Close to Vermeer

The Last Vermeer

September 2019 •English

A soldier and member of the Dutch resistance investigates stolen art in the wake of the Second World War, including a Vermeer sold to the Nazis by a flamboyant forger.

Pollock

September 2000 •English

In August of 1949, Life Magazine ran a banner headline that begged the question: "Jackson Pollock: Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" The film is a look back into the life of an extraordinary man, a man who has fittingly been called "an artist dedicated to concealment, a celebrity who nobody knew." As he struggled with self-doubt, engaging in a lonely tug-of-war between needing to express himself and wanting to shut the world out, Pollock began a downward spiral.

Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition

April 2023 •English

With loans from across the world, this major retrospective will bring together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance. This film invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show.

Mannen Henger

August 2023 •Norwegian

Caravaggio's Shadow

November 2022 •Italian

The Catholic Church secretly investigates Caravaggio as the Pope weighs whether to grant him clemency for killing a rival.

Pharaohs Of The Two Lands

January 2022 •English

Examines the history of the African kings from Kush who conquered Egypt and ruled over it for 1500 years through an exhibition at the Louvre.

Hitler Versus Picasso

March 2018 •Italian

In 1937 the Nazi regime held two exhibitions in Munich: one to stigmatize “Degenerate Art” (which they systematically looted and destroyed) and one, personally curated by Hitler, to glorify “Classic Art”. This immersive new documentary reveals the Nazi’s complicated relationship with classical and modern art, displaying an incredible number of masterpieces by Botticelli, Klee, Matisse, Monet, Chagall, Renoir and Gauguin amongst others, intertwined with human stories from the most infamous period of the twentieth century. A state-of-the-art detective story exploring the Nazis’ obsession with creative expression, Hitler versus Picasso combines history, art and human drama for an unforgettable cinema experience.

A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest

December 2007 •Japanese

From July 21 through September 10th, 2007, the Museum for Contemporary Art Tokyo held an exhibition honouring Kazuo Oga, the art director and background artist for many famed works from Japan's Studio Ghibli. Over 600 works from the artist were on display, and numerous fans flocked to the one-of-a-kind exhibition celebrating the lush, gorgeous background artwork typifying many a work from Hayao Miyazaki and other Ghibli filmmakers. International fans of Oga and Studio Ghibli have not been left out, however. A Ghibli Artisan - Kazuo Oga Exhibition - The One Who Drew Totoro's Forest allows fans the opportunity to attend the exhibition, as well as watch interviews and testimonials with Oga's contemporaries and collaborators, all subtitled in English.

Filamento

November 2021 •Spanish

The odyssey of the Mayice designers, who had to face to bring an impossible-to-manufacture piece to the Rossana Orlandi gallery, in Milan, in time to be exhibited at the Salone.

Tim's Vermeer

December 2013 •English

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Finding Vivian Maier

March 2014 •English

Vivian Maier's photos were seemingly destined for obscurity, lost among the clutter of the countless objects she'd collected throughout her life. Instead these images have shaken the world of street photography and irrevocably changed the life of the man who brought them to the public eye. This film brings to life the interesting turns and travails of the improbable saga of John Maloof's discovery of Vivian Maier, unravelling this mysterious tale through her documentary films, photographs, odd collections and personal accounts from the people that knew her. What started as a blog to show her work quickly became a viral sensation in the photography world. Photos destined for the trash heap now line gallery exhibitions, a forthcoming book and this documentary film.

It All Started With a Stale Sandwich

June 2019 •English

50 years ago, Sydneysiders were shocked and the art world astonished by Christo's wrapping of the Little Bay coastline. Hungarian migrant and entrepreneur John Kaldor, who initiated this monumental work, has said “it all started with a stale sandwich, in Christo's studio in 1968 New York.” Now, Project 34 (by Asad Raza) is about to be unveiled, and UK artist Michael Landy is designing the exhibition to celebrate 50 years of Kaldor Public Art Projects.

Inn Signs Through the Ages

November 1936 •English

Fred Taylor displays a number of items from the Building Centre's 'Inn Sign Exhibition' held in November 1936. Some signs in the exhibition date back to the reign of Charles II, while others are more contemporary.

BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions

January 2025 •English

Preeminent West African curator and scholar Funmilayo Akechukwu’s magnum opus, The Resonance Field, leads her to the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, drawing a journalist into a journey that shatters her understanding of consciousness and time.

Caravaggio

October 1967 •Italian

A miniseries about Caravaggio's life.

We Exist Triply

Invalid date •English

A sock puppet explores a family history told from the perspective of a mother and father.

Girl with a Pearl Earring: And Other Treasures from the Mauritshuis

January 2015 •Spanish

The Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Johannes Vermeer is one of the most enduring paintings in the history of art. This beautifully filmed documentary goes in pursuit of answers to the unresolved riddles surrounding this extraordinary piece.

Van Gogh & Japan

June 2019 •English

"I envy the Japanese" Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. In the exhibition on which this film is based - VAN GOGH & JAPAN at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - one can see why. Though Vincent van Gogh never visited Japan it is the country that had the most profound influence on him and his art. One cannot understand Van Gogh without understanding how Japanese art arrived in Paris in the middle of the 19th century and the profound impact it had on artists like Monet, Degas and, above all, Van Gogh. The film travels not only to France and the Netherlands but also to Japan to further explore the remarkable heritage that so affected Van Gogh and made him the artist we know of today.

Exergo

May 2024 •Basque

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

Martin Blaszko III

April 2011 •Spanish

Martin Blaszko is considered one of the most important artists of geometric abstraction in Latin America. This documentary, which ends a trilogy, follows the setup of what ended up being his last art show, through only twenty sequences.