There’s never a dull moment in Inside the Bum, Frank and Tyrone Lebon’s short documentary about the making of Harmony Korine’s ultra-funny Florida romp The Beach Bum. Combining the Lebons’ signature frenetic editing with Korine’s anything-goes personality, this shapeshifting document of filmmaking is both a daring work of cinematic formalism and an insightful look at one of America’s most intriguing filmmakers.

To celebrate Tyrone’s new online project and platform DoBeDo.com—an evolving photography resource featuring films, products, gallery updates and a free membership program—we’re excited to host a sneak preview of the first episode of ‘Reely and Truly,’ a series of photographer profile films commissioned by DoBeDo Projects and screened on their new site.

Made as an accompaniment to the duo’s photography book about their time on set with Korine, Inside the Bum feels like a trembling collage; the Lebons’ layering of text, images, and videos has an explosive character to it. Edited together from over fifty hours of footage filmed on a variety of formats — 16mm cameras, GoPros, iPhones, spy cameras — the Lebons have called their film “a reflection of and on Korine’s approach to filmmaking and to life itself.” 

 

“I was honoured to be able to film on Harmony’s shoot alongside my brother. It was an experience I will never forget, not only because of the set’s genius insanity but also because it’s where I met the love of my life.” FRANK LEBON

 

“They say you should never meet your heroes but honestly we had such an amazing experience with Harmony. Both watching him direct the set and also talking to him about all sorts of things… making films, creativity generally, virgin births… Harmony is incredibly open and was very generous with us. He introduced us as artists in our own right to all the cast and crew and with his blessing we were let free to run around the set and do what we wanted.” TYRONE LEBON

The collection of candid moments featured in the film — impromptu singing and dancing, jet ski races, Matthew McConaughey howling — register as a direct result of Korine’s laissez-faire approach to directing, an attitude that has resulted in some of the most exhilarating cinematic projects in recent decades. His new multidisciplinary production company EDGLRD (pronounced “edgelord”) sees him continue to push his creative ambitions, fusing his inventive approach to storytelling with new technologies – detailed in Tyrone Lebon’s recent interview with Korine. EDGLRD’s first production AGGRO DR1FT is a hallucinatory action movie made entirely with thermal cameras, VFX and AI, starring rapper Travis Scott.

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Frank and Tyrone Lebon are both London-based artists whose work defies fixed categories. Frank Lebon combines graphic design, drawing, photography, animation, and more, in his work. His films Lead (2017) and Diddly Squat (2020), as well as his videos for musician King Krule, are wonderful examples of a morphing cinema wherein each image holds the potential for an infinitude of new ones. One of the most respected fashion photographers of his generation, Tyrone Lebon has created imagery and films for fashion houses such as Miu Miu, Bottega Veneta, Calvin Klein, and Louis Vuitton. He is the founder and creative director of Grace’s Mews Gallery, a permanent photography-focused gallery opening next year in South-East London. He also directed the short documentary Reely and Truly (2014) about the practices of different photographers around the world. 

You can find the ‘Inside the Bum’ book here, previously featured in our gallery.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer.