Life is an opinion, Fire a fact— un film de Karen Yasinsky /

Life is an Opinion, Fire a Fact" est construit à partir de fragments filmiques pré-existants, séquencés d'une manière non-narrative. La première image montre une femme qui vient de se tuer en sautant dans le vide (Une femme douce, Robert Bresson). La séquence qui suit est une scène de dessin animé représentant une auto-immolation montée à l'envers : le personnage se place en haut d’une statue de Marc-Aurèle dont les mots “life is an opinion” sont tirés. Le film se termine en un lieu où, à travers le son ou l’image, sont suggérées différentes définitions de la sérénité.

Life is an Opinion, Fire a Fact is structured with narrative fragments, sequenced without transitions that would place them together in time or story. The point was to go from acts of despair towards some suggestion of serenity. What goes on when we watch horrific events and specifically the horror of suicide that we only watch on tv or film? The act just shows the result but not the ideas and feelings that lead to it. The first image shows a woman who just jumped to her death (from A Gentle Woman by Robert Bresson). The animated scene of self immolation is shot in reverse so narrative buildup of tension is denied. The character places himself atop a statue of Marcus Aurelius from whom the quote, Life is an Opinion, comes. We end in a place, through sound or image, that suggest diverse definitions of serenity (an opinion).