—Susan Sontag
Welcome to the Regarding Susan Sontag website! Regarding Susan Sontag is a feature-length documentary in development on the late essayist, novelist, director, and activist. We are working to create a documentary of the highest quality, and hope this website will increase the visibility of the project and keep interested parties informed of our progress. Regarding Susan Sontag is a sponsored project of the Center for Independent Documentary, an award-winning nonprofit based in Massachusetts.
More than any other intellectual of her day, Sontag was watched, viewed, photographed, and stared at. These metaphors are central to the film, as its subject was photogenic, articulate, passionate, and frequently interviewed. She was gazed at and she looked back, very carefully, particularly at photographs and at language and metaphor; the project allows the viewer to watch Sontag as she examines the world.
Regarding Susan Sontag reflects the boldness of Sontag’s work and the cultural importance of her thought, through extraordinary archival footage and still photographs, riveting interviews with Sontag’s friends and colleagues, and a rich tapestry of artifacts from popular culture. These are combined with creatively culled and manipulated images to create a nuanced, sophisticated portrait of a great thinker. Many Americans know Sontag’s name; the film shows us who she was, and why her thoughts about topics such as illness, photography, war, terrorism, and torture remain vitally important in the new world of the 21st century.
