Janina Ramirez explores the BBC archives to create a TV history of Leonardo Da Vinci, discovering what lies beneath the Mona Lisa and even how he acquired his anatomical knowledge.
Janina Ramirez
as Presenter
Dana Arnold
as
Jonathan Jones
Guido Rebecchini
Art, auctions, huge valuations of individual works, a market full of enigmas. The inaccessibility of the art world and its business mechanisms, incomprehensible to many, have always worked on the imagination. However, the incredible growth of interest in buying art in Poland over the past few means that the curtain of mysticism must be slowly falling. A look at the Polish art market, which with the political transformation has changed from a marginal and obscure curio to a modern, professional machine, opening for some artists of the youngest generation the gates of success inaccessible to their predecessors.
A short, low-budget documentary that follows a small jobbing band from the north of England called 'Hardwicke Circus' as they perform a gig and music workshop at 'Standford Hill HMP', a men's prison on the Isle of Sheppey in the south of England. Shot in Ben Archer's fly-on-the-wall 'gonzo' style of filmmaking and taken from the band's late-2019 tour of England's south coast, this documentary focuses on the joy of performance and music in an environment that does not often allow such expression. Bookended by short commentary from the band's lead singer Jonny Foster, 'Hardwicke Circus: The Prison Gig' is an uplifting ode to the power and necessity of art, even for those that society have deemed not to deserve it.
Elliott Erwitt has spent his entire adult life taking photographs, of presidents, popes and movie stars, as well as regular people and their pets. His work is iconic in world culture while his life is largely unknown.
Shifting his lens from Cantonese opera to Japanese Noh drama, documentary filmmaker Cheuk Cheung continues his exploration of complex gender issues ingrained in traditional theatres. For seven centuries, only the male body has been granted the privilege to inhabit this highly stylised art form that embraces spirituality in subtle movements. The film traces the journey of third-generation Noh performer Uzawa Hikaru, a young woman who makes her presence in the male-dominated space; yet behind the mask lies a daughter yearning to seek a resolution beyond her mother’s path – a quest to fuse body and soul in pursuit of the profoundly mysterious aesthetic.
Shows how to use and care for crayons and some of the crayon techniques. Explains creative drawing, poster making, imprinting a design on cloth and other crafts.
Marisol has been posed against a light-coloured background and carefully lit from left and right. Her face emerges from the dark mass of her hair. The film is slightly out of focus throughout. At one point she glances off-screen, then resumes her gaze into the camera.
16mm, black and white film, silent, 4:30 min.
Portrait of an artist Epp Maria Kokamägi. The film invites us into the world created by the artist on Sepamaa Farm, which is at once picturesque and fairytale-like, yet completely natural, where life, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, flows in the rhythm of nature.
The story of the circumstances in which Zoran matured as an artist, learning from the best. Zoran is a master at turning every seemingly difficult situation into an opportunity. And it does it all with incredible ease. His sculptures are alive. That is why the North American Indians gave him the Indian name Tunka Kitka - The man who awakens the stone.
This short documentary explores the creative process of Mexican textile artist Victoria Villasana. Her work is vibrant and emotional, with each piece telling a story through the blending of thread and monochrome photos. Victoria’s careful selection of colors, geometric shapes, and forms brings her vision to life. We delve into her sources of inspiration, the power of working with her hands, and her unique approach to art.
The story of the first house/museum/school in the surburbs of Salvador: Acervo da Laje. Through interviews and photographic records of the Plataforma neighborhood, the short film proposes a reflection on the right to the city, especially the right to art in Salvador's favelas. As well as problematizing the lack of incentives for peripheral culture, it also explores the relationship between care and learning. With moving stories, Zé Eduardo and Vilma Santos will tell us a little about the construction of the collection they designed together. Acervo da Laje goes beyond being just a physical space; it is a daily practice that encourages art and knowledge for people with a voice who have never had the opportunity to be heard.
Inside his studio, painter Philip Trusttum launches into a new work. He employs ordinary house paint to create a bold, large-scale painting, tells stories, and reflects on his career as an artist.
The Enigma of Hedonism are profile documentaries that tell the life of Heri Dono. His attitude and view as an artist that transcends canvas and time has had an important impact on artists and artists in other fields in their work. Not only that, his exploration of the various and types of working mediums and the experience of participating in various prestigious exhibitions in the world has made him dubbed as the greatest artist of Indonesia today.
A movie about James Tissot (1836-1902), a French painter and portraitist
A documentary about the French photographer Nadar aka Gaspard-Félix Tournachon
In a corner of a border town in the Lleida plains, there once stood a pub called Plató 3. Years after its closure, a group of young people decides to meet in an old fruit cooperative to rehearse a play about the best nights of their lives. What they do not know is that, in those nights, there were old shadows they must reunite with.
This rare film tells the strange, disquieting and protracted story of the restoration of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous masterpiece, The Last Supper. Some say the results of the restoration are glorious. Others have called them tragic. Da Vinci’s famously fragile fresco was always going to be a challenge for its secretive Italian restorers. No one, however, could have foreseen how problematic and strange their task would become. Marked by a series of extraordinary mishaps, mistakes, and miscalculations, the incredible restoration is hilarious to watch but may have resulted in the loss of a masterpiece.
