11th of November

Good news this morning. Following our TV broadcast of our film (CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY) the CD box set of Leif Ove Andsnes’ Beethoven Journey has gone to number one in the UK charts.  That’s wonderful – above all because it means more and more people are hearing  the wonderful performances by Leif Ove and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.   The film went out on BBC4 a few days ago and received quite a  respectable audience figure.   We had limited marketing support so we were pleased to see just how many of you managed to find the film and watch it.  We were particularly delighted with the number of very positive comments that we received. As the marketplace gets more and more congested, marketing becomes even more vital.  If folk don’t know your film is on – or aren’t drawn to see it through articles or ads – you don’t stand a chance.  The question is with limited funds where do you focus your attention? Do we focus on arts journalists or social media, flyers or quarter-page ads in magazines?   It’s not uncommon for films to spend as much on the marketing as the production itself.  Can you imagine how much the latest Bond film Spectre spent?  Anyway, we do what we can.  Next up we have the cinema release to plan for in Norway, USA, Canada, Poland, Australia and New Zealand….and then more after that.  They are limited releases to independent cinemas, largely.  I actually think it’s one of the best films I’ve directed so I want people to see it! Or perhaps more importantly, hear it!   I had a whistle-stop to the USA last week and did a couple of screenings – people were absolutely knocked out by Leif Ove’s performance and character.

Of course, as ever, our main focus as a company is EXHIBITION ON SCREEN.  We had a super Season 3 launch at the National Gallery on Monday morning.  Xavier Bray the curator took our 80 guests (largely press) around the exhibition and then we showed some clips of the season ahead. Many kind words were spoken about the films and the ambition in general but words are one thing, actions another.  

GOYA – VISIONS OF FLESH AND BLOOD is the first film to be released (180 cinemas in the UK) so let’s hope that gets us off to a good start. My colleague David Bickerstaff directed it and I think he’s every bit an artist too.   It’s a super exhibition – and once again a credit to a curator (and his support at the National Gallery) to manage to get so many loans.  It’s easy to take that for granted but every painting that comes from abroad is a story of persistence.  Some have never been to the UK before and maybe won’t again.  That alone is good reason to visit the show (or see the film).  I think the film works well because we take the story well outside the gallery walls – especially to extensive and sometimes privileged filming in Spain. It’s a fascinating story & biography.

As is the film I personally have just finished about Renoir.  I won’t begin to tell you the fuss we’ve had deciding on whether the film should be RENOIR – REVERED AND REVILED or RENOIR – REVILED AND REVERED.  We’re going with the former and which ever way you cut it what it reflects is that this is an artist that provokes extreme reactions both for and against.  There has been a campaign with the childish title of #RenoirSucksAtPainting .  Childish but effective. The international coverage of this handful of people in Boston has been remarkable.  Our response is simple: it’s not for us to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t like but, before making up your mind about Renoir, watch the film.  That’s all we film-makers try to aspire to: to give you the information to come to informed decisions.

Well, that’s all for today.  I hate to boast but tomorrow I’m off to Beijing!

Don’t forget to sign-up to our newsletter to keep up to date with what new things we have in store.

14th August 2015

Midway through August….not that you’d know it looking outside of my window in Brighton as the rain pours down in buckets….  The centre of the city is dotted with small floods…Ah, summer time in England.    It is nice, however, to have a pause in the schedule and finally get back to giving everyone an update. It really has been toooooo long.  My, how we have been busy.  Yesterday we finished CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.  On and off in production for four years it is a 92’ film about one of the world’s great pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and his dedication over those past few years to playing essentially just Beethoven, above all the 5 piano concertos.  As soon as I heard the suggestion that this ‘journey’ was going to happen I asked him for permission to film from start to finish.  Little did I know just how successful the touring would be and how extraordinary the reviews of the music would be. He and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra became the absolute must-have tickets….  Thus to be on-stage and behind-stage with them has been a privilege and a thrill.  The film though is a re-evaluation of Beethoven and I think we offer a fresh and revealing new biography of arguably the greatest composer that has ever lived.  As ever, making the film is one thing, distributing another.  Our first release is the UK cinemas on September 7^th…yes, that’s 3 weeks!  Now, far be it from me to blow my own trumpet (well, maybe sometimes..) but here’s a review we just had from the highly esteemed Gramophone Magazine:

