Releases
'Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present,' a Smash Hit from S.F. International Film Festival, Opens an Exclusive San Francisco Engagement July 6 at SF Film Society Cinema
A Mesmerizing Cinematic Journey Inside the World of Radical Performance, and an Intimate Portrait of an Astonishingly Magnetic, Endlessly Intriguing Woman
5/29/2012
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, (USA 2011), an enthralling portrait of the controversial performance artist directed by Matthew Akers, opens an exclusive San Francisco engagement July 6 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street).
Marina Abramovic has been called “the grandmother of performance art,” although she’s as youthful as ever in Matthew Akers’s fascinating, visually crisp documentary portrait, which tracks Abramovic’s celebrated 2010 MOMA retrospective. The Serbian-born artist made work in the 1970s concerning the limits and conceptions of the body that have long since become part of the modern art canon, yet she still continues to athletically press at the boundaries of performance art. Granted a yearlong all-access pass, Akers captures Abramovic’s many selves as she stages this major exhibition. The MOMA show, titled “The Artist Is Present,” was a marathon spectacle in which Abramovic faced viewers singly, silently—gathering ever more fervent followers along the way. Akers’ camera also captures her posing glamorously for fashion magazines; in guru mode, training young artists to enact her early work; sick in bed using chromatic therapies; domestic while cooking pasta; and emotionally raw while reconnecting with her former art and life partner, Ulay. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present confidently meets built-in challenges, giving the oft-reviled, ephemeral medium of performance a sympathetic, mainstream platform and humanizing a woman who defies age as easily as stereotypes. The documentary befits its subject: It’s a sleek, unerring look in the eye of an extraordinary artist. 105 min. Photographed by Matthew Akers. 98 min. Distributed by Music Box Films.
Watch the trailer here.
Showtimes 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens May 30 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request an interview contact hhart@sffs.org.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis. For complete up-to-date information on all SFFS Cinema programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org/cinema.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Through May 31: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Opening June 1: Hide Away
June 2 only: An Evening of Wholphin Love
Eight consecutive Saturdays June 2–July 21: The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Opening June 8: The Wages of Fear
Opening June 15: The Woman in the Fifth
June 21: Master Class: The Politics of the Cutting Room Floor
Opening June 22: Found Memories
June 22–July 7: KinoTek: Adriane Colburn: Ways, Points and Means
Opening June 29: Corpo Celeste
August 24: Master Class: Les Blank on Documentary
TBA: KinoTek: Brent Green, sculpture and animation
San Francisco Film Society
Building on a legacy of more than 50 years of bringing the best in world cinema to the Bay Area, the San Francisco Film Society is a national leader in exhibition, education and filmmaker services.
The Film Society presents 365 days of exhibition each year, reaching a total audience of 130,000 people. Its acclaimed education program introduces international, independent and documentary cinema and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students and presents more than 100 classes and workshops annually. Through Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s filmmaker services program, essential creative and business services and funding totaling millions of dollars are provided to deserving filmmakers of all levels.
The Film Society seeks to elevate all aspects of film culture, offering a wide range of activities that engage emotions, inspire action, change perceptions and advance knowledge. A 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, it is largely donor and member supported. Patronage and membership provides discounted prices, access to grants and residencies, private events and a wealth of other benefits.
For more information visit sffs.org.
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Marina Abramovic has been called “the grandmother of performance art,” although she’s as youthful as ever in Matthew Akers’s fascinating, visually crisp documentary portrait, which tracks Abramovic’s celebrated 2010 MOMA retrospective. The Serbian-born artist made work in the 1970s concerning the limits and conceptions of the body that have long since become part of the modern art canon, yet she still continues to athletically press at the boundaries of performance art. Granted a yearlong all-access pass, Akers captures Abramovic’s many selves as she stages this major exhibition. The MOMA show, titled “The Artist Is Present,” was a marathon spectacle in which Abramovic faced viewers singly, silently—gathering ever more fervent followers along the way. Akers’ camera also captures her posing glamorously for fashion magazines; in guru mode, training young artists to enact her early work; sick in bed using chromatic therapies; domestic while cooking pasta; and emotionally raw while reconnecting with her former art and life partner, Ulay. Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present confidently meets built-in challenges, giving the oft-reviled, ephemeral medium of performance a sympathetic, mainstream platform and humanizing a woman who defies age as easily as stereotypes. The documentary befits its subject: It’s a sleek, unerring look in the eye of an extraordinary artist. 105 min. Photographed by Matthew Akers. 98 min. Distributed by Music Box Films.
Watch the trailer here.
Showtimes 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office opens May 30 online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request an interview contact hhart@sffs.org.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis. For complete up-to-date information on all SFFS Cinema programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org/cinema.
More upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Through May 31: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Opening June 1: Hide Away
June 2 only: An Evening of Wholphin Love
Eight consecutive Saturdays June 2–July 21: The Story of Film: An Odyssey
Opening June 8: The Wages of Fear
Opening June 15: The Woman in the Fifth
June 21: Master Class: The Politics of the Cutting Room Floor
Opening June 22: Found Memories
June 22–July 7: KinoTek: Adriane Colburn: Ways, Points and Means
Opening June 29: Corpo Celeste
August 24: Master Class: Les Blank on Documentary
TBA: KinoTek: Brent Green, sculpture and animation
San Francisco Film Society
Building on a legacy of more than 50 years of bringing the best in world cinema to the Bay Area, the San Francisco Film Society is a national leader in exhibition, education and filmmaker services.
The Film Society presents 365 days of exhibition each year, reaching a total audience of 130,000 people. Its acclaimed education program introduces international, independent and documentary cinema and media literacy to more than 10,000 teachers and students and presents more than 100 classes and workshops annually. Through Filmmaker360, the Film Society’s filmmaker services program, essential creative and business services and funding totaling millions of dollars are provided to deserving filmmakers of all levels.
The Film Society seeks to elevate all aspects of film culture, offering a wide range of activities that engage emotions, inspire action, change perceptions and advance knowledge. A 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, it is largely donor and member supported. Patronage and membership provides discounted prices, access to grants and residencies, private events and a wealth of other benefits.
For more information visit sffs.org.
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