Patti Smith was in Toronto Sept. 10 for a private screening of Dream of Life, photographer and director Steven Sebring’s beautiful documentary about the 61-year-old poet-turned-punk-prophet. Sebring started filming Smith shortly after he first photographed her in 1996, when she released the album Dream of Life after spending 16 years out of the public eye. The documentary, narrated by Smith, was shot over a 12-year period and includes archival footage and material from Smith’s personal collection. The process began shortly after Smith had experienced a string of personal losses — her husband, former MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith had died, as had her close friend, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and her brother Todd — yet the film’s tone is expansive and uplifting. Before an intimate performance on the top floor of the Gardiner Museum, Smith sat down with EYE WEEKLY.

You reference the bob dylan documentary don’t look back during the film. Are there other rock documentaries you like?
I think Don’t Look Back is the ultimate one. That’s the time I grew up in. Like everyone else, I liked The Beatles’ movies. I’m from a different era. I like Spinal Tap — there’s the great rock documentary. It’s the great rock ’n’ roll movie. But I like fiction, so I’m not generally one for documentaries. I’m just as happy as watching a detective movie or Jane Eyre. I don’t watch so-called “rockumentary” things. I don’t like to see the dark side of the people I romanticized on VH1 or something. I like people for the work they do, whether it’s Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix or Bob Dylan or Radiohead or Michael Stipe. I’m not the kind of person who gravitates toward trying to discover people’s secrets.

What made you decide to do this project?
When Steven began the movie, he wanted to make a portrait. He didn’t know about my history, which I liked, and he had no agenda. He was just discovering what I’m like. And that’s why I agreed to do such a movie… I don’t have drug stories or alcohol stories or anything exotic to excite people….

You’ve had a lot of deaths, though.
I’ve had mostly loss. So I didn’t want to make a movie that was centred on loss. Of course, it has to be built on loss. But if we were going to do something, I wanted it to be positive, life affirming. A lot of people’s favourite segment is the one with my mom and dad, and my mom and dad have passed away since Steven shot the film. They never even saw the film, but to me, they’re full of light [onscreen]. You don’t think of them as people who are dead, they are very much alive in the film, so I think that the film — that Steven — has given us a very positive documentary.

You seem very comfortable in the film.
It’s because we didn’t have any plan. He just wanted to shoot film. He told me if I didn’t want to do anything with it, he’d give it to me as home movies. He shot it himself with one camera. After a long time we became so close, we’re like siblings. I trusted him and I said: stitch it together. See what you can do and I’ll help you. And that’s pretty much what we did.

So the process was collaborative?
It was long and he had an excellent editor. Because it wasn’t planned to be a movie — it was 12 years of filming that he made into a movie. I think he did a really good job.

There are not many portraits like this of women in rock.…
As a woman, what’s important to me is my children. I’m a widow and I wanted my husband to be remembered. I mean, I’m not the classic cookie-baking mom, but I love my kids. I wanted the film to be all-encompassing: raising children, writing poetry, travelling, working, being socially active, being a good citizen. They’re all important.

Watch: Dream of Life trailer