One of the highlights of the BBC Proms so far has been Leif Ove Andsnes’s Beethoven piano concerto cycle with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and if you’re suffering withdrawal symptoms from music-making of such freshness and imagination, there’s a treat in store on the horizon. Phil Grabsky’s film ‘Concerto: A Beethoven Journey’ looks at the five piano concertos in collaboration with Andsnes and the Mahler CO’s three-year series of concerts and recordings (for Sony Classical), 'The Beethoven Journey'.Andsnes proves a wonderful guide to these five extraordinary works, speaking with humility, wisdom and insight about what they mean to him and the challenges they present to the performer. He is disarmingly frank about his relationship with the works when in his twenties and how he came to terms with them. He explains what made him determined to perform them over the course of a few years, and record them. Footage from the concerts in Prague, which Sony Classical used for its CD releases, forms the backbone of the film. We also see Andsnes and Gustavo Dudamel talking about the works prior to performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  For lovers of Beethoven’s music, admirers of Leif Ove Andsnes – and his fan base has probably grown exponentially in the past few weeks – or simply lovers of high-class music documentaries, ‘Concerto’ demands to be seen. It is a wonderfully uplifting and rewarding experience.  ‘I knew this exclusive journey with Leif Ove would allow me access to great performance,’ said Grabsky, ‘but I had no idea it would be this great. These became the best reviewed concerts of the past few years and I was on stage to record them. Even more importantly the music and Leif Ove's intelligent and accessible insight creates a staggeringly interesting new biography of arguably the greatest composer of all time.’ The film will be screened throughout the UK on September 7 – for details of participating cinemas visit Seventh Art’s website.

Not bad!  The release internationally will happen between now and next Spring.  We also had two wonderful preview screenings in Norway, high up in the Arctic Circle in a city called Bodø.  Leif Ove was there with the MCO playing the full 5 concertos and we screened the film twice to a sell-out crowd in between concerts.  It was wonderful to be in Norway with Norwegians for the premiere of a film about Norway’s number one artist.   More than that, it was a great excuse to travel up from Bergen and right up the western edge of this staggeringly beautiful country. I can’t recommend it enough.

To be honest, I needed the break.  The EXHIBITION ON SCREEN mega-project is all-consuming and it was pretty exhausting right up to the US screening on 14^th July (Bastille Day) of our last film in the Season – The Impressionists and the Man who Made Them.   We are really pleased with the 5 films this season – and in some countries they are still screening them (New Zealand, Korea, Brazil to name but three).  I’d always want (and need) a bigger audience worldwide but it’s growing and 40 countries is pretty impressive.  It looks like Van Gogh (with in excess of 100,000 seats sold) will be our best but Impressionists and Rembrandt may run it a close second.  Matisse deserved to do better but being first in the season (after a bit too long of a break from the end of Season 1) didn’t help. Girl with a Pearl Earring was some people’s favourite film but maybe was hindered a little by confusion from the Scarlett Johansson film of the same name.   

Season three is underway….and there are some exciting films coming this Autumn/Fall and into 2016.  I’ve been directing a film about Renoir that we are calling ‘Renoir – the Unknown Artist’. It’s based on the extraordinary collection of Renoirs at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.  We are about two-thirds of the way through and my understanding and appreciation of Renoir has really increased.  The artwork will look super on the big screen but there’s a fascinating story that we unveil as we go.  My colleague David Bickerstaff is working on two films – Goya (based on the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery) and Painting the Modern Garden - Monet to Matisse (based on next year’s exhibition at the Royal Academy).   Both films are looking stunning.  Plus, plus. Plus..plenty more in the pipeline for next year and beyond. 

From time to time I even get the chance to go to galleries for fun!  I was in New York a few days ago and wandered (the very busy – who says no-one is interested in art!!) Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Simply staggering – especially if you let yourself get lost and end up in galleries you’ve never seen before.  I certainly left with lots of film ideas – I’d love for example to make a film about Islamic Art and also American (pre-20^th century) art.   I’ll never run out of subjects, that’s for sure.

One final thing: do keep an eye on our Facebook site for EXHIBITION ON SCREEN – we post a lot of art stories. They are really interesting.   And do feel free to leave comments : we respond to them all.

