De grote tovenaar

In 1981, Susan Sontag called Frans Zwartjes the most important experimental filmmaker of his time. Not only because of his films, but also because of his music and drawings, Zwartjes has a fine reputation as an autonomous artist. An artist that likes to share his vision with young and upcoming artists. As was the case with filmmaker Ruud Monster, who got to know Zwartjes in 1971 at the Free Academy in The Hague as a teacher who prefers not to teach, but to make students share his viewpoints. In his film, Monster shows Zwartjes' outlook on the world around him, which always reveals the maker within and the humour with which he comments on what he sees. Still today, Zwartjes tutors people for one morning at the Free Academy. Monster also shows Zwartjes at home, composing in the studio that contains his entire past: a film projector, a film camera and a digital camera on a tripod; everything ready and stand-by: 'If something happens, I want to get started right away'.