The Network is a stunning and unique portrayal of contemporary American leadership and innovation. Representing government, business, science, technology, and culture, Lincoln Schatz’ eighty-nine subjects include father of the Internet Vint Cerf, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Emmy Award-winning journalist Cokie Roberts, Republican strategist Karl Rove, and liberal heavyweight Vernon Jordan. Schatz gives voice to those searching for solutions to intractable national and international problems (National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Harold Varmus), to influential Congressmen and women from both sides of the aisle (Nancy Pelosi, Eric Cantor) and to those directly representing the strategy of the 44th President of the United States (Press Secretary Jay Carney).
Filming each portrait via multiple cameras during a forty-five minute conversation, Schatz captures his sitters as they discuss their legacies, accomplishments, and aspirations. Working with this footage, Schatz uses custom software that constantly recombines the video based on topic – the heart of what he refers to as “the generative portrait” process – and enables him to create a dynamic, continuously evolving representation of the similarities and differences between the sitters, free of editorial input.