June 8th 2015

Check out this article from Vents on the composer of Exhibition On Screen's latest art film:

 Find the original article here

Stephen Baysted scores new Exhibition on Screen film “The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them”

British composer Stephen Baysted (“Matisse: Live from the Tate and MoMa”) reunites with award-winning film-maker Phil Grabsky and Seventh Art Productions (“In Search of…Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin” composer series, “Concerto – A Beethoven Journey”) to score “The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them,” a new documentary feature in the acclaimed ‘Exhibition On Screen‘ series of films bringing blockbuster art exhibitions from galleries around the world to the cinema, in stunning high definition. The Impressionists screens in UK cinemas nationwide from May 26.

Recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London, Baysted’s original score for The Impressionists features performances by pianist and mezzo soprano Susan Legg (“A lustrous mezzo soprano” – The Sunday Times) and soprano Louise Walsh (Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera) with additional piano by Jonathan Plowright (“One of the finest living pianists” – Gramophone Magazine). A score album will be released through Baysted’s publisher label Red Rocca on May 28.

The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them tells the story of art’s greatest revolutionaries in the most comprehensive film ever made about the Impressionists. With unparalleled access to the highly anticipated international exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg Paris, National Gallery London and Philadelphia Museum of Art, the film captures some of the world’s most famous paintings in stunning high definition – featuring universally loved masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro and many more – as well as interweaving the incredible story of 19th century Parisian art collector Paul Durand-Ruel and the extraordinary lengths he went to make Impressionism a household name.

Describing the scoring process for this energetic and revealing film, Baysted explains, “When director Phil Grabsky and I discussed The Impressionists, he wanted a cinematic and narratively focused score and one which responded directly to the masterworks being shown on screen. We also discussed a musical style and vocabulary which was contemporaneous with the art works, so I put together a listening list for him which contained many of the most well-known works from Debussy, Faure and early Ravel, and one or two lesser known ‘Impressionist’ composers.”

“The score itself takes several of these original piano works by Claude Debussy as its starting point, and pianist and mezzo soprano Susan Legg and I constructed an entire cinematic and emotive musical landscape around them, interweaving original compositions and orchestrations along the way,” continues Baysted. “In some cases a single melodic contrapuntal line is isolated from the original and then extended, reharmonised, and expanded into a much larger scale cue to picture. In other cases, original compositions that reflect the musical language and style of the period take the viewer on a journey through the paintings and the narrative arc of the film’s main characters.”

Director Phil Grabsky commented, “The great thing about working with Stephen is that one ends up with a soundtrack that is infused with knowledge of the period but also contemporary, coherent and consistent with the film’s needs. In the cinema it helped make a good film better but, always the sign of a top composer, it was a soundtrack I found myself listening to for fun in the car.”

Renowned for his versatility, emotionally charged and expressively powerful music, Stephen Baysted’s acclaimed music scores have been enjoyed by audiences worldwide in a succession of award-winning films and video games including the UK’s recent #1 selling game Project Cars; the Royal Television Society award-winning Matisse: Live from the Tate and MoMa with director Phil Grabsky; the psychological drama Strange Factories; Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead: Assault; the international award-winning documentary Life Lines and Tim Pope’s Brandy and Pep.

Born in London, Stephen Baysted’s passion for music began during his school years singing, touring and recording with the internationally acclaimed Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir and playing clarinet in the London Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. Stephen studied music at Southampton University and at Dartington College of Arts, where he was awarded a PhD.

The Impressionists screens nationwide in UK cinemas from May 26 and in select US theatres on July 14.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJqCOdblha4

For screenings visit:
http://www.exhibitiononscreen.com/the-impressionists

For more information on the film:
http://www.seventh-art.com/the-impressionists-and-the-man-who-made-them/

February 24th in LA

Dateline Los Angeles….very flash..  I guess I came about as close as I'll ever get to the Oscars 2 nights ago...I was there to show my In Search of Chopin film on the invite of Poland's no 2 in the USA. He had a party in his house last night as they had 4 or 5 possible Polish winners...In the end they did get the big one - best foreign language film with Ida. As you can imagine they were delighted.  Personally I'm bored to death with awards shows - although, remarkably, the two big winners Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel were great films...I'm just so glad American Sniper was snubbed. Yuk.

It's very sunny here (though I've been stuck indoors doing emails and research all day) but tonight we have our LA premiere of Chopin – better than any Oscar ceremony!  

