Hockney, The Queen and the Royal Peculiar(2018)

Sulle tracce di Maria Lai(it)

The film reconstructs with care and tactile and optical sensuality the path and legacy of a unique figure of woman and artist: from the turn of the sixties with the "Looms", the "Sewn Canvas", the "Breads", the "Scriptures", the collective action carried out with the citizens of Ulassai in 1981 ("Tying to the mountain"), which anticipates relational art, one of the main artistic currents of the late twentieth century, by a decade. The repertoire materials and landscapes integrate the chorus of testimonies from friends, collaborators, artists, and critics with the same mysterious serenity of the artist's voice.

Waiting for Hockney(en)

A young working class Baltimore man spends 10 years on a single portrait, believing it is his means to fame and fortune. But he also believes that only one man can lead him there---the famous artist David Hockney. What happens when you finally meet the god of your own making?

A Time for Making(en)

Nine artisans on secluded Gabriola Island reveal the differences between mass manufactured and authentic locally handmade through intimate portraits of their work and lifestyle.

Placebo: Alt.Russia(en)

As the band Placebo approach their 20th Anniversary they were given a unique opportunity to play ten cities throughout Russia. In a time when Russia was at the forefront of the world’s current affairs, little was actually reported outside Russia about the internal culture of the country. Fronted by Placebo’s Stefan Olsdal, the film explores the alternative cultures that are present within Russia’s major cities. As the tour travelled through the country the band went out and met various artists, architects, animators and musicians, finding out about the alternative creative culture and celebrating all they have to offer. From Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea, Placebo: Alt.Russia takes you on the band’s journey through Russia, meeting great characters on the way, investigating the alternative culture in Russia, and taking in the raw emotions of Placebo’s powerful concerts.

Forever(en)

Père-Lachaise - one of the world's most famous and beautiful cemeteries - is the final resting-place of a gifted group of artists from all eras and corners of the world. Some - such as Piaf, Proust, Jim Morrison and Chopin - are worshiped to this day. Others have fallen into oblivion, or are visited occasionally by a single admirer. In Forever we see the mysterious, calming and consoling beauty of this unique cemetery through the eyes of people of flesh and blood. Many come for their 'own' beloved: husbands, wives, family and friends. Others Honor 'their' artist by leaving behind a personal message or a flower. While admirers share with us the importance of art and beauty in their lives, the graveyard gradually reveals itself as a source of inspiration for the living. Death offers little consolation except for the passing of time, the melancholia of a moss-covered tomb, and the beauty and power of a piece of music, a poem or a painting Written by Cobos

John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger(en)

Filmed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Tate Britain, London, the exhibition reveals Sargent’s power to express distinctive personalities, power dynamics and gender identities during this fascinating period of cultural reinvention. Alongside 50 paintings by Sargent sit stunning items of clothing and accessories worn by his subjects, drawing the audience into the artist’s studio. Sargent’s sitters were often wealthy, their clothes costly, but what happens when you turn yourself over to the hands of a great artist? The manufacture of public identity is as controversial and contested today as it was at the turn of the 20th century, but somehow Sargent’s work transcends the social noise and captures an alluring truth with each brush stroke.

Back To Africa(en)

Jesus Christ Saviour(de)

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.’

The Living Stone(en)

The Living Stone is a 1958 Canadian short documentary film directed by John Feeney about Inuit art. It shows the inspiration behind Inuit sculpture. The Inuit approach to the work is to release the image the artist sees imprisoned in the rough stone. The film centres on an old legend about the carving of the image of a sea spirit to bring food to a hungry camp. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak(en)

This documentary shows how an Inuit artist's drawings are transferred to stone, printed and sold. Kenojuak Ashevak became the first woman involved with the printmaking co-operative in Cape Dorset. This film was nominated for the 1963 Documentary Short Subject Oscar.

Edward Hopper(en)

Hopper, one of America’s most admired artists, captured the shared realities of American life with poignancy and enigmatic beauty. His iconic images, set in unexceptional places, reveal the poetry of quiet, private moments. Hopper’s influences, which vary from French impressionism to the gangster films of the 1930s, are explored through archival photos, footage of locations he painted in New York and along the New England coast, and interviews with artists Eric Fischl and Red Grooms.

David Hockney: Joiner Photographs(en)

David Hockney is unquestionably one of the most passionate and versatile experimental artists on the contemporary scene. In the late 1970s the British artist developed a pioneering concept which also changed his perspective on painting – his “joiners”. In this film, the artist himself talks about this photographic approach, a kind of Cubism-inspired photocollage which explores the space-time continuum. Hockney allows the viewer to share in the creative “joiner” process and leads us step by step into the universe of his artistic creativity.

Portrait of Imogen(en)

Photographer Imogen Cunningham presents her own work in this Academy Award-nominated documentary.

The Visit and a Secret Garden(es)

Little is known about the figure of Isabel Santaló, an old artist, today fallen into oblivion. But occasionally some visitors come to her flat. Through them and the voice of Antonio López (Dream of Light, Víctor Erice), the only painter who remembers her, we shape a multifaceted film. This is a cinematic portrait, which well into the film takes a surprising turn. A film that reflects on memory and oblivion, art and the creative process; posing the question of what it means to be an artist and a woman.

Meredith Monk(en)

Profile of choreographer, composer and performer Meredith Monk, recorded on location in her home base, New York City. Monk discusses some ideas underlying her work: her attraction to the eloquence of the human voice, and the direct communication made possible by the abstract qualities of music; her emphasis on the poetic rather than the political; her belief in the power of images; her willingness to take risks. She describes her experiences in working in different media, such as audio recordings, films, and videos, and the challenge of weaving them together.

The Life and Death of Frida Kahlo(en)

A 1975 short documentary that focuses on the events that molded Frida Kahlo's life.

Romantik – Kunst wider das Chaos(de)

The Studio of Sofía Fernández Díaz(en)

México-raised and currently Chicago-based artist Sofía Fernández Díaz details her process of adorning found objects and handmade textiles with beads, dyes, and melted wax to imbue them with new meaning, and to give them patitas.

Inventata da un dio distratto(it)

This film is dedicated to Maria Lai, an artist born in 1919 in Ulassai, Sardinia. Surrounded and inspired by the ogliastra countryside, the cyclopic guardian of plots and landslides, Maria Lai uses inert materials like stone, concrete, asphalt, metal and wood to work old and new legends into librettos of individual works, installations and interventions, thus becoming part of the landscape that calls to her. In making this film the authors have confided in the artist’s role as a spokeperson, and it is as if one is listening to the voice of a wild olive tree - both millenary and contemporary - a voice that knows what to say (and can say whatever it wants) from beyond the boundaries of reality, history, nature and art. As that tree, the artist - confident of her roots - with a sound sense of rhythm and scansion, multiplies big and small stories, just as she did with the bread and fish in Santa Barbara di Ulassai along the way to the country church.

Biafra(en)

An unnamed graffiti artist produces a new piece in the biting cold of Minneapolis. Despite the illegality of his medium and the harshness of his environment, the film captures why the artist chooses to create on his own terms.