"Don't overthink. Don't try to imagine what the viewer, listener, or reader understands. Keep it pure. Don't dismiss the irrational. If you understand your own work entirely it is probably not very good - and always woo the muse of the odd!"

M.A. Littler: Creative Force Blues

M.A. Littler, a German/South African writer and filmmaker has written various books of poetry, films and many short films. M.A. Littler was raised in the old world and the new world, at airports, on junkyards, in motels and restaurants. He found employment as a bouncer, a barkeeper, a cab driver, a translator, a screenwriter, a journalist – even as an ambulance driver. All employment was short-lived. In 1999, Littler founded Slowboat Films - a haven for truly independent cinema. In his films and writing he has displayed an unhidden affinity for outsiders of all sorts – radical intellectuals, outlaw historians, marginalized artists, obscure musicians and holy con men. M.A. Littler is one of the last remaining mavericks of independent film - dedicated to personal cinema made outside of the stronghold of the television & studio system. Over the past 20 years, M.A. Littler's films have gathered an international cult following for their uncompromising aesthetic and portrayal of marginalized art & music, radical politics and maverick minds. In his films and writing, he has displayed an unhidden affinity for outsiders of all sorts - radical intellectuals, outlaw historians, marginalized artists, obscure musicians, and holy con men.                                             Photo: Marc Littler © Slowboat Films

When asked about this, Littler says: "I'm interested in people who dance to their own beat, prototypes who fix their radio with a blow torch." The very last album from the Legendary Swiss Band the Dead Brothers titled “Death is Forever” (Voodoo Rhythm, October 2023)... Death is everywhere. Death is forever, that’s why we should embrace death just like life itself. Alain Croubalian (1964-2021) passed away shortly after the recording of this album. With his music he takes us on his last journey. For many years he has recorded and performed incomparable songs with his fellow musicians. We as a label were extremely lucky to be able to work with such great musicians and to gain their trust. Together with them we have been able to release some of the best Swiss recordings since 1999. Regarding the recordings, Alain passed away before mixing the songs, which he created in close collaboration with his poet partner Marc Littler.

Interview by Michael Limnios                   Photos: Marc Littler © Slowboat Films

How has the Poetry and Music influenced your views of the world?

When I started out the ingredients that made up my films and writing were worldly or "of the world". Observations and experiences were often directly translated into thought, sound, image, or text. Over the years that has changed significantly. I'm dabbling more in matters of the spirit nowadays. I suspect there are greater forces at work there.

Where does your creative drive come from?

The creative force is a mystery. It derives from a place that we cannot consciously access, call it the muse, call it inspiration, call it the spirits. Some of us can open ourselves up to it...like a radio antenna receiving frequencies. In short: we are merely the vessel or the transmitter. One thing I know: it is not advisable to ignore the spirits, it is however advisable to obey the spirits and follow wherever they lead. I suspect a higher order beyond the strictly rational. Some of my better writing was written very fast and came to me in a complete form. I don't fully understand it. What I do know is that effort has very little to do with it.

"I don't fear the future: The future will do what the future always does -- be unpredictable whether we consent or not. Only fools worry about the uncontrollable. The doomsday prophet in me suspects that Mother Earth will get rid of us in another swift die-off and while we're waiting it seems advisable to be kind and create pure things." (Photo: Marc Littler © Slowboat Films)

What characterize your poetry and artistic philosophy? How did the idea of SLOWBOAT FILMS come about?

Well, on the surface I am a practitioner and advocator of the DIY spirit but on a deeper level I am most concerned with the question: Am I being truthful? Is the work sincere? Also, if I write something that someone else could have written I don't need to share it with the world because it already exists. Nowadays I am most intrigued by the work I don't fully understand myself. My film Armenia has those kinds of moments and Last Words and my new film Beyond The White Rains is full of them.

What moment changed your life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

The moment an idea first invades my mind tends to change my life each time. Six months later I might be on a mountain in the Caucasus or listening to the voice of a dead poet overlooking Lake Konocti in California...all because of an idea. Very mysterious how that works. The retrospectives of my films in Porto Alegre, Berlin, and Frankfurt felt good. I felt vindicated. But pride is a treacherous motherfucker. We are told pride comes before the fall and I had to find that out the hard way. In retrospect, the low points were the most instructive. Showing a film in an empty movie theater was hugely influential. And moving away from narrative forms has been very liberating. I don't trust narratives any longer.

What do you miss most nowadays from the art/music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

Jazz. Not having seen Mingus and Coltrane bothers me tremendously... and the holy naivety of early avant-garde art and music. I would have liked to have been around back then. I don't fear the future: The future will do what the future always does -- be unpredictable whether we consent or not. Only fools worry about the uncontrollable. The doomsday prophet in me suspects that Mother Earth will get rid of us in another swift die-off and while we're waiting it seems advisable to be kind and create pure things.

"The creative force is a mystery. It derives from a place that we cannot consciously access, call it the muse, call it inspiration, call it the spirits. Some of us can open ourselves up to it...like a radio antenna receiving frequencies. In short: we are merely the vessel or the transmitter. One thing I know: it is not advisable to ignore the spirits, it is however advisable to obey the spirits and follow wherever they lead." (Photo: Marc Littler & Alain Croubalian © Slowboat Films)

What touched you from the music of Alain Croubalian & The Dead Brothers? What do you hope people continue to take away from your poems/lyrics?

I first heard the Dead Brothers in an empty club in Frankfurt roundabout 2003 while I was preparing to emigrate to the US with my wife. I was hooked. That one song changed the trajectory of my biography. I stayed in Europe and it led to a handful of films, hundreds of songs, and a very profound kinship with Alain. I consider my later work to be the important work. I think I am following in the tradition of artists exploring what I like to call "the eternal things". I am clearly not a post-modernist. If my films and writing can help the viewer or reader to go on their own journey, I have done my work. That's all you can do. Like the Quakers say: do the work and step aside.

What are the lines that connect: Poetry, Films, and Music? What is the impact of Art on the socio-cultural implications?

I can only speak for myself. I never sit down to have ideas. Ideas enter my consciousness and I feel obligated to write them down. Some of those ideas morph into poems, some into films, and some into nothing. I don't choose the medium I work in. The idea chooses the medium. I merely obey orders and execute ideas to the best of my ability. I'm not much of a theorist. I just do the work and let others worry about socio-cultural implications.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the artistic paths?

Don't overthink. Don't try to imagine what the viewer, listener, or reader understands. Keep it pure. Don't dismiss the irrational. If you understand your own work entirely it is probably not very good - and always woo the muse of the odd!

Let’s take a trip with a Time Machine, so where and why would you really want to go for a whole day?

One day on the Pequod with Ahab, Queequeg, and Ishmael. They faced the eternal things.

M.A. Littler - Home

(Photo: Marc Littler © Slowboat Films)