I’m shocked when I look at the date and realize we are almost in March.  What a crazy few months it has been –  starting the release of Chopin, filming CONCERTO as well as producing five EXHIBITION ON SCREEN films. These are now done and slowly being released here, there and everywhere.  The brand is building – slower than one would like – but it’s a steady incline at least.   Audience reactions are great – as evidenced but some sell-out shows I attended on the West Coast last week – but the economics are tricky while folk continue to see cinema as cheap entertainment. No-one really questions (well, I do!) paying £80 or $120 for a rock concert or theatrical piece but cinema we expect to be about a tenth of that. I’m not saying that’s wrong but it makes life pretty hard.  Mind you, we are finally starting to get some interest from sponsors which is good news.  It really is essential we keep making films like these: my family and I made a terrible mistake recently and went to see a film called Kingsman. We thought it was a kids’ spy thriller.  Boy, were we wrong!  It is a sick, vile, humourless exploration into how violent we can make a film and still only get a 15 certificate. If you enjoy seeing folk cut in half or a church full of parishioners being slaughtered, then this is for you. But then somehow I doubt you’d be reading my blog if it were…..  And guess what, this awful film has taken over $100m already and climbing.  What a world….

[Next day]   

Back in my oh-so-different world, I had a lovely screening of IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN in (a freezing) New York this evening. The Carnegie invited their privileged members to a screening – plus a preview clip of CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY. It went really well – and both looked great on the big screen.  CONCERTO looked really super – the first time I’d seen any of it projected.  Very exciting.  Right, need to pack as I have an early flight tomorrow to Philadelphia (a great town) and then home….

27th September 2014

4 films, 4 countries…

It’s been a busy few days once again and luckily the trains, planes and automobile gods have been on my side.

It began with a decent BA flight to one of my favourite US cities: Chicago.   The excellent Gene Siskel has been a warm host to my films over the years and, ages ago, they booked a season of preview screenings of IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN.   Flying these days is so easy with all the hundreds of entertainment channels available though of course I watched the airline version of our Matisse film!  Seriously, I did but then I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir: Wes Anderson) that I missed in the cinema. I loved it – and wished I had seen it on the big screen.  I can’t say it enough: films are best in the cinema… I picked up a paper on arrival at the airport and was delighted with a decent review for Chopin in the Chicago Tribune: 

Anyone who admired British director Phil Grabsky's previous documentary portraits of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn is likely to find his latest film, "In Search of Chopin," equally absorbing, informative and, yes, entertaining.  Performance excerpts and interviews flesh out the saga of the brilliant if short-lived Polish-born composer and pianist (he was only 39 at his death) whose keyboard music represents the quintessence of the Romantic piano tradition. Links are drawn between Chopin's creative impulse and his emotional fragility, lifelong battle with tuberculosis and sometimes fraught romantic relationships, including a notorious liaison with novelist George Sand.  Included is illuminating commentary by pianist-performer Hershey Felder, who portrayed the composer in his one-man show, "Monsieur Chopin," at the Royal George Theatre here in 2005.

The audiences were good over the weekend – with some sell-outs 

What was extremely pleasing was the crowd reaction to the film.  I thought, while making this film, that Chopin was beginning to seem to me to be as popular as Mozart and Beethoven – and I now think it’s true.  There’s something about a somewhat flawed character – or one with human weaknesses that we all share – that draws us to them and their art.  Those creative giants that sit on their pedestals, stony as granite, don’t draw us in. It’s those who share the human weaknesses we all have and yet still produce extraordinary art, those are for many the most appealing.  Van Gogh – who we are also making a film about – is another perfect example.

Anyway, I always love my visits to the great city of Chicago and I wish I could have escaped the iron claw of the endless emails I have to deal with more often so that I could have explored the wealth it contains.  I did get to visit its Art Institute and also managed to run along its lake shore (so intelligently kept for public use when the city was being built).  But this really is a monumentally busy moment for us and I was only just about able to deal with the dozens of emails I get every day.  It wasn’t long before I was en route to Philadelphia to film at its Museum of Art (yes, the ‘Rocky’ steps!) for our forthcoming Impressionists film).   It and the wonderful Barnes nearby are yet another two examples of great art American galleries.  Our film on the Impressionists will be exploring why so much art ended up there, in Pittsburgh, Boston, New York, DC, LA, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas and so on.  I interviewed a very articulate curator there called Jennifer Thompson – I really admire these curators who dedicate their lives to really understanding and caring for the art in their charge.  Jenny’s interview will certainly help us get a deeper understanding of who the impressionists really were.   We talked in front of a gorgeous painting of Poplars by Monet – it will be in the Philadelphia version of the show but is too fragile to travel to Paris or London.

