Portland Documentary & eXperimental Film Festival

WILD COMBINATION is director Matt Wolf’s visually absorbing portrait of the seminal avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist, and disco producer Arthur Russell. Before his untimely death from AIDS in 1992, Arthur prolifically created music that spanned both pop and the transcendent possibilities of abstract art.

The rules and codes of established genre didn’t apply to Arthur. With childlike innocence and fun, Arthur ambitiously explored a wild variety of possibilities, from minimalist symphonies to disco music. He believed these diverse musical projects would reach a wider audience. But the devastation of AIDS cut Arthur’s career short. When Arthur died, he was puzzlingly lost in obscurity.

But now fifteen years after Arthur’s death, his music has developed a significant, international following as a new generation has discovered Arthur Russell.

With a visually experimental form, WILD COMBINATION brings to life Arthur’s descriptively rich and emotionally direct music. The film explores the compelling cultural history of New York in the 1970s and ‘80s, the experience of being gay and confronting AIDS, and the cathartic process of making art and pursuing popular success at a time when those goals were mutually attainable. Intimate interviews with Arthur’s family and collaborators, rare archival materials, and an engrossing visual language bring his music to life and give long overdue attention to this ground-breaking artist.

Matt Wolf:
25-year-old filmmaker Matt Wolf has made a number of short films, including an experimental biography of artist and AIDS activist David Wojanorwicz, that have screened in numerous international film festivals, art galleries, museums, and universities worldwide. Currently, Matt is producing documentaries for The New York Times. Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, which premiered at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, is his first feature film.