WINTER/SPRING MOVIES 2010

Herb & Dorothy
Monday, February 15, 7 pm


Directed by Megumi Sasaki
89 minutes, 2008

Herb & Dorothy tells the extraordinary story of Herbert Vogel, a postal clerk, and Dorothy Vogel, a librarian, who managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history with very modest means. In the early 1960s, when very little attention was paid to Minimalist and Conceptual Art, Herb and Dorothy quietly began purchasing the works of unknown artists.
After thirty years of meticulous collecting and buying, the Vogels managed to accumulate over 2,000 pieces, filling every corner of their tiny one bedroom apartment. In 1992, the Vogels decided to move their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The vast majority of their collection was given as a gift to the institution. Today Herb and Dorothy still live in the same apartment in New York with 19 turtles, lots of fish, and one cat. They've refilled it with piles of new art they've acquired.

The film received the Golden Starfish Award for the Best Documentary Film and Audience Award from the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival. It has also received Audience Awards from the 2008 SILVERDOCS Film Festival and the 2009 Philadelphia Cinefest. Palm Springs International Film Festival named HERB & DOROTHY one of their "Best of Fest" films in 2009.

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A Life in Print
March 15, 7 pm

Directed by Michael Fraser
2008, color, 60 minutes

A rich historical record of Chicano art, life and culture since WWII, A Life in Print is a profile of printmaker Xavier Viramontes, one of the most influential artists of our time and a founding member of Galeria de la Raza. His iconoclastic silkscreen poster, "Boycott Grapes," for Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers rallied a nation and sparked the Chicano movement in art.

Featuring interviews with art historians, artists, curators, and contemporary colleagues, and complemented by wonderful archival photographs, film and video footage, the documentary showcases Viramontes at work in his studio and beautifully illustrates the various influences on his artistic output - from the political to the personal, tradition, personal identity, community and the rituals of a Chicano family.

"Boycott Grapes" is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque New Mexico. Xavier's artwork is also in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, IL. www.alifeinprint.net

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The Mona Lisa Curse
April 12, 7 pm

Directed by Mandy Chang
2008, color, 128 minutes

Though it sounds like the a sequel to The Da Vinci Code it is actually a documentary about Robert Hughes and his view on the current relationship between money and art and how this came to be in the past thirty years. The Mona Lisa Curse examines how the world's most famous painting came to influence the art world. Hughes describes with remarkable clarity the forces seeking to tame art, putting it in the market driven and controlled cultural landscape. 'The Mona Lisa Curse' was the winner of the top honors at the 2009 International Emmy Awards.

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Who Gets to Call it Art?
May 17, 7 pm

Directed by Peter Rosen
2006, color, 78 minutes

Who Gets to Call it Art? is a wild ride through the fascinating 1960s New York art world, seen through the eyes of first contemporary art curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Henry Geldzahler. The culmination of the film is the famous and hugely controversial show Geldzahler put on in 1970 at the Metropolitan. "New York Painting 1940-1970". It was a blockbuster and still resonates to this day. We get to see inside his home and the beautiful objects with which he had surrounded himself. Never-before-seen footage of artists including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein as well as exclusive interviews with artists Frank Stella, David Hockney, and James Rosenquist provide a vibrant and entertaining look at ten amazing years when American artists challenged everything and forever changed the world of art. One of TIME Magazine's top ten DVDs of 2006.

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Transformed by Flame
June 14, 7 pm

Directed by David Womack
2008, color, 63 minutes

This two-time Emmy Nominated documentary titled "Transformed by Flame - The Glass Art of Frabel", takes us on a trip to Germany and the Czech Republic to showcase the history of glass, the Frabel Studio and Hans Godo Frabel. Frabel, a pioneer in transforming flamework glass into an art form, shares his incredible talent and shows works he created over the years. The movie details the history of glass and glass art throughout the ages and the creation of some of the most incredible flamework glass sculptures of all time. The documentary includes interviews with President Jimmy Carter (one of the many famous Frabel collectors), Hans Godo Frabel, Tina Oldknow (curator with the Corning Museum of Glass), Robert Mickelsen (glass artist), and Dr. Dirk Springer (Schott Glass, Germany).

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In A Dream
July 12, 7 pm

Directed by Jeremiah Zagar
2008, color, 78 minutes

Over the past four decades, artist Isaiah Zagar has covered more than 50,000 square feet of Philadelphia with stunning mosaic murals. In A Dream is a documentary feature film that chronicles his work and his tumultuous relationship with his wife, Julia. It follows the Zagars as their marriage implodes and a harrowing new chapter in their life unfolds.

Winner of the SXSW, Philadelphia, San Francisco Docs, Biograph, Full Frame and Woodstock Film Festivals.