 

Poplars on the Bank of the Epte River –Claude Monet 1891

There’s a nice story about the painting: Monet had to pay to stop them being cut down to be used as timber.  He was desperate to paint them and the money offered did the trick (for a while at least).

After the interview and a quick dash to the Barnes I flew home to London and, after a crazy detour with my son to Manchester to see Man City crush Sheffield Wednesday 7-0, I caught an early morning train to Paris.  The Musee du Luxembourg has started the hanging of its forthcoming exhibition (which is the backbone of our film) – they’ve never really said yes to a film like this before so it was with some sense of relief and accomplishment to be actually inside filming.  One has to tread carefully around the unpacking and hanging of priceless artworks – but we’re used to it.  The thrill of seeing paintings, that you’ve seen many times in books, suddenly before your eyes is magnificent. We were there the day the National Gallery was unpacking and hanging its works. I particularly love this one:

 

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando – Edgar Degas 1879

It was a strenuous day with all the equipment (for myself and good friend & colleague David Bickerstaff).  (Note: don’t expect to find Parisian taxis in a hurry).  We do, however, have some important footage now – as well as another curatorial interview with Sylvie Patry, a charming and articulate expert from the Musee d’Orsay.   My colleague refused to let me spend all night doing emails and took me on a long walk – with a decent intake of red wine en route – through Paris.  I’ll need to catch up on my sleep another time…(on trains no doubt).

Next day (Friday) was special: we began with a fascinating interview with the descendants of Paul Durand-Ruel. The story of the dealer behind the commercialisation of impressionism (at the end of the 19th century) is gripping.  Equally gripping therefore was the opportunity to see his very stock books, account books, note books with the names of Manet, Monet, Pisarro, Cezanne and others all liberally dotted about.  I love the history that emanates from contemporary objects and this was certainly one of those moments.   

David and I then departed from central Paris and drove the short distance (but 90’ in traffic) to Auvers-sur-Oise.  This town is rightly a pilgrimage centre for art lovers, especially those of Vincent van Gogh.   Here one can visit the Café Ravoux and see the room in which he slept, painted and died.  The café has been wonderfully cared for by an impressive Belgian entrepreneur and art-lover.  It has been lovingly restored and boasts a classy restaurant now (highly recommended!).  Everywhere there are traces of Van Gogh’s last two months.  Around the town, one can see the locations of paintings (with facsimiles attached to posts), the house of Dr Gachet, the church Notre Dame d’Auvers and sadly the cemetery where Vincent and indeed his brother Theo lay side by side. Vincent shot himself on July 29th 1890.

 
Breakfast the next day was fun – sitting in the very café where Vincent sipped his own morning caffeine 124 years ago – and have a look at this photo below – do you recognise the painting that that coffee pot is from? Clue: it’s not a Van Gogh.  Email us at info@seventh-art.com if you do.  First correct answer gets a DVD from Season 1.   Good luck. All I’ll say is that I was surprised to be able to hold it.   (and while the owner is 100% sure of its veracity, we must remain a teeny bit sceptical I guess). 

Rush, rush, rush: filming in Dr Gachet’s attic, the church grounds, by the river Oise, outside the town hall, inside the café… Quick salade et petite bierre then off back to Paris.  Horrible re-introduction to urban life as one meets the traffic again. Urgh.   But we make Gare du Nord with time to spare – at which point poor David heads off alone to London with 6 bags….and I head to Germany with 3. 

First of all I travel the Thalys from Paris to Brussels in 80 minutes. And then Brussels to Cologne in a couple of hours. It’s really so easy – and cheaper too than our criminally over-priced British rail system. (I was, the other day, quoted over £200 / $330 for a two hour train ride from London to Manchester on Virgin Trains! No wonder Virgin boss Richard Branson boasts of his £3bn fortune – disgusting & it’s why so many still drive).   Anyway on the efficient, friendly and cheaper Thalys I got to Koln (Cologne) bang on time and was in my hotel five minutes later.

