Unfortunately I only have two channels and TVO isn't one of them. So, for those that have cable, knock yourself out. I have seen two of the films, Manufactured Landscapes and The True Meaning of Pictures. Both are excellent, providing insight into two very different subjects and photographers. While Shelby Lee Adams concentrates from a sociological level, on portraits of families living in Appalachia, Edward Burtynsky photographs landscapes carved up from industries and massive industrial revolution. Both films are directed by Jennifer Baichwal from Canada. Baichwal also has a new film, Act of God, premiering in Hot Docs: Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto from April 30 - May 10.
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MAY 3 - 9PM
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: LIFE THROUGH A LENS
This documentary traces the arc of Leibovitz’s photographic life, her aspirations to artistry and the trajectory of her career. It depicts the relationships and phases that shaped her life, from childhood, the tumultuous sixties, her transition from Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair, to motherhood. Highlights include interviews with her mentors, colleagues and most famous subjects (Susan Sontag, Bill Clinton, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan and others) and of course Leibovitz’s own personal insights. Watch the evolution of one of today’s most influential visual artists.
Directed by Barbara Leibovitz US, 2007, 81 MIN
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MAY 4 - 10PM
THE GENIUS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The first episode in this 4-part documentary uncovers key developments in photography and describes how this art form changed the way people understood their world. Meet pioneer photographers including George Eastman, who made photography available to the masses with the invention of the Kodak camera.
Episode 1: 1800-1914: Fixing the Shadows Directed by Tim Kirby, Deborah Lee and Chris Rodley UK, 2007, 59 MIN
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MAY 6 - 10PM
DADDY TRAN: A LIFE IN 3D
Hai Tran spent his life sharing the wonders of 3D photography with the world. This passionate photographer fled Vietnam in a small boat with his young family, three cameras and a suitcase of photographs. He eventually opened one of Canada's largest vintage camera stores.
Directed by Siu Ta Canada, 2008, 47 MIN
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MAY 7 - 10PM
TIERNEY GEARON: THE MOTHER PROJECT
Tierney Gearon’s photographs have been called manipulative and perverse. Upon the first showing of her work, the Saatchi Gallery was ordered to take down Gearon’s photos, which were of her young children. This documentary follows Tierney as she assembles her provocative new body of work.
Directed by Jack Youngelson and Peter Sutherland US, 2006, 56 MIN CANADIAN TELEVISION PREMIERE
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MAY 10 - 9PM
ELOQUENT NUDE
When they met, they fell instantly in love. Setting off across the West with camera and typewriter in the depths of the Great Depression, Charis Wilson and Edward Weston transformed photography, and each other. Now age 90, Charis Wilson recounts her years with Weston.
Directed by Ian McLuskey US, 2007, 57 Min CANADIAN TELEVISION PREMIERE
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MAY 1 0- 10PM
PEPPERS AND NUDES: THE PHOTOGRAPHER EDWARD WESTON
Peppers and Nudes presents a personal look at modern American photographer Edward Weston on the trail in California, visiting Carmel and Point Lobos, the sand dunes of Oceano and Death Valley.
Directed by Joachim Haupt Germany, 2004, 26 MIN
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MAY 11 - 10 PM
THE GENIUS OF PHOTOGRAPHY II
This film considers the use of photography 1918–1945. While some were using photography’s precise, objective qualities to promote radical utopia in the Soviet Union and order amid chaos in Weimar, Germany, others were exploring the subjective, the irrational and the surreal.
Episode 2: 1918-1945: Documents for Artists Directed by Tim Kirby, Deborah Lee and Chris Rodley UK, 2007, 59 MIN
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MAY 13 - 10PM
HANSEL MIETH: VAGABOND PHOTOGRAPHER
A German immigrant, Hansel Mieth became a celebrated LIFE magazine staff photographer, carving out a career in a male-dominated profession and creating some of the most indelible images of the 20th century.
Directed by Nancy Schiesari US, 2003, 54 MIN
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MAY 14 - 10PM
GIRL IN A MIRROR - A PORTRAIT OF CAROL JERREMS
Girl in a Mirror traces the passionate and exuberant Jerrems as she documented turbulent 1970s counter culture. A taboo-shattering artist, Jerrems’ life was tragically cut short.
Directed by Kathy Drayton Australia, 2005, 55 MIN
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MAY 17 - 9PM
WHAT REMAINS: THE LIFE & WORK OF SALLY MANN
The work of Sally Mann directly confronts American attitudes towards dying and meditates on the assimilation of the body into the Earth. Her photographs portray the scars left on her property, a Civil War battlefield, a forensic scene, a forgotten pet and, in a closing, life-affirming gesture, close-up portraits of her children.
Directed by Steven Cantor US, 2005, 1:20 MIN
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MAY 18 - 10PM
THE GENIUS OF PHOTOGRAPHY III
Magnum legends Philip Jones Griffiths and Susan Meisalas, soldier-photographer Tony Vaccaro and broadcaster Jon Snow consider the questions that extraordinary pictures raise about WWII as seen through the viewfinder.
Episode 3: Right Place, Right Time? Directed by Tim Kirby, Deborah Lee and Chris Rodley UK, 2007, 59 MIN
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MAY 20 - 10PM
THE PHOTOGRAPHER, HIS WIFE, HER LOVER
O. Winston Link took black-and-white photographs of the great steam locomotives of the 1950s. When Link was 73, he married Conchita Mendoza, 48. She sold his photographs for profit while having an affair and keeping Link captive in his basement darkroom.
Directed by Paul Yule UK, 2005, 1:18 MIN
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MAY 21 - 10PM
THE TRUE MEANING OF PICTURES
This film is an introduction to the work of renowned photographer Shelby Lee Adams. Born in Eastern Kentucky, Adams devoted 30 years to making portraits of families living in Appalachia who have been misrepresented in the media and derogatorily referred to as "hillbillies."
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal Canada, 2002, 58 MIN
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MAY 24 - 9PM
ANSEL ADAMS: A DOCUMENTARY FILM
This film chronicles Ansel Adams’ life and art, detailing his childhood, his marriage to Virginia Best, his relationship with famed contemporary Alfred Stieglitz, his eventual creative successes and his environmental activism.
Directed by Ric Burns US, 2002, 1:36 MIN
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MAY 25 - 10PM
THE GENIUS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IV
This episode chronicles Robert Frank's odyssey through 1950s America, William Klein's walk around New York, Garry Winogrand’s explorations of Central Park Zoo and William Eggleston's journey through the American South.
Episode 4: Paper Movies Directed by Tim Kirby, Deborah Lee and Chris Rodley UK, 2007, 59 MIN
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MAY 27 - 10PM
DOLCE VITA AFRICANA
Malian photographer Malick Sidibe's snapshots from the late 1950s to the early 1970s capture the carefree spirit of youth asserting their freedom from colonialism in the early days of Malian independence before a coup ushered in decades of military dictatorship.
Directed by Cosima Spender US, 2008, 59 MIN
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MAY 28 - 10PM
STARS BY HELMUT NEWTON
Take a revealing look at the art of photographer Helmut Newton—always a provocative and controversial study—including candid interviews with many of his famous subjects. The film centres on the release of Newton’s SUMO, the most expensive book ever produced.
Directed by Julian Benedikt Switzerland, 2000, 58 MIN
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MAY 31 - 9PM
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES
Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Edward Burtynsky creates beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. This film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. Meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal Canada, 2006, 86 MIN
