British surrealist Leonora Carrington was a key part of the surrealist movement during its heyday in Paris and yet, until recently, remained a virtual unknown in the country of her birth. This film explores her dramatic evolution from British debutante to artist in exile, living out her days in Mexico City, and takes us on a journey into her darkly strange and cinematic world.
A monument handcrafted by Konstantin Bessmertny is exhibited at Venice Biennale 2007.
With his seemingly naïve, symbolic paintings, Joan Miró formed a new artistic language in the 20th century. Brought up in Barcelona, the painter, graphic artist and sculptor was drawn to Paris and, under the influence of the surrealists, developed his unique style and poetic imagery that unite Catalan folk art and fantastic elements. Robin Lough followed the 85-year-old Miró to theatre rehearsals and went to see him in his studio on Majorca. There he met with an amazingly creative and disciplined artist, whose visionary pictures paved the way for abstract expressionism.
In this film, Will Young travels to Magritte's native Belgium to find out more about the man whose trademark was a bowler hat and whose apparently conventional exterior concealed the mind of a subversive rebel. Will uncovers a childhood marked by tragedy, a marriage that lasted from Magritte's adolescence until his death in 1967, and a stunning artistic legacy which endures to this day.
Parallel stories connected through an intimacy with death. The living and the dead communicate through visions, memories and reality.
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
M.C. Escher is among the most intriguing of artists. In 1956 he challenged the laws of perspective with his graphic Print Gallery and his uncompleted master-piece quickly became the most puzzling enigma of modern art. Fifty years later, can mathematician Hendrik Lenstra complete it? Should he?
Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.
An experimental documentary about dead turtles, crab swarms, decaying tennis courts, and microscopic histories. The filmmakers shot their explorations into the abandoned golf courses, factories, and resorts of Sarasota, Florida and spoke to local youths who are using them for new and strange purposes. What would the Surrealists and Situationists think of a suburban, subtropical tourist town? What goes on in a storage unit in the dead of night? What is the afterlife of a decommissioned train car? What ghosts haunt a ruined hotel? What is the life cycle of a city? When will waters wash it all away?
Anne Bean, John McKeon, Stuart Brisley, Rita Donagh, Jamie Reid and Jimmy Boyle are interviewed about their artistic practice and the legacy of Surrealism on their work.
Lion vs The Little People is a documentary comedy about the greatest internet hoax of all time. In 2005, a hoax news post masquerading as a bonafide BBC news website article, announced a fight had taken place between a lion and an army of 42 fighting dwarfs. The hoax spread like wild fire across the internet before eventually being accepted to be fake. While the article’s veracity has been diminished, the myth lives on in this outrageous deadpan comedy.
A documentary about surrealist artist Salvador Dali, narrated by Orson Welles.
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We all carry hell with us. The filmmaker’s hell exists on a canvas, which he studied carefully in childhood. The mystical picture has many names: Circus, Hell, Game at the Arena. Decades later he finds the painting again. The film unravels as loose ponderings about the plight of being an artist and touches upon the filmmaker’s personal demons. Can he see the painting in a new light?
A documentary celebrating Lee Miller, a model-turned-photographer-turned-war reporter who defied anyone who tried to pin her down, put her on a pedestal, or pigeonhole her in any way.
Three people become connected through mysterious circumstances involving electronic devices which spontaneously appeared in their world.
An in-depth look at artist/filmmaker David Lynch's movies, paintings, drawings, photographs, and various other works of art. Features interview footage and commentary by family members, friends, fans, and people he's worked with, as well as behind-the-scenes antics of some of his most critically praised efforts.
Rare glimpse into the fascinating mind of one of cinema's greatest directors. Footage was gathered over a two year period and documents David Lynch's many creative interests as well as his passion for filmmaking. It’s “abstract trip” which reveals new aspects of the personality and the cinematographic vision of one of the exceptional authors of contemporary cinema. Personal portrait of David Lynch and his creative universe.
Documentary about the Belgian surrealist artist who died in 1967.
The work of painter Joan Miró is more alive than ever 35 years after his death. Grandson Joan Punyet travels the world and paints the picture of his grandfather-seeker, for whom freedom in creation was a necessity. Miró was very attached to his homeland and this is regularly reflected in his often experimental concepts. Fellow artists talk about their collaboration with Miró and rare images show us the artist at work, right up to his last days.