by Sophie Fiennes, UK, France, The Netherlands 2010, 105'
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Remko Schnorr | PRODUCTION: AMOEBA FILM, KASANDER, SCIAPODE | |
| SOUND DESIGN: Ranko Paukovic | ||
| EDITING: Ethel Shepherd | SPONSORS: ARTE France, Région Ile-de-France, Rotterdam Media Fund, VPRO, Centre National de la Cinématographie, PROCIREP - Sociétés des Producteurs, L’Angoa, CoBO Fund | |
| MUSIC: György Widmann, György Ligeti | ||
| PRODUCERS: Sophie Fiennes, Kees Kasander, Emilie Blezat |
Presented at The Screen of the Arts 2011Anselm Kiefer, a student of Joseph Beuys at the Staatliche Kunstakademie of Düsseldorf in the early 70s, is recognized as one of the most important artists of his generation. He transformed painting and sculpture by using huge frames and unusual materials, tackling themes ranging from historical memory to literature, from religion to myth. In 2004, he created the installation The Seven Heavenly Palaces for the opening of the Hangar Bicocca in Milan, where it is permanently
housed; in 2007 he exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris, inaugurating the Monumenta project. Also in 2007, Die Grosse Fracht (The Great Freight), which the artist produced for the Biblioteca San Giorgio, Pistoia. For several years, British director Sophie Fiennes followed him through the labyrinthine spaces of the Barjac complex in southern France, where he has chosen to live and work since 1993, transforming over 35 hectares of land into an imposing, mysterious total work of art. Filmed in Cinemascope and accompaned by György Widmann and György Ligeti’s suggestive music, the film shows the artist at work with his assistants, amid lead, cement, ash, earth, glass and gold; an exclusive document of the last moments of his sojourn on the site, before moving to Paris.
Sophie Fiennes
Born in Suffolk, England, in 1967, she worked with Peter Greenway from 1987 to 1992 and managed choreographer Michael Clark from 1993 to 1995. She began making films in 1998. Previous films include her infamous The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (2006), a film collaboration with radical thinker Slavoj Zizek. Future projects include Grace Jones, The Musical Of My Life, and The Perverts Guide To Ideology, her second collaboration with Slavoj Zizek. Fiennes was awarded a NESTA fellowship in 2000 and at Rotterdam’s 2008 Cinemart she won the Arte France Cinema Award.
Selected Filmography
1998 Lars from 1 - 10 (short); 2000 The Late Michael Clark (documentario); 2001 Because I Sing (documentario); 2003 Hoover Street Revival (documentario); 2006 The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (film essay); 2007 VSPRS Show and Tell (documentario)
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