The next day was all about filming some final scenes for CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.   Leif Ove Andsnes is now embarked on his final stage of residencies. This is where he plays all 5 piano concertos in one location over a period of a few days.  I can tell it’s hard – and Bonn was the first one – as he looked noticeably more tired and stressed than he did when I filmed him a month or so ago in Bergen.  But you only have to watch one concert (in this case playing the 1st & 5th) to understand the effort he is putting in.  Not just the performance but the travel, the CD signings, the dinners with executives and so on….   For my purposes I needed some footage of the 5th in particular and the concert as a whole.  The Beethovenhalle, the orchestra and Leif Ove could not have been more helpful and it all went extremely well.

That just left Monday morning – and a very appropriate location to more or less finish the filming of CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.  The Beethoven birthplace in Bonn.

I have been there before, of course for IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN but it’s an evocative and fascinating place to return to with a camera – especially as it was the first time Leif Ove had visited it – and he was given a detailed your with the director Michael Ladenburger.  It will only be a short moment in the film but something was revealed that they only discovered a few months ago which is directly relevant to the concertos – so that was a stroke of real luck as I captured it on camera. It is something neither I nor Leif Ove knew and is directly relevant to Beethoven and his concertos.  You, dear friends, will need to watch the film….

At that , I took my leave and headed for the final set of 4 train journeys that got me home by midnight.  My feet ache, my back aches, my head aches but what a fascinating few days. 

16th April 2014

It’s been a while since I posted a blog – apologies.  I haven’t been holiday – there just haven’t been enough hours in the day!  I must say I admire those who manage to blog practically every day – where do they find the time?  So what news the good ship Seventh Art?  EXHIBITION ON SCREEN has been the biggest consumer of time, as you might imagine.  After our June screening (live in the UK only) of MATISSE LIVE FROM TATE MODERN we’ve been busy re-editing it and adding in footage from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This (wonderful) exhibition is heading to New York next month and we have been fortunate enough to gain access to the preparations (and a real insight into MoMA’s relationship with Matisse over the years).  This is the first time MoMA (surely one of the world’s top museums) has co-operated on a film like this so for the cinema so we feel very privileged.  For those who saw the film in June, you’ll want to see it again as we’ve added about 15 minutes of fascinating material – and for those who haven’t seen it yet then MATISSE FROM TATE MODERN AND MOMA will be coming out on November 4^th in over 40 countries.    Meanwhile we’ve been busy working on 4 other films – yes, 4!   GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING AND OTHER TREASURES FROM THE MAURITSHUIS is almost done and looks spectacular.  If you’re interested in what is now perhaps the second most famous painting in the world, then this is the film for you.  Or if you’re just interested in a stunning ‘jewel box’ of an art gallery replete with masterpieces, then this is also the film for you.  Or if you just like art…..    REMBRANDT FROM THE NATIONAL GALLERY AND RIJKSMUSEUM has also starting shooting and is looking great. He really is one of the greats.    As for the other two, well we’re deep into the research for VAN GOGH and also THE IMPRESSIONISTS.  What a season!  Keep an eye on exhibitiononscreen.com  (sign up to the newsletter here so we’ll let you know when the films are coming to a screen near you – and also like our Facebook page).  

 Why not let us know what you think?  And we’re always open to ideas for Seasons 3 & 4….we have some of the exhibitions sorted but not all….Is your local gallery doing a major show? Let me know.  

 

Now, that’s not all folks….to all my Australian friends: IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN opens on Thursday.  The Sydney Morning Herald has called it a ‘masterpiece’….  Now famously we’re told to treat positive and negative reviews with the same disdain. Rubbish: the good reviews are written by the intelligent, articulate and erudite journalists out there. We all know that!!    The Australian newspaper gives it a big thumbs up too (read here)  – so surely that’s enough to get you down to your local cinema.  One thing is for sure: there’s nothing on TV worth watching…..  Or just go for the wine & cake.  Right, must dash: currently working on a re-release of our Leonardo film and have to work on the script.  Best wishes to you all, Phil. 

PS: I leave you with very sad news from the world’s number one arts blogger  

 

 See the original from Real Clear Arts here

Judith H. Dobrzynski:

This is just plain bad: Last week, a painting titled Madonna with the Saints John the Evangelist and Gregory Thaumaturgus (1639) was stolen from a church in Modena, Italy. Not only was the church alarm system in active, but also the Baroque masterpiece wasn't insured.

It's a big painting -- 10 ft. by 6 ft. -- and reports say it was stolen in its frame, with speculation that the theft was "ordered" by a private collector because a work of this size and renown would be hard ever to resell openly. Unless, speculated the Telegraph in London, it was "cut up into pieces in an attempt to sell it on."

