Looking at Creativity

This Fall the Gallery continues its program of films that focus on the arts in a new series of recently released feature length documentaries. From Gaudi to Glass, this series offers unique insights into several renowned cultural producers who have each pushed the boundaries in their respective fields of architecture, film, music and the visual arts.

Screenings Tuesdays at 5 pm. Admission is free. Seating is limited.

Tuesday 27 October- Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe

James Crump, USA/Germany, 2007, 76 minutes. The life and work of the most controversial photographer of our times, Robert Mapplethorpe, and his live-in patron, the collector Sam Wagstaff, are examined in this luminous and probing documentary. Warning: Adult content!

Tuesday 3 November- Antonio Gaudi

Hiroshi Teshigahara, Spain/Japan, 1984, 97 minutes. Woman in the Dunes director Teshigahara wordlessly explores the art and buildings of the great Catalan designer Antonio Gaudi as a testament to organic form.

Tuesday 10 November- This So-Called Disaster

Michael Almereyda, USA, 2003, 89 minutes. Actor/playwright – and occasional Nova Scotian resident – Sam Shepard’s autobiographical play The Late Henry Moss is seen through the rehearsal process in this profound look at one man’s vision of the American West. The cast includes Sean Penn, Cheech Marin, Woody Harrelson and Nick Nolte.

Tuesday 17 November- Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Marina Zenovich, USA, 2008, 100 minutes. A deconstruction of the underage rape case that eventually drove legendary film director Roman Polanski from America, Wanted and Desired explores the convoluted mix of politics and morality that has kept the cineaste a fugitive from the USA ever since.

Tuesday 24 November- GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts

Scott Hicks, Australia, 2007, 115 minutes. Shot in Germany, New York City – and substantially in Cape Breton – a portrait of Philip in twelve parts sees Shine director Scott Hicks following internationally renowned minimalist composer Philip Glass as he writes his 8th Symphony and launches his opera Waiting for the Barbarians. Artist Chuck Close also appears.

Tuesday 15 December- The Rape of Europa

Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen and Nicole Newnham, USA, France, Germany, Russia, Austria and Poland, 2007, 117 minutes. The Nazi’s obsession with art is the focus of this fascinating feature-length documentary that zeroes in on what actually happened to many of the Western World’s masterpieces when war threatened theft and destruction.