Category Archives: documentary

clash of the giants (documentary: Karajan – Bernstein, le combat des chefs – Emmanuelle Franc, 2015)

Posted on September 19, 2019 by admin

Herbert von Karajan was born in 1908 and died in July 1989, just a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918 and died in October 1990, and in one of his last … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary, music | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

the unbelievable past (Documentary: Utopia impusa – Marius Barna, 2010)

Posted on September 15, 2019 by admin

The documentary film ‘Utopia impusa‘ (‘The Imposed Utopia’) was made in 2009. That was the year of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime in Romania, and screenwriter Lucian Dan Teodorovici and director Marius Barna felt the … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary, history, movies, Romania | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Leonardo, the painter (Film: Leonardo Live – Phil Grabsky, 2012)

Posted on September 13, 2019 by admin

I saw last night at the local cinematheque one of the oldest art documentaries of the series ‘Exhibition on Screen’, dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci’s paintings and made in 2012 by Phil Grabsky, on the occasion of the exhibition that … Continue reading →

Posted in art, documentary, movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

like being there … or better (Documentary: Exhibition on Screen: David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts – Phil Grabsky, 2017)

Posted on August 16, 2019 by admin

Often, when we want to tell or write appreciatively about an art documentary film that describes an exhibition or a museum, we use the expression – ‘watching the film is similar / second best to the experience of visiting the … Continue reading →

Posted in art, documentary | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

a great gospel concert (Film: Amazing Grace – Aretha Franklin, 2018)

Posted on August 13, 2019 by admin

In January 1972, Aretha Franklin gave two concerts on two consecutive days at a Baptist church in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old soul and R&B singer had already gained worldwide fame and the unofficial crown of Queen of Soul Music. In … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

the last great festival (Film: Message to Love – Murray Lerner, 1996)

Posted on August 8, 2019 by admin

In August 1970, more than 600,000 people invaded the Isle of Wight, located near the south coast of England and populated in the ordinary times by less than 100,000 inhabitants, to attend the third edition of the Pop Music Festival. … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

a controversial posterity (Film: Golda – Sagi Burnstein, Udi Nir, Shani Roznes, 2019)

Posted on June 14, 2019 by admin

The historical perception left behind by Golda Meir is very different in Israel and in the Jewish Diaspora. The Jews of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as well as those in the United States remember her as one … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Clouzot films Picasso (Film: Le mystère Picasso – Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1956)

Posted on June 13, 2019 by admin

Pablo Picasso and a few other important artists of the 20th century (Constantin Brancusi is another example) had a love affair mixed with fascination with the photographic and film cameras. They recognized them as a means of artistic expression and … Continue reading →

Posted in art, documentary | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

a special kind of documentary about a special kind of woman (documentary: Shooting the Mafia – Letizia Battaglia, 2019)

Posted on June 9, 2019 by admin

‘Shooting the Mafia‘ is a documentary that tells the story of the life of a woman who is our contemporary, but whose biography is very different from that of most people around her and us. The merit of the Irish … Continue reading →

Posted in documentary | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

youth of a genius (Film: Young Picasso – Phil Grabsky, 2019)

Posted on May 17, 2019 by admin

1907 was an ‘annus mirabilis’ (a wonderful year) in the history of art and in the life of Pablo Picasso. It was the year when Picasso painted ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’, a painting that overturned all the traditional conceptions of composition, … Continue reading →

Posted in art, documentary | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment