Laurie Anderson on Bringing the Stage to the Screen

Three decades after her concert film Home of the Brave, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson returned to the big screen with her 2015 sophomore feature, Heart of a Dog. In this visually intricate, sonically haunting nonfiction work, Anderson’s grief over the death of her cherished rat terrier, Lolabelle, leads into stirring ruminations on love, loss, and the role of surveillance in contemporary life, all captured in the filmmaker’s thought-provoking narration. For a program on our edition, which we just released on Blu-ray and DVD this week, Anderson sat down with coproducer Jake Perlin for a conversation about the film’s place in the context of her career. Below, watch Anderson discuss how her concept for Heart of a Dog emerged from the multifaceted approach she brings to her all-encompassing stage performances.