by Alain Fleischer, FR 2013, 26'
| WRITTEN AND DIRECT BY Alain Fleischer | EDITING: Baptiste Evrard | |
| SCRIPT: Alain Fleischer | PRODUCER: Olivier Mille | |
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Olivier Guéneau | PRODUCTION: Artline Films/ARTE France/Le Fresnoy | |
| STEREOSCOPY: Cédric-Alexandre Saudinos (Parallell Cinema) | DISTRIBUTION: Artline Films | |
| SOUND: Blandine Tourneux | LANGUAGE: French; SUBTITLES: Italian |
Presented at Lo schermo dell'arte Film Festival 2013Constantin Brancusi’s atelier, restored by architect Renzo Piano in 1997 and re-settled in a paivillion adjacent to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, is a transparent treasure-chest of beauty, filled with the work of one of the 20th century’s most fascinating artists, as well as his tools, just the way he left them at the time of his death, in 1957. In this suggestive scenario, Alain Fleischer has created a masterly “work on the work”, reconstructing the links between various aspects of Brancusi’s work, through a knowlegeable interweaving of sculpture, photography, cinema and dance.
In the documentary, which is part of a series on sculpture (also produced in a 3D version), extraordinary sweeping shots of the studio and footage of the sculptures on their own are accompanied by photographs and films shot by Brancusi himself in the 1920s and 30s. The artist often used a cine-camera to shoot himself at work: “créer comme un Dieu, commander comme un roi, travailler comme un esclave” (“create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave”), and also to immortalize one of his muses, the American dancer Florence Meyer.
Alain Fleischer
Writer, artist, photographer and internationally famous cineaste, he has published books and directed several movies. Many retrospectives have been dedicated to his cinema work, in important institutions and festivals, such as Centre Pompidou e Jeu de Paume, Parigi; Festival Internazionale di Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro; Anthology Film Archives, New York; International Festival of Films on Art, Montreal; Istituto franco- giapponese, Tokyo. In 1997, at the behest of the French Ministry of Culture, he founded Le Fresnoy-Studio national des arts contemporains, which he directs. His works have been shown in museums and galleries in France and abroad. He lives and works in France and Italy.
Selected filmography
2002 Le Roi Rodin; 2008 Anthony Caro, la sculpture comme religion; 2009 Choses lues, choses vues; 2011 Immersion – Un solo de Carolyn Carlson; 2012 Yann Kersalé, les aventures de la lumière
www.artlinefilms.com
Prix du meilleur essai / Award for Best Essay - BRANCUSI from Fifa on Vimeo.