Sex & Drugs & Vbs

To keep you updated on the wonderful new material coming out on VBS.TV, here are Q&As with Richard Kern and Andy Capper, who are respectively responsible for two of next month’s gems on the channel, Shot by Kern Europe and Swansea Love Story.

RICHARD KERN ON SHOT BY KERN EUROPE

Vice: What was your favourite shoot on the trip?
Richard Kern: That’s a really hard question to answer. I’d say the top shoot for me was Sydney in Milan, but it would be easier for me to tell you my least favourite shoot. All but one or two of the shoots were excellent. I hope the other girls won’t take this wrong, because every shoot was unique and all the models, with the exception of one, were excellent.

Why was that?
I shot Sydney for hours and hours. I did every possible kind of shoot with her. I got photos and video that I used for six different projects. I could say the same for Cecile in Paris, Mary and Julie in Paris, Lucy in London and Rica in Antwerp. One of the deciding factors for Sydney in Milan was the lunch we had that day—it was the best of the trip.

Of all the girls in Europe, which do you think are the most attractive?
Another impossible question. But if pressed, again I’d go with the women in Paris first, then Milan.

Do you prefer European girls to American?
If I think back over the women I’ve shot over the years, I’d have to say that I’ve had better results with Euro girls. The one thing I should point out is that it seems that most of the Euro girls are not from the countries that I have shot them in. Sydney, for example, is not from Milan. She’s from Belgium. I really, really like French women. I don’t know why.

Are there any memorable moments of the trip for you?
I got stuck in one of those tiny elevators for two hours in Paris with the French publisher of Vice. We were going up to an apartment to shoot. On another shoot, the model’s father called while we were shooting. She sort of freaked out about what she was doing and wouldn’t do anything I wanted after that. At the end of several of the shoots, I would photograph the model smoking pot. One girl got so stoned she started throwing up, but I didn’t get that on film.

Are you going to come back?
I’m ready to go right now. Hook me up!



ANDY CAPPER ON SWANSEA LOVE STORY

Vice: What made you want to go to Swansea to spend weeks with heroin addicts?
Andy Capper: I loved doing the Blackpool film (Blackpool: Las Vegas of the North) with Leo Leigh and wanted to do a follow-up. A journalist called Adam Patterson said he was working with a drugs agency in Wales and asked if we would we like to get involved in what he was doing, which was taking photos of how bad things are in Wales and what the agencies are doing to help people. We wanted to find out why there’d been an almost 180 percent rise in registered heroin users.

Did you develop a rapport with any of the people you filmed?
We spent the most time with Amy and Cornelius and Clint. Their moods were changeable, depending on what they’d taken that day. But yeah, we got along.

Were there any points where you thought you were in trouble or out of your depth?
Yeah, at Cornelius’ dad’s house. When we got there it was total chaos. I didn’t really think I was out of my depth, more like, “Anything could happen here”. There were needles lying around everywhere. It was actually as scary as Liberia in there [Andy worked on the Vice Guide to Liberia], except the threat of something bad happening was a lot more easily quantifiable than it was in Liberia. In Swansea it was like, “Maybe somebody will mug me with an AIDS needle”, but in Liberia you don’t want to start thinking about what could happen.

Have you heard from any of the people in the film recently?
Amy and Cornelius are still doing the same thing, but Clint called me the other day and said he was clean again and is now engaged.

The soundtrack to the film is amazing, what is it?
We recorded the Dunvant Male Choir singing a lullaby called “Si Hei Lwli Mabi”, which translated means “Hush My Little Baby”. We also looped the intro to the Spiritualized track “Rated X” and Sian Alice Group gave us music too.