ArtBabble: Film

Paris to Fort Lee: French Filmmakers and the American Industry

National Gallery of Art, Washington — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 00:46:39 +0000

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A centennial screening of the 1912 film Robin Hood and rare presentation of the Maurice Tourneur film Alias Jimmy Valentine (1915) with live piano accompaniment are introduced by film historian Richard Koszarski, author of Fort Lee, the Film Town and Hollywood on the Hudson. Koszarski's presentation outlines the influence of French culture on early cinema production and investigates the history of the studios, the directors, and the stars established in Fort Lee, New Jersey, known as the "birthplace of the motion picture industry."

Laurie Simmons: Actress Meryl Streep

Art21 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:45:40 +0000

Series:

Art21:Exclusive

Institution:

Art21

Filmed in 2006 at Industria Studios, New York, photographer Laurie Simmons directs scenes for her first film, "The Music of Regret," starring Meryl Streep. A longtime friend of Simmons and married to a sculptor herself, Streep conveys the difficulties and advantages of leaving a solitary studio practice to work with dozens of crew and collaborators on a motion picture.

The Language of Less (Then and Now): Tony Conrad

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:58:04 +0000

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Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Artist Tony Conrad provides an impromptu explanation of "Yellow Movie 2/28/73." Featured in the exhibition, The Language of Less (Then and Now), Conrad candidly describes the conceptual development and artistic process behind his response to the art of film making.

American Originals Now: Jem Cohen: Curious Visions

National Gallery of Art, Washington — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:23:17 +0000

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National Gallery of Art, Washington

The new ongoing film series American Originals Now focuses on the work of internationally recognized filmmakers from the Americas, and offers visitors an opportunity to interact with and share in the artists' production methodologies and current practices. The inaugural program brought recent short works by filmmaker Jem Cohen and a screening of his award-winning 1999 documentary Instrument, made in collaboration with DC-based band Fugazi. Cohen was present for both events; during the latter of the two he was joined by Fugazi frontmen Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto.

Gabriel Byrne : Revisiting The Quiet Man, Ireland on Film

MoMA The Museum of Modern Art — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:13:53 +0000

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MoMA The Museum of Modern Art

Revisiting The Quiet Man: Ireland on Film
The Museum of Modern Art, May 20–June 3, 2011

Filmed by Professor Bright Films. Directed by Ben Coccio. Cinematography by Cal Robertson. Edited by David Shuff. Produced by MoMA
Images courtesy of Photofest
© 2011 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Martha Colburn Cuts the Boring Parts Out

Art21 — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:08:54 +0000

Series:

New York Close Up

Institution:

Art21

How does an artist develop a personal style? In this film, artist Martha Colburn traces the evolution of her work, from her first found-footage film to subsequent hand-painted and stop-motion animations. Inspired by Baltimore’s experimental filmmaking community, Colburn describes how her earliest films were assembled from audio-visual cast offs found in the city’s surplus dump. After making films without using a camera, Colburn describes how she started to shoot her own original paintings and collages.

Martha Colburn & the Musicians, LIVE!

Art21 — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:42:48 +0000

Series:

New York Close Up

Institution:

Art21

How does an artist transform a solitary practice into a communal experience? In this film, artist Martha Colburn leads a group of musicians in a series of live performances to her animated films at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The raucous energy of the musical accompaniment to Colburn’s work—itself intensely kinetic and colorful, often depicting historically-inspired scenes of aggression and violence—belies the time-consuming and meticulous process by which the artist creates her stop-motion films.

Ranu Mukherjee: Contemporary Nomads @ YBCA

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:17:02 +0000

Series:

YBCA Now

Institution:

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Artist Ranu Mukherjee builds expansive video visions of nomadic existence, based on fragments of experiences by strangers.

Smut Capital of America @ YBCA

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:14:03 +0000

Series:

YBCA Now

Institution:

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

John Waters, John Summers, Alex de Renzy's wife Kathryn Reed, and other seminal figures of the sexual counterculture discuss San Francisco's Tenderloin district and the birth of smut in America. Smut Capital of America is the title of Michael Stabile's in-progress documentary which chronicles San Francisco's reign as the center of porn production in the U.S. during the early 70s. In 1969, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S.

An-My Lê: "29 Palms"

Art21 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:07:43 +0000

Series:

Art21:Exclusive

Institution:

Art21

Exclusive Episode #136: "I just wanted to approach the idea of war in a more complicated and more challenging way" says artist An-My Lê, whose photographic series and film "29 Palms" (2003-04) explore the training exercises and desert landscape near Joshua Tree National Park as a staging ground for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.