Anti-Prophet, 1999, video, 85 min

. Sarah Tripp presents Anti-Prophet, a documentary film based on interviews. It explores the thoughts of people about what they believe, and at the same time explores religion, faith and beliefs. The film opens with a series of discussions where several persons are asked to give names of persons who, they believe, could tell something interesting. And when she meets these people she asks them for more names and so on. So the artist embarks on a pilgrimage from one interview to another through various social groups and communities, asking or suggesting to people to answer the central question of the film: "What do you believe in?". When asking the question, she does not have in mind a specific area to which this question would refer; she is more interested in what awakens belief and trust in people. More than concrete information, she prefers the narration of individuals about their own voyage through different beliefs. The content of the question is thus rather non-specific, which of course does not mean that the answers are also non-specific. Neither secular nor religious answers are expected. But the answers for the most part are inspired by religion. Her interviews offer a broad palette of beliefs ranging from Catholicism, Buddhism, humanism, fate, doubt, reincarnation and belief in nature, but none of them relate to politics or ethics. The answers which are of a secular nature mostly concern personal freedom, but do not give examples of how to achieve it. Of course religious topics are more interesting than others, because they raise many questions which are difficult to answer. This metaphorical voyage mostly takes part in the apartments, houses or business premises of the interviewees. There is no sense of narrative in the film, because the answers are short, and flow in sequences. The faces of the interviewed persons are interesting to watch just before they give an answer. We can discern the degree of difficulty or pleasure with which they will answer the question. And as we follow the artist through the film, the expression of her face suggests her bright disposition or slight fatigue due to the gravity of the answers.