Art History

Art History

A LONG HARD STREAK
A LONG HARD STREAK
This is a story of the struggle for redemption through art, and a man's powerful legacy within an isolated community of the South. Billy Dean Anderson was a prolific outsider artist and criminal who escaped prison multiple times. He was added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and fled to live in a Tennessee cave for almost five years. The cave became his home and spiritual refuge, while his paintings were a means of communication with the outside world.
APOLONIA, APOLONIA
APOLONIA, APOLONIA
Lea Glob has followed French artist Apolonia Sokol over 13 years. The result is an extraordinarily up-close and personal film that is both a portrait of the life of a unique artist and of the budding friendship and intimacy between two women over a long and formative period in their lives. A look at art, love, motherhood, sexuality, representation, and how to succeed in a world dominated by patriarchy, capitalism and war, without losing oneself.
ART AND KRIMES BY KRIMES
ART AND KRIMES BY KRIMES
While locked-up for six years in federal prison, artist Jesse Krimes secretly creates monumental works of art—including an astonishing 40-foot mural made with prison bed sheets, hair gel, and newspaper. He smuggles out each panel piece-by-piece with the help of fellow artists, only seeing the mural in totality upon coming home. As Jesse's work captures the art world's attention, he struggles to adjust to life outside, living with the threat that any misstep will trigger a life sentence.
CODED: THE HIDDEN LOVE OF J.C. LEYENDECKER
CODED: THE HIDDEN LOVE OF J.C. LEYENDECKER
J.C. Leyendecker was one of the most prominent artists of his time, but his story is largely forgotten. Forced to keep his sexuality a secret, his coded imagery spoke directly to the gay community and laid the foundation for LGBTQ+ representation in advertising today.
BREE WAYY: PROMISE WITNESS REMEMBRANCE
BREE WAYY: PROMISE WITNESS REMEMBRANCE
A film by award-winning director Dawn Porter (John Lewis: Good Trouble, Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer) that looks at how the art world responded to the death of Breonna Taylor by using art not only as a form of protest, but as a space to heal.
HENRY GLASSIE: FIELD WORK
HENRY GLASSIE: FIELD WORK
The worldwide travels and unique cultural finds of renowned American folklorist Henry Glassie are enthrallingly chronicled in this portrait. Field Work allows us to witness the walling up of a massive kiln in Piedmont, North California, and features archival recordings of Glassie's encounters with carpet weavers and ceramicists in Western Turkey, and storytellers in Collins and Hogan's home country of Ireland, where Glassie's subjects reflect on their troubled present by talking about the past.
STEVENSON: LOST AND FOUND
STEVENSON: LOST AND FOUND
As one of the New Yorker’s most prolific cartoonists, James Stevenson’s body of work spans five decades, countless drawings and innumerable laughs. Featuring delightful animated interludes and interviews from colleagues, editors and his nine children, this wonderful look at Stevenson’s life - who also wrote a column for The New York Times and  is a noted writer of children's books - is a testament to observing the world from an original perspective.
DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION
DRIVEN TO ABSTRACTION
The greatest hoax in the history of Modern Art. Driven to Abstraction unravels an improbable tale of self-delusion, greed, and fraud – the $80 million forgery scandal that rocked the art world and brought down New York's oldest and most venerable gallery. Was the gallery’s esteemed director the victim of a con artist who showed up with an endless treasure trove of abstract expressionist masterpieces? Or did she suspect they were fakes yet continue to sell them for millions of dollars? 
SAN VITTORE
SAN VITTORE
Every time children visit their parents at San Vittore, Milan’s oldest prison, they’re subjected to thorough security checks – backpacks searched, toys checked, pat downs, metal detectors, endless waks down bare corridors. Incorporating drawings made by the children while they wait (in some the prison is transformed into a castle, the prisoners into kings and queens), this striking short documentary from Yuri Ancarini  meticulously depicts the lingering psychological and emotional trauma of this process.
WILCOX
WILCOX
A man goes into the woods alone. We know nothing about him, apart from his military-style attire with a nametag indicating he might be called Wilcox. Is he a traumatized veteran, a survivalist, a desperate man or even a philosopher-hermit? A documentary style fictional film, a minimalist adventure yarn haunted by reality, Wilcox, from award-winning filmmaker Denis Cote, is both simple and mysterious, a non-judgmental perspective on people who decide to remove themselves from the world.
THOSE THAT, AT A DISTANCE, RESEMBLE ANOTHER
THOSE THAT, AT A DISTANCE, RESEMBLE ANOTHER
Extending from filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland's ongoing research into natural habitats and various forms of preservation, this exquisite documentary traces, with sinuosity and exactitude the production of a lab-engineered replica of an elephant tusk dating from the late 19th century. The film gradually opens up to reflections on ecological and museological conservation, fabrication materials, and authenticity. 
JADDOLAND
JADDOLAND
A visit to her mother’s home art studio in Texas prompts the filmmaker to explore the meaning of home and the search for belonging across three generations of her Iraqi family. Winner of the Truer Than Fiction Award at the 2020 Film Independent Spirit Awards.
SEGUNDA VEZ
SEGUNDA VEZ
This vital, revolutionary documentary isn't merely a biopic of Oscar Masotta - a pivotal theorist in the Argentinian avant-garde from the 1950s to 1970s - but a treatise on the artistic and political climate of the nation preceding the Dirty War, eerily mirroring the world today. The title, Segunda Vez, originates from a homonymous story written by a contemporary of Masotta’s, Julio Cortázar.
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT
TONY CONRAD: COMPLETELY IN THE PRESENT
From performing in Jack Smith’s legendary Flaming Creatures to creating a series of groundbreaking experimental films to playing a pivotal role in the formation of The Velvet Underground, Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present, twenty-two years in the making, examines the pioneering life and work of artist, musician, and educator, Tony Conrad.