The Telegraph's article, pegged the value of the work at "up to £5 million," or nearly $8.4 million.

It was stolen in the middle of the night from the church of San Vincenzo in the northern town of Modena earlier this week. Curators admitted that lack of funds meant the alarms protecting the painting were not working.

"There was an alarm in the church, but it was inactive," said Monsignor Giacomo Morandi, of the archdiocese of Modena.

It had been paid for by a donation from a local bank but once those funds dried up it had been switched off, he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"It's very difficult to protect every single work of art," he added.

The work has hung in the Church of San Vincenzo ever since it was painted. According to The History Blog,

An allied bomb struck San Vincenzo on May 13th, 1944, destroying the presbytery and the choir and its late 17th century frescoes, but the Guercino survived. Let’s hope it can survive human greed.

The History Blog also provided these details:

San Vincenzo is not a parish church so it doesn’t stay open all week. The doors are opened every Sunday for mass and locked after the service is over. The thieves made their way inside, stole the painting and got out without leaving a trace. There is no sign of forced entry on the church door. The priest only realized something was wrong because the door was open.

Police believe at least three men were involved in the theft because the piece is so big and heavy, especially still inside the frame, that it one or two people wouldn’t be able to move it. They probably got in during mass on Sunday, August 10th, and hid until they could do their dirty deed under cover of night. They must have had transportation, most likely a van.

...The Carabinieri’s Tutela Patrimonio Culturale unit (a national police squad dedicated to investigating stolen art and antiquities) are in charge of the investigation. They’re looking through phone records and security camera footage from along the street. There are no cameras pointed at the church, but a van large enough to contain the painting should have been captured by other cameras. Looks as if we have seen the last of this work for some time. But maybe the police will get lucky.

30th MARCH 2014

A long three week trip to the USA. As I head back to Atlanta airport to head home, it seems an absolute age since I boarded the plane to come out to LA on the 6^th March…but let’s go back to the start:

…6^th March and I am heading to Los Angeles for meetings regarding the next run of films for EXHIBITION ON SCREEN.  I am also heading there for some early press work on IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN.  At Heathrow I was delighted to be told I was on the Upper Deck of my BA flight to Los Angeles that I was then confused, on boarding, when there were no stairs to climb….Doh! This was a new Airbus A380 – with its two decks.   Anyway, I wasn’t in need of a bed as I had lots of work to do. I was feeling kind of pleased with myself until I realised the guy in front had been on his Mac revising a contract also for 6 hours straight.  That is some kind of concentration.  Goes to show that however hard you work there’s always someone else working harder…   That said, the past few weeks and months for me have been – and sorry to my regular blog readers as you’ve read this before – as busy. This really is an intense period in my life.  Previous major TV series were exhausting - In the Shadow of the Sun was tough. I Caesar took me to the absolute limit. Escapefrom Luanda was a chore – but nowadays it’s a full time job raising the funds and another full time job contracting and another full time job marketing….all that as well as researching, writing, filming and editing.   Still, the days may be very long right now but at least it involves a lot of researching great art.   

Time for a brief update: where is the good ship Seventh Art sailing these days?   As those of you who read my blogs know, we have just finished IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN and it has its world premiere in New Zealand in a few weeks, then Hungary, Australia, USA, Canada….I have also been continuing the project with Leif Ove Andsnes – we had our first sit-down to look at an edit the other day and it went really well – though I admit we spent as much time discussing whether Man City, Chelsea or Liverpool would win the league.   Leif Ove is on tour in the US now and this is the type of review he has been getting time & again:

Leif Ove Andsnes at Carnegie Hall, Part of a 19-CityTour

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI (New York Times)

