Turnout radiant for the 7th annual Reel Artists Film Festival
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Crowds line up to see premiere films at the 2010 Reel Artists Film Festival. This year's festival featured more sold-out screenings than ever before. |
The 2010 Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival, held in Toronto from February 24 to 28, showcased 13 documentary films on internationally renowned artists. The festival presented the Canadian premiere screening of Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, about the artist whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era. The documentary by filmmaker Tamra Davis tells the real story of legendary painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. The New York Times called it “a profoundly moving testament to an artist who really could not do anything but make paintings, to the gritty New York of the early ’80s and to the creative community that helped foster Basquiat’s genius.”
“We were delighted to welcome Tamra Davis and producer David Koh to Toronto for the Canadian premiere screening of Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child,” says festival organizer Ann Webb. “This year was an incredible success, with more films sold out over the weekend than ever before. It’s a pleasure to know there is a growing and enthusiastic audience for films about visual art and artists from around the world."
On the afternoon of Sunday, February 28, the Reel Artists Film Festival rescreened the film to a sold-out audience packed with art-loving film goers, despite coinciding with Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey final.
The festival, which Eye Weekly calls “a reliably strong survey of contemporary art docs,” hosted another popular free day of film screenings for students this year, with many students and teachers coming out on Friday, February 26. The films were the North American premiere of Antony Gormley and the 4th Plinth (2009), on the British sculptor’s highly controversial live artwork in London’s Trafalgar Square, introduced by Canadian Art editor Richard Rhodes; the Toronto premiere of Pretend Not to See Me (2009), which showcased several of Colette Urban’s performances in Newfoundland and featured a special performance by the artist as an owl-like creature who emerged on the dark stage lit only by flashlights. The screening was followed by a fascinating conversation with curator Barbara Fischer, director Katherine Knight and the artist. Leah Sandals, associate editor of Canadianart.ca, introduced the Toronto premiere of Traveling with Yoshitomo Nara (2007), a film that accompanies the acclaimed Japanese painter on an international road trip.
Other festival highlights included the world premiere of Fold, Crumple, Crush: The Art of El Anatsui (2009), about the first black African artist to achieve the highest levels of world acclaim. The film’s director Susan Vogel, founder of the Museum for African Art in New York, introduced the film and took many questions from the audience afterwards. Another special highlight was a film on the late Swiss art dealer and founder of Art Basel Ernst Beyeler, which was introduced with a moving tribute by Ann Webb and followed by a conversation with Samuel Keller, head of the Beyeler Foundation.
The Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival is a project of the Canadian Art Foundation, a charitable organization established to foster and support the visual arts in Canada. The foundation celebrates artists and their creativity with a nationwide educational program of events, lectures, competitions, publications and other initiatives.
