The new film from an established director…
Listen to Me Marlon
Listen to Me Marlon (2015)
What’s it about?
It’s a portrait of Marlon Brando, one of the most brilliant, complex and charismatic screen actors of his generation. Through his extraordinary personal archive, including hundreds of hours of audio tape, the late actor charts his exceptional career and life entirely in his own voice.
Who made it?
Stevan Riley is one of the UK’s most talented documentary filmmakers, an award-winning director, producer, writer, editor and cinematographer. An Oxford graduate, his previous credits include Rave against the Machine (2002), Blue Blood (2006), Fire in Babylon (2010) and Everything or Nothing (2012).
What’s special about it?
This film could have been subtitled ‘Brando on Brando’ – Riley has achieved something truly remarkable in constructing a completely authentic first-person narrative for someone who is deceased.
Listen to this deeply private man talk openly about his love-hate relationship with acting and fame, professional triumphs and disasters, struggles with addiction, love affairs and family tragedies. Watch excerpts from his greatest roles, lasting testaments to his extraordinary talent, interspersed with home videos and other rare clips that put his work into the context of a turbulent life. Be reminded again, too, of his astonishing youthful physical beauty. Director Stevan Riley has given Brando the role of his life.
The breakthrough…
Nicola Costantino: The Artefacta
Nicola Constantino: The Artefacta (2015)
What’s it about?
Nicola Costantino is one of Latin America’s most controversial and admired visual artists, renowned for her use of macabre imagery to document Argentina’s turbulent history. In this film, Costantino presents the progression of her work from its origins to her participation at the 2013 Venice Biennale.
Who made it?
This is Natalie Cristiani’s directorial debut. Previously best known as an editor, she has brought 15 years’ experience working on both fiction and documentary to bear on her first feature. She is a graduate of the prestigious Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia in Italy, the oldest film school in western Europe.
What’s special about it?
Nicola Costantino: The Artefacta is a beautifully crafted and visually stunning film exploring the philosophy, work and life of a thought-provoking artist who in every sense of the word ‘lives’ her art. It is narrated by Costantino and is an immersive experience in which the artist presents herself as she wants to be seen. As a designer, builder and meticulous craftsperson, every element of her life provides material for her work, which is orchestrated like an extended performance piece.
Her conceptual art is controversial and intellectually challenging, clearly influenced by her upbringing in a politically turbulent Argentina by a surgeon father and seamstress mother. The works are visually striking and uniquely macabre, incorporating moulds of animal parts, human skin, even her own body fat. Using her body as research subject, model and actor, Costantino is her own muse; her fascination with herself is infectious in this gorgeously cinematic portrait.
The wild card…
Hand Gestures
Hand Gestures (2015)
What’s it about?
This documentary follows the process of creating one of Velasco Vitali’s famous dog sculptures, from wax to glazed bronze, at Fonderia Artistica Battaglia in Milan. It observes the work of skilled artisans in this 100-year old foundry, revealing the ancient traditions of bronze sculpture-making unchanged since the fifth century BC.
Who made it?
Italian director Francesco Clerici works closely with artist Velasco Vitali as writer, filmmaker and project manager. His 2011 short film Storie nel cemento (Cement Stories) won the FAI prize at Milan Film Festival. Hand Gestures is his first feature-length film and won the FIPRESCI award at Berlinale Forum 2015.
What’s special about it?
Giacomo Manzù, one of the 20th century’s leading sculptors, used to say that sculpture is a hand gesture, a gesture of love. This idea lies at the heart of the film which takes us inside a historic foundry in Milan. It’s a creative documentary with both formal observational rigour and an aesthetic appreciation for the process of art creation. What makes it different from the usual run of personality-led films about art is its format; with no voiceover narration and minimal dialogue it is more like a visual poem.
The viewer is slowly drawn into experiencing the sculpture process firsthand, to feel the warm wax beneath the fingers and the heat of the furnace on the skin as the artisans work on their labour of love. This is a film for anyone who has ever looked at a piece of sculpture and wondered how it was made, and by whom.
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