the spotlight on someone who makes others’ stardom possible yet remains in the shadows themselves.

Katariina Rönnqvist (translated by Nooa Karlo)

Tova Mozard will attend the film screenings on 4 Feb and 5 Feb.