The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the third edition of Art of the Real, an essential showcase for boundary-pushing nonfiction film, April 8-21. Founded on the most expansive possible view of documentary film, the series features an eclectic, globe-spanning host of discoveries by artists who are reenvisioning the relationship between cinema and reality, with one World Premiere, eight North American Premieres, and seven U.S. premieres, and many of the filmmakers in person.
"This is perhaps our strongest and most diverse edition yet, and one that truly affirms the impulse behind Art of the Real: the most exciting and essential films being made today are precisely those that defy genres and confound expectations, and that find bold new ways of reimagining cinema's relationship with the real," said Director of Programming Dennis Lim, who organized the festival with Programmer at Large Rachael Rakes.
The two Opening Night selections are the World Premiere of Ben Rivers's What Means Something, an intimate portrait of painter Rose Wylie at work, and ND/NF alum Roberto Minervini's The Other Side, an indelible, surprising, and often unnerving portrait of Louisianan junkies that was a highlight of Cannes' Un Certain Regard section. Closing the festival is the North American premiere of Jumana Manna's A Magical Substance Flows Into Me, in which the Palestinian artist brings German-Jewish ethnomusicologist Robert Lachmann's recordings from 1930s Palestine to modern-day Israeli and Palestinian territories, re-creating the songs across communities and cultures.
In addition to Rivers and Manna's films, a number of selections in this year's lineup marry nonfiction cinema and the arts: José Luis Guerín's The Academy of the Muses is a meditation on film, art, and gender via a simulated college seminar about the role of woman-as-muse in art, attended entirely by actresses; Ruth Beckermann's minimalist The Dreamed Ones, in which a pair of actors bring to life the tragic love story of two mid-century poets by reading their letters aloud before the camera; and Thom Andersen's The Thoughts That Once We Had, a film inspired by French philosopher Gilles Deleuze's writings on cinema.
New works by familiar names include Jean-Gabriel Periot's A German Youth, which charts the evolution of the Red Army Faction using only archival footage; Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda's Tales of Two Who Dreamt, a black-and-white look at a Roma family seeking asylum in Toronto; and Kazuhiro Soda's latest verité opus Oyster Factory, a fly-on-the-wall chronicle of a struggling Japanese fishery.
Many films in the 2016 edition have garnered acclaim at festivals and exhibitions around the globe, including three highlights from the Venice Biennale: Im Heung-soon's Silver Lion-winner Factory Complex, and the shorts One.Two.Three by Vincent Meessen and Sea State Six by Charles Lim, where the two artists represented the Belgian and Singapore Pavilions, respectively; Andrés Duque's Oleg and the Rare Arts, a
FreeForm portrait of Russian pianist Oleg Nikolaevitch Karavaychuk that won the top prize at Punto de Vista's documentary festival; Ju Anqi's bawdy, absurdist Poet on a Business Trip, which won the Grand Prize of the 2015 Jeonju International Film Festival; Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis's Il Solengo, winner of DocLisboa's 2015 Best International Film Award; and Mauro Herce's exquisitely shot Dead Slow Ahead, winner of the Special Jury prize at Locarno 2015, a surreal look at
THE JOURNEY of a freighter from Ukraine to New Orleans.
This year's festival also features a retrospective of the legendary Bruce Baillie, whose lyrical films defy traditional form and genre. From autobiographical documentary to cosmic mythology, the retrospective pays homage to Baillie's work as an artist, and also recognizes his legacy as a distributor and promoter of avant-garde filmmakers. Consisting of five programs of short films, including his social documentaries, his collaborations with the Canyon Cinema Community, which he founded, and an exploration of the connection his films have to those of his longtime friend Stan Brakhage, All My Life: The Films of Bruce Baillie examines his far-reaching influence on experimental and nonfiction cinema. After Art of the Real, the retrospective, organized by curator Garbiñe Ortega, will travel around the country and internationally; more details will be announced later.
In addition to the repertory offerings in the retrospective, a revival of Philip Trevelyan's 1971 The Moon and the Sledgehammer, a portrait of an eccentric family living off the grid outside of London, will screen in a new print. Following the film, Trevelyan will appear in person for a conversation moderated by our Opening Night filmmaker Ben Rivers.
Organized by Dennis Lim and Rachael Rakes; Bruce Baillie retrospective organized by Garbiñe Ortega. Presented with support from MUBI.
Tickets will go on sale Thursday, March 24. A pre-sale to Film Society members will begin Tuesday, March 22. Single screening tickets are $14; $11 for students and seniors (62+); and $9 for Film Society members. See more and save with the $125
ALL ACCESS Pass or the 3+ film discount package. Visit filmlinc.org for more information.
Acknowledgments:
Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Harvard Film Archive; Istituto Luce Cinecittà-Film Italia.
