Doris
“Boris” Berman is the subject of
Fotoaktion! a documentary film that traces her evolution from
teen-age Austrian pop star to avant-garde photographer and San Francisco
art noise diva. Fotoaktion is the term Berman used to describe the
interactive events she first staged as an art student at San Francisco
City College in 1981. Her fotoaktion idea has its roots in the
Happenings of the 1960s and even more specifically in the movement
called Vienna Aktionism that occurred during the same time. The film
follows Berman and Perry Vasquez, who produced and directed the film, as
they prepare to collaborate on a fotoaktion at the Museum of
Contemporary Art San Diego. Vasquez first met Berman in 1981 while he
was producing
Nihl Magazine at Stanford University where he published her photos
and assisted her at her early fotoaktions. Along the way, the film also
takes us on a mini-tour of the San Francisco 80s underground art world
through a series interviews and archival videotape. In one segment we
see Berman directing a fotoaktion performance. The performance, complete
with primitive video editing effects, captures the experimental
iconoclasm and spontaneous spirit of the times. Artist/musician Walter
Alter, Berman’s partner in crime on a variety of projects throughout the
80s, also appears in the film. Crackling with creative energy and verve,
Fotoaktion! is a candid and revealing portrait of Doris Berman as a
young punk rock performance artist and the world around her.
Fotoaktion! was directed and
produced by Perry Vasquez, co-directed and art directed by Andi Brandenburg
and edited by Akira Chan.
Fotoaktion! 
Doris
“Boris” Berman is the subject of
Fotoaktion! a documentary film that traces her evolution from
teen-age Austrian pop star to avant-garde photographer and San Francisco
art noise diva. Fotoaktion is the term Berman used to describe the
interactive events she first staged as an art student at San Francisco
City College in 1981. Her fotoaktion idea has its roots in the
Happenings of the 1960s and even more specifically in the movement
called Vienna Aktionism that occurred during the same time. The film
follows Berman and Perry Vasquez, who produced and directed the film, as
they prepare to collaborate on a fotoaktion at the Museum of
Contemporary Art San Diego. Vasquez first met Berman in 1981 while he
was producing
Nihl Magazine at Stanford University where he published her photos
and assisted her at her early fotoaktions. Along the way, the film also
takes us on a mini-tour of the San Francisco 80s underground art world
through a series interviews and archival videotape. In one segment we
see Berman directing a fotoaktion performance. The performance, complete
with primitive video editing effects, captures the experimental
iconoclasm and spontaneous spirit of the times. Artist/musician Walter
Alter, Berman’s partner in crime on a variety of projects throughout the
80s, also appears in the film. Crackling with creative energy and verve,
Fotoaktion! is a candid and revealing portrait of Doris Berman as a
young punk rock performance artist and the world around her.