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| Producers and Distributors of Award-Winning Documentaries | ||
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FILM & VIDEO DISTRIBUTION:Documentaries: |
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AGNES MARTIN: WITH MY BACK TO THE WORLD
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When President Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933 during the Great Depression, nearly 10,000
artists were out of work. Over the next decade, a series of programs known as the New Deal Art Projects
was developed. Under the WPA and other programs, thousands of artists were able to earn a living while
devoting themselves full-time to their art. |
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 Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
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"ARTISTS AT WORK" focuses on the visual arts programs of the New Deal, highlighting the impact on the lives and work of American artists. Interviews with Ilya Bolotowsky, James Brooks, Joseph Delaney, Harry Gottlieb, Chaim Gross, Lee Krasner, Edward Laning, Jacob Lawrence, Alice Neel, Joseph Solman are included, along with archival film, photographs, sound recordings, and original color photography of the works of art. |
"ARTISTS AT WORK" chronicles the New Deal effort to spread "art to the millions" through the country's first comprehensive art education program. The Artists Union and related political activities are explored, as are the destruction and loss of works of art produced under the New Deal Programs. [order]
Major funding: National Endowment for the Humanities; New York Council for the Humanities.
Awards: Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival; CINE Golden Eagle;
Silver Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival.
Also available in 16mm film. Please contact us for rental and purchase information.
In the spring and summer of 1904, the eyes of the nation and the world were focused on St. Louis, Missouri,
site of a World's Fair commemorating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. Largest and grandest of all
international expositions, the St. Louis World's Fair displayed America's economic and artistic resources,
the latest inventions, and models for urban life. The Fair's organizers also brought more than two thousand
indigenous peoples to St. Louis to live in supposedly authentic villages, illustrating both the social
Darwinism of the time and Americas new role as an overseas power.
The documentary utilizes first-person accounts of elderly Missourians who went to the fair, interviews with scholars, archival motion pictures, and many never-before-published photographs to situate the St. Louis fair in the social, political, and cultural context of American society at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Features interviews with Robert Rydell (Montana State University), Neil Harris (University of Chicago) Zeynep Celik (N.J. Institute of Technology), and Ted Jojola (University of New Mexico). [order]
Major Funding: Missouri Humanities Council and the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities.
A groundbreaking documentary on the internationally renowned painter,
designated by ARTnews Magazine one of the world's top-ten living artists. This documentary was shot over a
period of four years, from 1998 through 2002, Agnes Martin's ninetieth year. Interviews with Martin are
inter-cut with shots at work in her studio in Taos, New Mexico, with photographs and archival footage, and
with images of her work from over five decades. It is a venue for Martin to speak about her work, her
working methods, her life as an artist, and her views about the creative process. She also discusses her
film, "Gabriel" and reads from her poetry and lectures. It was shot in 16mm film by cinematographer Dyanna
Taylor and in digital video by producer/director Mary Lance. In keeping with Martin's chosen life of
solitude, she alone appears in the documentary.
Shot on location in Mexico and the United States, the film includes a
remarkable collection of archival film and photographs, much of which has not been seen before. The text is
drawn from the writings of Rivera and Kahlo and from other historical texts. Using Rivera's own words, this
richly detailed film brings to life the difficulty he faced in his transition from studio artist to public
and political artist, and the conflicts that arose from that point onward. [