* Birgit Munsch-Klein, Editing
Belinda and I had already been editing for a month when we added new filming dates, as planned, because we needed more footage. This was not only due to HRG’s health, but as Belinda says, because his world has a different rhythm, and there was no speeding it up. It’s not too easy to edit scenes if you never know what’s going to happen next.
When we looked over the incredibly diverse material they had shot, the first thing that completely fascinated me was the way HR Giger handled his traumata. I know too well the sometimes terrifying feelings I have when I look inside myself. HRG integrated his traumas into his work. Once he said, ‘First I look at what’s inside me, then I look at what’s around me, what’s in the universe.” I think that’s tremendous.
Our greatest challenge was taking HRG’s family, which Belinda saw as an important part of his world, and weaving it together with his own stories and his copious work. We kept trying new structures, which meant new editing sequences. We shifted contents back and forth, trying to create space for an inner matrix to form. Every time we reintroduced something we’d thrown away, we knew that our experiments weren’t in vain, but rather a part of the process.
It continues to be a great journey for both of us – a journey into HR Giger’s world.
Birgit Munsch-Klein, editing