Man Ray: Prophet of the Avant-Garde

Michael Palin In Wyeth's World

2013

Michael Palin heads for rural Pennsylvania and Maine to explore the extraordinary life and work of one of America's most popular and controversial painters, Andrew Wyeth. Fascinated by his iconic painting Christina's World, Palin goes in search of the real life stories that inspired this and Wyeth's other depictions of the American landscape and its hard grafting inhabitants. Tracking down the farmers, friends and family featured in Wyeth's magically real work, Palin builds a picture of an eccentric, enigmatic and driven painter. He also gets a rare interview with Helga, the woman who put Wyeth back in the headlines when the press discovered he had been painting her nude, compulsively but secretly for 15 years.

Bridget Riley: Painting the Line

2021

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access, seldom-seen footage from the archives and a rare interview with Kirsty Wark, this is the story of a true visionary of British art.

A Long Way Home

2018

A Long Way Home takes us on a fascinating journey into both the grim days of recent Chinese history and the dazzling cultural scene in present-day China. The film centers around five of the most significant representatives of contemporary Chinese counterculture: the visual artists the Gao Brothers, the choreographer and dancer Wen Hui, the animation artist Pi San and the poet Ye Fu. With bravery and subversive wit, they each shed light on the social problems in their country. In doing so, the film poses universal questions that ultimately concern us all: which values determine our cultural identity and in what kind of world do we want to live.

Cecil Taylor: All The Notes

2005

Cecil Taylor was the grand master of free jazz piano. "All the Notes" captures in breezy fashion the unconventional stance of this media-shy modern musical genius, regarded as one of the true giants of post-war music. Seated at his beloved and battered piano in his Brooklyn brownstone the maestro holds court with frequent stentorian pronouncements on life, art and music.

Mary Bauermeister - Eins plus eins ist drei

2021

Georgia O'Keeffe: Painter of the Far West

2021

Enlightened by her biographer Roxana Robinson and art historian Barbara Buhler Lynes, co-founder of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, this documentary unfolds the fascinating trajectory of the artist who became an icon of American art. Featuring her works, her confidences - between interviews and excerpts of correspondence read by Charlotte Rampling - and her husband's photographs, this film explores the two inseparable passions that marked Georgia O'Keeffe's life and career: Alfred Stieglitz and New Mexico, which she never ceased to travel through, like a pioneer, in order to immerse herself in its Indian culture and its grandiose landscapes.

Nothing Like a Dame

2018

BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.

Scenes Seen with Allen Jones

1970

Scenes Seen with Allen Jones explores the motive of the artist's famed graphic works,, paintings and sculptures. The erotic overtones of Jones's work are both controversial and exciting, drawing the public's attention towards a new sector of the avant-garde. Jones is introduced in his London studio, where he is developing an idea for a new painting as he meticulously studies his model. During his days as a top member of the Pop Art movement in Britain, Jones evolved a singular genre of imagery: totemic forms of torso-less legs, sheathed in vinyl, which have become his artistic "signature."

Nick Cave: Straight To You - A Portrait

1994

A 1993 portrait of rock singer and poet Nick Cave, a versatile artist who gained importance over the years. Jacobson also wrote the scenario that was built around a long conversation with the singer. From Australia and his work with the Birthday Party to his current city, Berlin, with The Bad Seeds.

Under the Weight of a Waking Dream

2025

‘Under the Weight of a Waking Dream’ is Zefier's debut swan song to the ending year. Comprised of poetry and endless enumerations is a diaristic film chronicling the lessons and contradictions found throughout the human experience.

Ningwasum

2022

Ningwasum follows two time travellers Miksam and Mingsoma, played by Subin Limbu and Shanta Nepali respectively, in the Himalayas weaving indigenous folk stories, culture, climate change and science fiction.

Solitary Eyes

2023

An isolated filmmaker struggles to connect with others in the absence of cameras. When he becomes creatively stuck, the world around him begins to dissolve.

Finster

2022

Howard Finster, the grandfather of the Southern Folk Art movement was a pioneer that showed the world that Art can thrive outside of museums and galleries in ordinary places and in everyday objects. He took what others might deem trash or obsolete and turned it into something contemplative. He opened Paradise Garden for the world to enjoy, a true testament that Art comes to life, when people are able to interact with it. Howard Finster showed the world that objects surrounding us can take on a new life, in a sometimes-magical way, and communicate messages that can lead to transformation.

The Black Album

2023

The Black Album places scrutiny on the notion of "Black Excellence" in a revisionist take.

Running Fields IV

2024

Twenty-four images of a camera running in the woods, a moonlight and a cemetery through improvised gestures, mechanical abstraction and saturated colors