In the Beginning Was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead

Peter Whitehead (1937, Liverpool) is a legendary figure from the counterculture of the late 1960s. He was on the spot with his 16mm camera and sound equipment to film The Rolling Stones, Allan Ginsberg, Pink Floyd, the student rebellions at Columbia University, Robert Kennedy’s election tour and many other events from that time.
Now we have this major ambitious documentary about Whitehead that looks at the man and his work from the inside, one could say. In the Beginning... takes a little more than three hours to deal with various aspects of his life. And there are quite a few of them - ‘versatile’ is a euphemism in this case. Whitehead was film maker, novelist, painter, ceramic artist. He fought to save a falcon species threatened with extinction and was even active for a while as a speculator on the stock exchange.
Interviews that have been made over four decades with Whitehead, including the most recent especially for this film, are combined with an extensive and exquisite series of fragments from his work. Whitehead reveals himself to be a flamboyant and born storyteller. Someone who had affairs with Natalie Delon, Nico and Niki de Saint-Phalle. Someone who remained a passionate seeker of the truth throughout his life. Someone who turned his back on film when he realised that he was even filming when he left his camera at home. In the Beginning... forms a dignified monument to this fascinating figure. (EH)