Paula Rego: Telling Tales(2009)

Ghost Dance(en)

Through the experiences of two women in Paris and London, Ghost Dance offers an analysis of the complexity of our conceptions of ghosts, memory and the past. The film focuses on the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, who observes, 'I think cinema, when it's not boring, is the art of letting ghosts come back.' He also says that 'memory is the past that has never had the form of the present.'

I, Claude Monet(en)

From award-winning director Phil Grabsky comes this fresh new look at arguably the world’s favourite artist – through his own words. Using letters and other private writings I, Claude Monet reveals new insight into the man who not only painted the picture that gave birth to impressionism but who was perhaps the most influential and successful painter of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite this, and perhaps because of it, Monet’s life is a gripping tale about a man who, behind his sun-dazzled canvases, suffered from feelings of depression, loneliness, even suicide. Then, as his art developed and his love of gardening led to the glories of his garden at Giverney, his humour, insight and love of life is revealed. Shot on location in Paris, London, Normandy and Venice I, Claude Monet is a cinematic immersion into some of the most loved and iconic scenes in Western Art.

Your Day Is My Night(zh)

Immigrant residents of a “shift-bed” apartment in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown share their stories of personal and political upheaval. As the bed transforms into a stage, the film reveals the collective history of the Chinese in the United States through conversations, autobiographical monologues, and theatrical movement pieces. Shot in the kitchens, bedrooms, wedding halls, cafés, and mahjong parlors of Chinatown, this provocative hybrid documentary addresses issues of privacy, intimacy, and urban life.

25 Anos de Censurados(en)

Documentary on the 25 years of the extinct Portuguese Punk Rock band Censurados.

Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears(en)

Two Bangladeshi girls born and raised in London have weddings arranged for them against their will by their family. Shahanara, the rebel of the family, banished from the family in her teens for being "too Western", has to swap her pink hot pants for a sari as she goes off to the airport to meet her new Bangladeshi husband. Her sister Hushnara is the opposite of Shahanara; a devout Muslim who agrees to marry so she doesn't upset her parents.

Guernica: El último exiliado(es)

Nova the Film(en)

An inspiring 75min DIY documentary film on new art and the young artists behind it. It was all filmed on the heat of live action of the first NOVA Contemporary Culture Festival, July and August 2010 in São Paulo, Brazil.

China's Van Goghs(zh)

An intimate portrait of a peasant-turned oil painter transitioning from making copies of iconic Western paintings to creating his own authentic works of art.

Basquiat, Une Vie(en)

From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Soho to Greenwich, Union Square to Wall Street... Join us and the friends, collaborators and gallery owners who supported Jean-Michel Basquiat throughout his life. The first ever recognized graffiti artist, who saw international success as a neo-expressionist painter in the 80s, Basquiat is a true contemporary hero who died at the peak of his career.

The Renaissance Prince(nb)

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?

The Giacometti affair(fr)

In 2009, while sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s ratings beat records in the art market, an affair erupted in Germany revealing the existence of more than a thousand Giacometti counterfeits, hidden in a warehouse in Mainz. For 10 years, two German merchants and a Dutch forger managed to sell hundreds of fake sculptures, some of which were even exhibited in museums. A German investigator, a private detective in Dutch art, a French sculpture expert and the forger himself, take turns telling us this incredible story as we discover the fascinating and tortured life of Alberto Giacometti.

Geniale Frauen - Malerinnen von der Renaissance bis zum Klassizismus(de)

Visite à Oscar Dominguez(en)

This is the legendary meeting between a young filmmaker and one of the masters of surrealism: the spanish painter Óscar Domínguez, born in La Laguna, Tenerife, in 1906, died in Paris in 1957. In the "Visite," the artist -admirer of Picasso, rebellious disciple of Breton- is presented in solitude, far from the tumult of the exhibitions and parisian circles. An austere approach, almost “povera”, with no audio, nor flashy camera movements, but rarely attractive. Why Resnais could not finish his movie? Hope one of our experts help us to solve the mystery.

Revolution: New Art for a New World(en)

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.

Letters to a Dictatorship(pt)

A hundred letters written by Portuguese women during the Salazar dictatorship were found by chance in a second-hand bookshop. By confronting today the women who wrote these letters with the ghosts of the past, and revealing important archive material, Letters to a Dictatorship takes us on an in-depth journey through the obscurantism that dominated Portugal for more than 50 years.

Jack the Ripper : The Case Reopened(en)

Emilia Fox and Britain’s top criminologist, Professor David Wilson, cast new light on the Jack the Ripper case. Together, they examine the Ripper’s modus operandi using modern technology to recreate the murder sites to help understand the extraordinary risks the Ripper took to kill his victims. Using the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES)—a bespoke computer system used by the police to help detect patterns in criminal activity—and evidence uncovered within the investigation, results strongly indicate another woman was, in fact, the first Ripper victim.

Fall 2(en)

Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a canal in Amsterdam.

I'm Too Sad to Tell You(en)

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.

Pablo Picasso: The Legacy of a Genius(en)

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.

Thomas Hart Benton(en)

Thomas Hart Benton's paintings were energetic and uncompromising. Today his works are in museums, but Benton hung them in saloons for ordinary people to appreciate.