Philip Haas: Documentaries with Artists
September 18–20, 2009
Haas will briefly introduce each session of the festival and take part in a concluding panel discussion with Dennis Bishop, Director, Lone Star Film Society and the Lone Star International Film Festival, and Bart Weiss, associate professor of film and video at the University of Texas at Arlington and founder and president of the Video Association of Dallas. All sessions will take place in the Darnell Street auditorium, across Van Cliburn Way from the Museum.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2 pm; repeated on
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 10:30 am
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China (1988, 48 min.)
Stones and Flies: Richard Long in the Sahara (1988, 38 min.)
The Singing Sculpture (1992, 20 min.)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 6 pm; repeated on
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2 pm
Seni's Children (1990, 55 min.)
Money Man (1992, 60 min.)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
12:45 pm Money Man (1992, 60 min.)
2 pm Panel discussion: Philip Haas, filmmaker; Dennis Bishop, Director, Lone Star Film Society and Lone Star International Film Festival; and Bart Weiss, associate professor of film and video at the University of Texas at Arlington and founder and president of the Video Association of Dallas. No reservations required; seating is limited.
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China (1988, 48 min.)
Artist David Hockney conducts a magical tour through China as he unrolls a 72-foot-long scroll painting of the 17th century, commenting on the world it depicts and on Western versus non-Western attitudes to space and perspective.
Stones and Flies: Richard Long in the Sahara (1988, 38 min.)
Haas accompanies land artist Richard Long on one of the meditative, ritualistic walks that have been central to his art. Long makes sand designs, earthworks, and stone sculptures in a bleak, volcanic tract of the southern Sahara.
The Singing Sculpture (1992, 20 min.)
The artists Gilbert and George re-create and comment upon their tragicomic performance of the vaudeville song “Underneath the Arches,” which was the inaugural exhibition at New York’s Sonnabend Gallery in 1971.
Seni's Children (1990, 55 min.)
In the village of Bigona in Senegal, artist Seni Camara makes clay sculptures of astonishing originality. Haas follows her as she works, assisted by her husband, then as she brings her bizarre creations to the market to sell.
Money Man (1992, 60 min.)
Haas films the adventures of J. S. G. Boggs, an artist whose medium is money, as he makes homemade bank notes and completes his work by spending them. In the process he deftly questions what gives money––or art––its value.
Butchers, Dragons, Gods & Skeletons:
Film Installations by Philip Haas Inspired by Works in the Collection
On View at the Kimbell Art Museum through October 25, 2009
This summer the Kimbell is premiering a series of film installations commissioned from the distinguished filmmaker Philip Haas. Through moving images shown in specially created environments, Haas interprets and literally brings to life works of art in the Museum’s permanent collection. His film installations appear throughout the galleries, each next to the work that was its inspiration. The project is a new departure for the Kimbell and possibly the first such venture in any museum.
Haas’s films are poetic and sensuous rather than documentary––interpretations that stand as powerful works of art in themselves. On occasion the flow of imagery stops on an uncanny re-creation of the chosen original, as though the original were a still that magically preceded the film, now realized. All the films are accompanied by original music.
The subjects are: the Red-Figure Cup Showing the Death of Pentheus and a Maenad by the ancient Greek vase painter Douris (c. 480 b.c.); a Chinese scroll painting, Arhat Taming the Dragon (early 14th century); Annibale Carracci’s The Butcher’s Shop (early 1580s); Apollo and the Continents by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (c. 1739); and Skeletons Warming Themselves by James Ensor (1889). The installations complement a full display of the Museum’s permanent collection.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Philip Haas studied art history at Harvard. He has made documentaries with artists as well as a number of feature films, including the Oscar-nominated Angels and Insects (1995).
About the Lone Star International Film Festival
The Lone Star International Film Festival (LSIFF) is a presentation of the Lone Star Film Society (LSFS) and represents the culmination of the society’s year-round series of film screenings and events.
Featuring an impressive slate of narrative and documentary features and short films from around the world, educational panels, red carpet entrances, filmmakers, and celebrity guests, the fall festival is quickly becoming a marquee cultural event in Fort Worth and beyond.
LSIFF has presented its most prestigious honor, the LSIFF Life Achievement Award, to Sidney Lumet, Martin Sheen, Bill Paxton, and Gregory Peck. Additionally, the festival has welcomed such noted filmmakers as T-Bone Burnett, Harry Dean Stanton, Fred Durst, Rod Hardy, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Donal Logue, James Manos, Lauren Velez, and Robert Rodriguez, among many others.
Kimbell Art Museum hours: Tuesday–Thursday and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Fridays, noon–8 p.m.; Sundays, noon–5 p.m.; closed Mondays. For general information, call 817-332-8451. Web site: www.kimbellart.org. Address: 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76107