Eva Wister-Zaccari | Covert_activity.proj
Eva Wister-Zaccari ©
Written by Trip Avis
Music documentaries have a lot in common with life. They are the sum of their heady, immediate parts: the tense, giddy rush of energy, the intimate dynamics, and the excited wave of bodies seeking to commune deeply with the music that brought them together. Like the beguiling nature of human existence, music bridges gaps between all walks of life. We are all present at this concert, whether we like it or not, and it is up to us to forge warmth and comradery over division and judgment with our fellow concertgoers. Eva Wister-Zaccari, a documentary filmmaker and multi-hyphenate artist based in Bushwick, Brooklyn, captures the vibrant dance of life in her ongoing documentary series Covert Activity Project, also stylized as Covert_activity.proj. Inspired by Nelson Sullivan, a fellow New York-based videographer who gained a dedicated cult following through documenting the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s, Wister-Zaccari muses on her project’s place in the future: “[...] My main motivation is posterity. I want to capture the now so we can revisit it later, almost like a nostalgia for the future. I shoot and edit with the intention of revisiting the work 40 years down the line.”
Eva Wister-Zaccari ©
Brooklyn is a wellspring of musical talent, traversing genres and ever-fluctuating with the tides of cultural change. Relocating to the borough in 2021, Wister-Zaccari quickly befriended local musicians and began documenting them as they navigated the indie music scene. She has forged close friendships and working relationships through her dutiful concert videography. Wister-Zaccari has perfected the ability to disappear into the crowd while still deftly capturing the energy of the performances; she always allows the music and experience to take center stage: “The focus is really on the music. While editing the episodes, I try to leave the performances in their entirety [...] My documentation style is verite, meaning I take more of a fly-on-the-wall approach. There are no interviews, narrations, or agendas. I do not provoke action, but my subjects may interact with the camera or me if they wish. Sometimes, I even give my camera away to a grasping hand. A fresh perspective is always welcome.”
Eva Wister-Zaccari ©
While the music is the heartbeat of Wister-Zaccari’s documentary series, the musicians themselves breathe life into the project. Their personalities, artistic styles, and interactions form the narrative, giving the series its imperfect yet relatable human touch. Wister-Zaccari reflects, “[...] when I stumbled onto the scene, I knew that this was something I and my subjects would want to revisit when the grey hairs have taken over. The overflow of talent (and unearned confidence), parties, drama, and rawness all transmit an overwhelming feeling of passionate youth from stage to screen.” There is an inherent playfulness and vivacity in the stills from the Covert_activity.proj; they depict Wister-Zaccari’s cohorts as muses to the art form of living life uncompromisingly. The mise-en-scène brims with an aching nostalgia, painting Brooklyn as a dusty urban dreamscape where anything can happen. Cracked iPhone screens play song recordings spurred from 2 a.m. bursts of inspiration. Disembodied hands roll joints over sepia pictures and cluttered desks. Glittering handbags spill makeup onto tobacco-dusted carpets. The devil—and the angels—are in the details.
Eva Wister-Zaccari ©
Wister-Zaccari imbues her project with a loving dedication that sees past the indie sleaze mythos and observes the beating heart beneath the music—the laughter, howls, sweat, blood, and tears that are the lifeblood behind the guitar frets and drum kits.
