What Price Art? By Tracey Emin

Constable: A Country Rebel

September 2014 •English

The Haywain by John Constable is such a comfortingly familiar image of rural Britain that it is difficult to believe it was ever regarded as a revolutionary painting, but in this film, made in conjunction with a landmark exhibition at the V&A, Alastair Sooke discovers that Constable was painting in a way that was completely new and groundbreaking at the time. Through experimentation and innovation, he managed to make a sublime art from humble things and, though he struggled in his own country during his lifetime, his genius was surprisingly widely admired in France.

The Billion Dollar Art Hunt

October 2020 •English

In June 2019, arts journalist John Wilson received an extraordinary tip-off – one billion dollars’ worth of stolen art may be about to be recovered. Included are a unique Rembrandt - his only seascape - and a Vermeer considered the most valuable stolen painting in the world. The art was taken from the walls of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in the early hours of 18 March 1990. It remains the world’s biggest unsolved art heist. For John, to follow the recovery of the paintings, as it happens, would be the biggest art story of the century.

Van Gogh: Of Wheat Fields and Clouded Skies

April 2018 •Italian

A new look at Van Gogh, through the legacy of the largest private collector of artworks by the Dutch painter: Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), who, in the early 20th Century, ended up buying nearly 300 of his works, paintings and drawings included.

Botticelli

September 2015 •German

Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is both a cultural icon and a lasting source of artistic inspiration. His famous female figures, like Venus and Primavera, have become part of our shared visual memory and influence artists worldwide. Berlin director and art historian Grit Lederer explores Botticelli’s life and work, focusing on the Gemäldegalerie’s impressive collection. The film examines how his iconic paintings continue to inspire art and advertising today. Experts reveal what makes his style unique and why his work was forgotten for centuries after his death. Contemporary artists such as French artist Orlan and American Michael Joaquin Grey present works inspired by Botticelli. The documentary traces Botticelli’s enduring impact from Florence through Paris and New York to Berlin.

Minted

June 2023 •English

A fascinating look at the intersection of art, commerce, and digital ownership through the rise and crash of the NFT market.

Asdrúbal Trouxe o Trombone

November 2017 •Portuguese

Hokusai Up Close: Paintings from the Freer Gallery of Art

May 2023 •English

In 2018 Japan’s NHK television network was given unprecedented access to the Freer Gallery of Art’s collection of works by Katsushika Hokusai so they could film the details of paintings using a state-of-the-art 8K video camera. The resulting documentary is hosted by actor Iura Arata and features commentary from the James Ulak, former curator at the National Museum of Asian Art, and Tim Clark, former curator at the British Museum. The film’s intended premiere in April 2020 was canceled due to the pandemic. We are proud to finally screen it. Explore masterpieces at a never-before-seen level of detail and enjoy new insights into the artist’s genius.

The Lost Leonardo

August 2021 •English

London, England, 2008. Some of the most distinguished experts on the work of Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) gather at the National Gallery to examine a painting known as Salvator Mundi; an event that turns out to be the first act of one of the most fascinating stories in the history of art.

Bombin'

January 1987 •English

First broadcast in 1987 on the UK's Channel 4, Bombin' is a documentary about Afrika Bambaataa's Zulu nation bringing American hip-hop culture to the UK for first time. The main focus is the graffiti art of Brim and the variety of reactions he is faced with from the British public and press.

Florence and the Uffizi Gallery

December 2015 •Italian

Follows a trail of over 10 museums and 150 artworks amongst the most well-known in the world. It is an artistic foray into Florence taking in everything from the Brancacci Chapel to the Bargello National Museum, from Palazzo Medici, to the narrow city streets and Brunelleschi’s Dome, from Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery, without neglecting picture postcard places such as the Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria.

The Majesty of Art

January 2024 •English

A movie about an artist that had a vision about art and he had expressed that in his paintings, designs, fashion designs and photography and make virtual reality exhibition and virtual reality artworks that people can enjoy and feel it.

Les vendredis d'Apostrophes

November 2015 •French

Hours and historical meetings, Pierre Assouline has composed an anthology of the best extracts presented in the form of a primer, which he had commented on by a surprised Bernard Pivot.

Gerhard Richter: 4 Decades

February 2005 •English

Curator Robert Storr takes us through the 2002 MoMA Gerhard Richter retrospective.

Kentridge and Dumas in Conversation

Invalid date •English

William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas – two of the most celebrated names in international contemporary art – come face to face in a series of frank, witty and intense discussions about their work and practice. The film follows them from the gentle ambience of a dinner conversation, to their studios – where we are given insight into the way that each artist works – to some of their finished works and installations. What emerges is how very differently these two highly successful South African artists approach image making. Dumas’ method is deeply intuitive – she often works on the floor as though embracing her paintings, pouring and dabbing paint to produce her remarkable portraits. Kentridge is intensely systematic, alternating gestural mark making with the repetitive action of drawing-filming-erasing for his animated films.

The Cremaster Cycle: A Conversation with Matthew Barney

February 2004 •English

For his five Cremaster films Matthew Barney's created a multitude of sculptural forms and structures. Recently both the sculptures and the films traveled to museums in Cologne, Paris and New York's Guggenheim. In THE CREMASTER CYCLE: A Conversation with Matthew Barney, the artist guides the camera through this remarkable creation at the Guggenheim Museum while being questioned by Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic of the New York Times.

Zoran

January 2023 •Serbian

The story of the circumstances in which Zoran matured as an artist, learning from the best. Zoran is a master at turning every seemingly difficult situation into an opportunity. And it does it all with incredible ease. His sculptures are alive. That is why the North American Indians gave him the Indian name Tunka Kitka - The man who awakens the stone.

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.

Kazuo Ohno: I Dance Into the Light

November 2004 •English

A documentary about legendary butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno.

Paolo Ventura - Vanishing Man

September 2015 •English

Italian photographer Paolo Ventura creates stories by giving life to the simplest of materials which he has gathered. He gave up a successful career as a fashion photographer because he just had to photograph the images that haunted him. Images that the artist had imagined as a child when his grandmother told him about her adventures during the war. In his studio, in a barn on top of a secluded mountain, he creates a timeless melancholic world that resonates the isolation in which he grew up. Ventura conquered the international art scene with his photography series War Souvenir and Winter Stories. His work is included in collections by renowned museums in Italy, France and the US.

A Visit to Hokusai

October 2014 •French

A look at the work of Japanese woodblock printing artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849).