Fred Frith & friends in "a ninety minute celluloid improvisation," written and directed by Nicolas Humbert & Werner Penzel with music composed by Fred Frith, covering the years 1987-1990

"In "Step Across the Border" two forms of artistic expression, improvised music and cinema direct, are interrelated. In both forms it is the moment that counts, the intuitive sense for what is happening in a space. Music and film come into existence out of an intense perception of the moment, not from the transformation of a preordained plan. In improvisation the plan is revealed only at the end. One finds it. The other connection concerns the work method: the film team as band. Much as musicians communicate via the music, our work, too, was realized within a very small and flexible team of equals. What mattered was exchange. And movement. Sometimes we started filming in the middle of the night, responding to a new idea that had arisen only minutes before. We had a fundamental feeling for what we wanted to do, for what kind of film this should be. And we followed that feeling. It was all very instinctive...Do you know a white rabbit who, playing trumpet, circles the world on his flying carpet? May be you have met him somewhere already, in Zurich, London, Leipzig, Tokyo or New York. That at least was about the route we took and what resulted from it was the black-and-white wink of an eye at the symphonic connection between subways, storms and electric guitars. An American critic wrote: 'Fred Frith's music makes your jaw drop, your feet dance, and your neighbours move.'Also starring: several telephones, puddles, scarecrows, saxophones, orchestrated cities and motors."-Winter & Winter

Awards:

European Film Award 1990
Hessischer Filmpreis 1990
Bundesfilmpreis 1991
Nomination Grand Prix International "Images&Documents" Figuera da Foz 1990
Uppsala Filmkaja - Best Documentary Film: Uppsala 1990
Innovative Cinema Prize 1991
Golden Gate Award - Special Jury Award: San Francisco 1991
Qualitätsprämie EDI: Switzerland 1990
Prädikat Besonders Wertvoll
Goldene Filmspule 1991: Kommunales Kino Weingarten
Selected under the 100 most important movies in film-history by the critics of Cahiers du Cinema , Paris 2000