AND WITH HIM CAME THE WEST
AND WITH HIM CAME THE WEST
Filmmaker Mike Plante (Be Like an Ant) thoughtfully explores the relationship between the Wyatt Earp legend and the emergence of filmmaking as a popular medium. Featuring a wealth of clips from film adaptations of Earp’s life, alongside insightful interviews, Plante demonstrates the mutability of historical record and the power of moving images to shape our national mythology.
THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY
THE JOYCEAN SOCIETY
James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake has long been considered one of the most difficult texts in the English Language. The Joycean Society is an utterly absorbing and fascinating documentary about a small but dedicated group of Joyce devotees who have been reading the book for the last thirty years – highlighting the significance not just of Joyce’s novel but of the all-consuming power of literature.
A LAND FOR WAR
A LAND FOR WAR
In 2009, artist Enid Baxter Ryce discoved hundreds of wall paintings that were drawn by soldiers who'd been stationed at the abandoned Fort Ord military base. Her documentary presents and discusses these remarkable, long-hidden murals, offering unique insight into the soldiers' lives, alongside archival training footage from the Vietnam era (when Fort Ord was active) and portraits of the homeless veterans occupying the land today.
WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD
WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD
A new edition of the landmark documentary, William Eggleston in the Real World – from Michael Almereyda, director of Escapes, Marjorie Prime, Experimenter, and Hamlet, among others – is a brilliant and intimate look at the renowned photographer, whose hallucinatory Faulknerian images were featured in the Museum of Modern Art's first one-man exhibition of color photographs.
DISCOVERY IN A PAINTING
DISCOVERY IN A PAINTING
A marvelous exploration of Cezanne's "Still Life with Apples," Leo Hurwitz and Manfred Kirchheimer probe the mysteries of this modern masterpiece by simply observing the work, closely without commentary, focusing on the details - the brushstrokes, abstract shapes, color juxtapositions, hidden images - and in the process, discover its secrets.
MR. FISH: CARTOONING FROM THE DEEP END
MR. FISH: CARTOONING FROM THE DEEP END
A political cartoonist known for his subversive and often controversial art, Mr. Fish’s work can be seen in publications like Harper’s, The Nation and the LA Times. In this revealing documentary, we are introduced to the dangerously funny cartoonist as he struggles to stay true to his creativity in a quickly changing political and economic climate.
HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405
HEAVEN IS A TRAFFIC JAM ON THE 405
2018 Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary Short Subject, Heaven is an extraordinary documentary, a portrait of artist Mindy Alper, whose astonishing body of work – drawings and sculptures of powerful psychological clarity – reveals a lifetime of struggle with debilitating mental illness.
CEZANNE. CONVERSATION WITH JOACHIM GASQUET
CEZANNE. CONVERSATION WITH JOACHIM GASQUET
Straub-Huillet use passages from Gasquet's invaluable memoir of Paul Cézanne, together with pastoral scenes from Renoir’s Madame Bovary and photographs of Cézanne by the painter Maurice Denis, to make a moving and profound personal essay.
A VISIT TO THE LOUVRE
A VISIT TO THE LOUVRE
Straub-Huillet's visit to the Louvre reflects their fierce sentiments on art and their way of looking, using the words of Paul Cézanne to critique images, to be venomous about some artists and honey-tongued about others.
GENERAL REPORT II
GENERAL REPORT II
A fascinating investigation of the economic, political, social, and environmental crises currently affecting Europe, Catalan filmmaker Pere Portabella's new documentary updates and expands the scope of its 1976 predecessor, positing that European reality today is every bit as unhinged as it was 40 years ago.
THE MARK OF CAIN
THE MARK OF CAIN
Sailing ships, angels and executioners, this classic documentary chronicles the vanishing practice and language of Russian criminal tattoos. Recalling the prison writings of Solzhenitsyn or Dostoevsky, Lambert's harrowingly beautiful and penetrating study served as inspiration for Cronenberg's Eastern Promises.
THE 100 YEARS SHOW
THE 100 YEARS SHOW
From Alison Klayman, director of The Brink and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, the remarkable story of Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, a pioneering abstract painter in the '40s and '50s who only found recognition as she approached her 100th birthday.
DREAMING AGAINST THE WORLD
DREAMING AGAINST THE WORLD
This beautiful, evocative documentary captures the life, work and struggle of one of the most original yet under-recognized artists of the 20th century – the writer and visual artist Mu Xin.
DON'T BLINK - ROBERT FRANK
DON'T BLINK - ROBERT FRANK
One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, a documentary about Robert Frank, the legendary photographer and filmmaker behind the seminal book “The Americans” and landmark films like Pull My Daisy.
SAPPHIRE OF ST. LOUIS
SAPPHIRE OF ST. LOUIS
In this wondrous documentary, celebrated filmmaker Jose Luis Guerin peers inside an 18th century painting hidden away in a French cathedral to vividly recount a little-known, but pivotal slave revolt on the high seas.
UNSEEN: THE LIVES OF LOOKING
UNSEEN: THE LIVES OF LOOKING
A revelatory documentary exploring the physical act of looking; from the work of an eye surgeon to a NASA explorer to a human rights lawyer.
HERB AND DOROTHY 50x50
HERB AND DOROTHY 50x50
An ordinary couple who amassed a world class art collection on their modest salaries and then gave it all away – donating fifty works of art to one museum in each state.
HERB AND DOROTHY
HERB AND DOROTHY
The extraordinary story of an ordinary couple who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history.
THE ARTEFACTA
THE ARTEFACTA
The mysterious work of Nicola Costantino, one of Latin America’s most controversial and admired artists.