Documentary on collage artist Michael Anderson to debut at the Anthology Film Archives

Text by Daniel Efram

"No Compromise When It's Time to Die," a documentary about NYC-based collage artist Michael Anderson (1968-2020) "during the unexpected last year of his life," is set to make its North American premiere at Anthology Film Archives on June 27. 

Longtime East Village resident and documentarian Fred Riedel, who produced and directed the film, will be on hand for a Q&A. Afterward, friends and fans of Anderson's can attend an afterparty at the Bowery Electric featuring a set by Rubin Kodheli, who performed the soundtrack to the film. 

"Michael Anderson and I connected creatively when he reached out to me over Instagram asking if he could rip up a poster I'd made for my film about Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo in order to turn it into an original collage portrait of Ranaldo," said Riedel. "I visited Michael during the process of converting the shards of many copies of the poster into an amazing artwork, which we then both agreed should be the basis for a new poster of the film. 

"From that grew an interest in his large, gregarious personality and work," he continued. "It didn't take too long to see a film in that. Though I'm profoundly saddened that he wasn't able to see the edited work, I feel very fortunate to have captured some kind of essence of him and his creative process and to be able to share that with others." 

Riedel has a long history of producing and directing video and TV programs with Jem Cohen, Jeff Preiss, Keith Griffiths, Simon Field, Lee Ranaldo, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Maron and Charles Busch, among others. 

The film plays at 7:30 p.m. on June 27. You can buy tickets here. Anthology Film Archives is at Second Avenue and Second Street.