Klaus Kinski has perhaps the most ferocious reputation of all screen actors: his volatility was documented to electrifying effect in Werner Herzog’s 1999 portrait My Best Fiend. This documentary provides further fascinating insight into the talent and the tantrums of the great man. Beset by hecklers, Kinski tries to deliver an epic monologue about the life of Christ (with whom he perhaps identifies a little too closely). The performance becomes a stand-off, as Kinski fights for control of the crowd and alters the words to bait his tormentors. Indispensable for Kinski fans, and a riveting introduction for newcomers, this is a unique document, which Variety called ‘a time capsule of societal ideals and personal demons.’
Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a canal in Amsterdam.
This short film is part of a mixed media artwork of the same name, which also included postcards of Ader crying, sent to friends of his, with the title of the work as a caption. The film was initially ten minutes long, and included Ader rubbing his eyes to produce the tears, but was cut down to three and a half minutes. This shorter version captures Ader at his most anguished. His face is framed closely. There is no introduction or conclusion, no reason given and no relief from the anguish that is presented.
Ich sehe dich und mich - Porträtmalerinnen
Drawing on the collections of major Russian institutions, contributions from contemporary artists, curators and performers and personal testimony from the descendants of those involved, the film brings the artists of the Russian Avant-Garde to life. It tells the stories of artists like Chagall, Kandinsky and Malevich - pioneers who flourished in response to the challenge of building a new art for a new world, only to be broken by implacable authority after 15 short years and silenced by Stalin's Socialist Realism.
At the end of his life, gravely ill, François Truffaut took refuge with his ex-wife Madeleine Morgenstern. She tried to keep him occupied during his long agony. The filmmaker confided in his friend Claude de Givray, with the intention of writing his autobiography. Too weakened, he abandoned the project. The film reveals part of this final story.
An assessment of the 20th century's best known artist and his vast achievements through the insights and speculations of over a dozen participants. Filmed on the 100th anniversary of Picasso's birth at MoMA, Musée Picasso, Walker Art Center, Museu Picasso Barcelona. Featuring Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rosenblum, Clement Greenberg, Roland Penrose and others.
William Heimdal is one of the most talented young painters in Norway, and wants to master the old classical techniques, but feels he is misunderstood by society, and should have lived in a different time. Is he complex, or is everyone else?
In 1969, Akbar Padamsee, one of the pioneers of Modern Indian painting, made a visionary 16mm film called Events in a Cloud Chamber. This was one of the only Indian experimental films ever made. The print is now lost and no copies exist. Over 40 years later, filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia worked with Padamsee, now 89 years old, to remake the film.
Photographer Imogen Cunningham presents her own work in this Academy Award-nominated documentary.
A documentary on the life of Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers, The Hulk, The X-Men and the New Gods, among other classic comic book superheroes.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Matisse's birth and of the exhibition at the Center Pompidou which will be dedicated to him in 2020, this art documentary brings us back to life of the journeys made by Matisse that influenced his art. And particularly his last trip to Polynesia in 1930 which will bring him to the threshold of contemporary art with the invention of his gouache cut-out papers.
A painter, a naked woman, and a camera. In this triple constellation we explore the power of the gaze and the roles it imposes on us. An artist's studio turns into the setting for questions about how we look at and perceive women. The naked skin of the model becomes the canvas for an audiovisual exploration of the ways in which seeing and being seen anchors us in our body. And how this body shapes our experience of the world and our role in it.
The short documentary ‘Complexos‘ features intimate and emotional views on how residents of favelas in Rio de Janeiro use media and arts to raise their voices and act for justice, dignity and respect. ‘Complexos’ is part of a collaborative process between the Finland-based Anti-Racism Media activism Alliance (ARMA Alliance) and the favela-based audiovisual collective Cafuné na Laje.
'Ink and Gold: An Artist's Journey to Olympic Glory' is a short form documentary that follows the journey of New Zealand artist and athlete, Zakea Page, winning the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games medal design competition and fulfilling a lifelong dream to perform at the opening ceremonies. The film was shot over the course of one week in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games and weaved together with self-taped footage of Zakea's younger years as an athlete and artist. Accompanied with interviews of his family, 'Ink and Gold' highlights the connection between art and sport in bringing together peoples of diverse cultures and backgrounds to bridge barriers of language and foster connections, mutual understanding, and respect for one another.
Rough Cut, the debut feature from London-based artist Jamie Shovlin, explores the re-making of an exploitation film that never was. At its dark heart is Hiker Meat, an archetypal 1970s slasher movie imagined by Shovlin, complete with hitchhiking heroine, charismatic commune leader and a group of teens who disappear one by one. This tantalising film-within-a-film serves to both deconstruct and pay affectionate homage to the often-maligned exploitation style. Having created a full screenplay, score and cut-and-paste prototype for Hiker Meat, Shovlin filmed key sections and a full trailer in an intense shoot in the Lake District in summer 2013. Rough Cut contrasts these re-made sequences with on-set footage and insights into the development of Hiker Meat’s script, soundtrack and design, to create a compelling mash-up of self-referencing processes, behind-the-scenes viewpoints and time-honoured slasher tropes.
An intimate journey through the formative years of David Lynch's life. From his idyllic upbringing in small town America to the dark streets of Philadelphia, we follow Lynch as he traces the events that have helped to shape one of cinema's most enigmatic directors.
Examines the mesmerising construction of clear crystal glass pieces created by the craftsmen of Waterford. The process from the intense heat of the furnace to glass blowing, shaping, cutting, honing, filling and finishing is all depicted in this celebration of the art of creation of Waterford Glass. Academy Award Nominee: Best Live Action Short - 1976.
In this brand new episode, master illusionist and showman Derren Brown plans to pull off the perfect crime. He’s bet renowned art collector Ivan Massow that he can steal a painting from right under his nose. In true Derren style, he will tell Ivan exactly which painting he plans to target – a work by Turner-nominated British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman no less – as well as what time the theft will happen. He’ll even give him a photograph of the person that’s going to take it.
At the Vienna Art Academy in 1994, an unidentified person painted over 27 works by Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer. Rainer had become world-famous for his abstract art and, in particular, for his over-layering of photographs and overpainting of his own and other artists’ works. But who painted over the “overpainter”? Speculation rages: Did he attack his works himself? A year later, an unsigned letter surfaces claiming responsibility for the act directed against Rainer – and modern art in general – and accusing the artist of being complicit with “destructive modernism.” At the same time, Austria is shaken by a series of mail bombs by the Bajuwarian Liberation Army, in response to the supposed threat to Austria’s “German identity.” Are there connections between the overpainting event and the mail bombs? Or is this all just a game? A dream? Or perhaps a hallucination?