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TRAILER – COUNTERFEIT CONSPIRACY – XXXX MAGAZINE
“COUNTERFEIT CONSPIRACY” is a 15 minute documentary exposé focusing on the controversy surrounding the sale of counterfeit luxury goods and the “links” to funding terrorism and other underground criminal activities. Directed by Indira Cesarine, edited by Randy Wells. Premiering on the XXXX MAGAZINE site.
NEW YORK JUNE 2009
MICHAEL DAKS TALKS ABOUT HIS CREATIVE INSPIRATION FOR HIS TARA DANCING SERIES PREMIERING IN MULTIMEDIA FORMAT IN XXXX MAGAZINE’S LAUNCH ISSUE …. WITH MUSIC BY THE DOKTEURS
I was in NYC on 9/11, going to Coloredge to drop some film that morning. I came out of the subway on 21st street just after the first plane had hit. Everyone was staring up at the Tower, but no-one knew what was going on. A few minutes later I saw the plane hit the second Tower. It was a pretty surreal experience, and really frightening. A bit like being an extra on War of the Worlds, but nobody's bothered giving you the script so you don't know if you are going to live or die. A short time later I was walking down 5th Avenue to Washington Square Park when the first of the Towers crumbled to nothing. Eventually, I made it back to Brooklyn, across the Williamsburg Bridge, which was awash in lost and abandoned shoes, like an extreme Guy Bourdin shoot. The second Tower had collapsed by then and most people were covered in a layer of Ash, and some with blood. I spent the rest of the week sitting on my roof in Greenpoint watching the smoldering embers. The photographs of Brooklyn were taken around that time. I went down to New Mexico in the Summer of 2003 to look for a house with some land for a retreat from New York. America had just invaded Iraq. I had heard about the White Sands Missile Museum, and the images of Missiles facing out over the desert sands was a pretty apt reflection of my thoughts on American Imperialism at that time.
The music for the multi-media series is called 'REQUIEM and was written by my
friend Brett Hammond while with his band THE DOKTEURS. I had collaborated with Brett on the photography and design for MARY LEE,
the debut album of his previous band 'Sunshine Club' - a great bluesy
Rock album which is still high on my playlist. Requiem is such a
haunting song, especially with the vocals, although we have used the
instrumental version here. It seemed like a natural fit for the imagery as Brett had just
emailed the song to me and I was playing it continuously while
retouching the photographs. He is currently gigging around NYC with his new band TOO MANY ZEBRAS,
and I am sure, working on a lot of other 'side' projects. Checkout his
music on the film KNIFEPOINT now showing at the Woodstock film festival.
I met TARA STILES, my muse in the series, in New York about 10 years ago when she was still a
teenager - A ballet dancer from Chicago looking to break intomodelling. Since shooting the original
series Tara Stiles career has taken off ...She is now an international Yoga star through her YOUTUBE
videos, and has just appeared in the latest American Apparel campaign for their Yoga Line.
She also has made appearances on 'Saturday Night live'and MTV's FEAR,
She was the original muse for my book of nudes JUST GOOD FRIENDS
(photographs of my friend's naked). Lights, camera, TARA, bottle of
scotch = Perfect day!
Michael Daks 2009
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