North America’s Only Festival of Documentary Films About Visual Art and Artists
The 10th annual Reel Artists Film Festival, which runs from February 20 to 24, 2013, presents a selection of international feature-length and short documentaries that address challenges and questions raised by artists both in front of and behind the camera. Through these films, subjects are revealed, experimental processes unfold, and events are staged. It is with these three categories in mind—subject, process, event—that we celebrate RAFF’s anniversary and anticipate its future.
Our Opening Night Screening and Celebration revisits the legendary art collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel in a special excerpted version of Megumi Sasaki’s new film HERB & DOROTHY 50X50. Next in the program is Jef Cornelis’s Documenta 5 from 1972, a film essay covering this seminal event in contemporary art history, which gave new perspective on the idea of exhibition as spectacle.
In line with RAFF’s tradition of presenting films that document the lives and works of contemporary artists, 2013’s lineup offers a glimpse into the complex personalities of, among others, David Altmejd, Valérie Blass, Damien Hirst and Mickalene Thomas. These films reveal the singular inspirations, experiments and techniques of some of the world’s most compelling artists.
Contemporary-art practices often transcend cultural and disciplinary boundaries, forging new relationships between objects and subjects, spaces and time. Artists who play with the idea of documentary show how cross- disciplinary connections can revitalize the medium, reigniting its creative potential. Simon Starling does this engagingly in two RAFF offerings, Black Drop and Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima).
Like contemporary art, the documentary presents, constructs and reshapes reality—the very meaning of which changes through our encounter with it. In this way, a documentary can be a work of art. Films such as Picasso in Palestine, Tea and Somewhere to Disappear tell us about actual events, and provide an aesthetic perspective through which to view them. The film itself becomes the event.
It is with great pleasure that we present these films alongside a special program of talks by international and local filmmakers, artists, curators, critics and collectors that will generate an expanded public engagement with 21st-century art and artists.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Join us for special film introductions and conversations throughout the festival
Wednesday, February 20
OPENING NIGHT SCREENING AND CELEBRATION
7:00 PM HERB & DOROTHY 50X50 / EXCLUSIVE EXCERPTED VERSION
Meet director Megumi Sasaki, collector Dorothy Vogel, celebrate 10 years of RAFF, and enjoy a postscreening conversation between Sasaki, Vogel and collector Bill Clarke.
Thursday, February 21
7:00 PM Documenta 5 / CANADIAN PRMIERE
Introduced by Charles Reeve, Curator and Associate Professor, OCAD University.
9:00 PM Picasso in Palestine / NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Conversation between producer Khaled Hourani and Elizabeth Smith, Executive Director of Curatorial
Affairs, Art Gallery of Ontario, to follow the screening.
Friday, February 22
DOUBLE SCREENING
7:00 PM Valérie Blass: It Has to Stand on Its Own / FESTIVAL PREMIERE
Introduced by Leah Sandals, Online Editor, Canadian Art magazine.
Chaorismatic — David Altmejd, Sculptor / TORONTO PREMIERE
Introduced by David Balzer, Assistant Editor, Canadian Art magazine.
9:00 PM Damien Hirst: Thoughts, Work, Life
Introduced by Murray Whyte, writer and Canadian Art contributor.
Saturday, February 23
DOUBLE SCREENING
1:00 PM Dan Perjovschi: Solo in Rome / NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Eric Fischl: The Process of Painting / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Both films introduced by Richard Rhodes, Editor, Canadian Art magazine.
DOUBLE SCREENING / TWO FILMS BY SIMON STARLING
3:00 PM Black Drop / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima) / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Both films introduced by Marc Glassman, Editor, Point of View magazine.
5:00 PM Somewhere to Disappear
Introduced by Gaëlle Morel, Curator, Ryerson Image Centre.
7:00 PM Tea / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Conversation between director Mario Garcia Torres and Luis Jacob, artist, curator and writer, to follow
the screening.
9:15 PM Mark Lombardi: Death Defying Acts of Art and Conspiracy / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Introduced by Christine Shaw, Program and Outreach Manager, Canadian Art Foundation.
Sunday, February 24
DOUBLE SCREENING
1:00 PM Selections from “The Gallery of Lost Art”
Selections from TateShots Series / FESTIVAL PREMIERE
Conversation between Susan Doyon and Ann Webb, Executive Director, Canadian Art Foundation, to
follow the screenings.
DOUBLE SCREENING
3:00 PM Beginnings: Mickalene Thomas / FESTIVAL PREMIERE
Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Conversation between Mickalene Thomas and Deirdre Logue, artist and Director/Curator, Feminist Art
Gallery, to follow the screenings.
5:00 PM TIME ZERO: The Last Year of Polaroid Film / CANADIAN PREMIERE
Q & A with director Grant Hamilton to follow the screening
All screenings take place at TIFF Bell Lightbox, Reithman Square, 350 King St. W.
Reel Artists Film Festival 2012: Opening Night Screening and Celebration Highlights from Canadian Art on Vimeo.
No comments:
Post a Comment