Many young virtuoso pianists perform the Beethoven sonatas as a demonstration of their musical depth. But when he emerged as a major young artist, the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes avoided Beethoven. He thought he should wait until he had “something to say,” as he explained in 2012 in an appearance on WQXR and WNYC radio studios. Well, Mr. Andsnes, 43, is certainly making up for lost time. He is in the midst of what he calls, perhaps too grandly, “The Beethoven Journey,” a multiyear immersion in the master’s works. For its main project, he is recording and performing the five Beethoven piano concertos with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, directing the ensemble from the keyboard. The second CD in this series was just released by Sony Classical, with superb accounts of the Second and Fourth Concertos. On Wednesday night, Mr. Andsnes performed a Beethoven recital at Carnegie Hall, one stop in a 19-city tour. The hall was nearly full for an evening that included only one of the popular sonatas with titles attached, the “Appassionata.” Mr. Andsnes began with the Sonata No. 11 in B flat (Op. 22), an overlooked work considered the last of Beethoven’s early-period sonatas. Its musical materials seem almost intentionally ordinary, with a crisp opening theme that leads to a nothing-special melody over a rippling accompaniment. But it’s what Beethoven does with such elements throughout the work that is so extraordinary. In his Apollonian approach to the piece, Mr. Andsnes brought out the surprising wildness and strangeness of the music. His performance had me recalling comments he made at the Greene Space. When asked why he had avoided Beethoven, Mr. Andsnes said that “pianistically” the music did “not have obvious sensual qualities” of works by Chopin, Schumann, Janacek, Grieg and Rachmaninoff. Well, from his playing on Wednesday, Mr. Andsnes has definitely found ways to connect with Beethoven’s pianistic sensuality. In the first movement of the Sonata No. 11, he brought milky textures and alluring colorings to bursts of undulant figures in the bass and stretches of passagework in the mercurial development. In the finale, each time the beguiling rondo theme returns, Beethoven makes it more elaborate and playful, qualities Mr. Andsnes conveyed with wondrous nuance and detail, while maintaining cool, almost sly control. He then turned to a late work, the Sonata No. 28 in A (Op. 101), giving a noble and beautifully natural performance of a deceptively complex score, which ends with a joyous yet knotty fugue. After intermission, he offered an exquisite account of Six Variations on an Original Theme in F. The “Appassionata,” the Sonata No. 23 in F minor, is a touchstone of Beethoven’s middle period. Many pianists make the most of the music’s stormy contrasts and intensity. Mr. Andsnes’s more magisterial interpretation allowed every stark element to come through while enhancing the dramatic sweep, especially during his uncannily controlled account of the onrushing finale. In response to a standing ovation, Mr. Andsnes performed three encores: an impish Beethoven bagatelle; the perpetual-motion finale movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 22 in F; and, for a change, the last of Schubert’s “Moments Musicaux,” played with beguiling tenderness.

 

My film on Leif Ove will be on BBC4 in 2015 but it’s the exception not the rule.  TV in the UK continues to be a mess: BBC4 doesn’t have a controller, BBC 3 is going on-line only. SkyArts hasn’t recovered from the impact on Sky generally of higher prices for soccer caused by their own sky-high fees they pay being topped by even higher fees (hundreds of millions) by British Telecom. Sky Arts’ boss James Hunt has moved on.  Channel 4 lost their arts comm ed Tabitha Jackson a while ago and may well have no arts policy at all for all I can see. ITV does Perspectives – celebrities on artists.  Radio is the best place for the arts but I was disappointed to read that Mark Lawson has quit Front Row, allegedly for bullying (and I really admire Front Row and Mark Lawson’s knowledge) but bullying is certainly rife in broadcasting.  Such a shame.  While I’ve been travelling in the USA the Director General of the BBC made a speech about increasing their arts output.  I’m delighted it’s back on the agenda and felt to be worthy of a ‘big speech’.  They’d abandoned the arts a decade ago so this is a welcome U-turn.  The only criticism I’d make is that they always play it so safe: everything with presenters, opera from London, Shakespeare, etc.  They don’t exist in the same commercial sphere as me or Sky Arts so the BBC is the one place where you should be able to experiment with new ideas, less white-middle-class-male-London-centric art, even make some films that are themselves works of art.  It has to be repeated though that, in my opinion, art lovers have never in history been as well served.

Talking of arts lovers, my old mate Tim Marlow has just become director of exhibitions at the Royal Academy – great news: I’m delighted for him. We’ll do less TV projects together but I know he’ll do an excellent job and welcome less travelling.

The Big Project (deservedly capitalized) continues to be EXHIBITION ON SCREEN. Hence the main reason I am en route to the USA. I have some important meetings as well as filming some interviews.  We have some big news coming up so keep an eye on the Facebook site or sign up to the newsletter.  For those of you who love art, I think you’re going to be happy with the results of our labour.

Later….much later….so here I am on the plane back to England.  Madness; where did those three weeks go?  It’s already a blur of planes, trains and automobiles.  I had some very successful screenings of Season 1 EXHIBITION ON SCREEN, great preview screenings of Chopin, and lots and lots of meetings and visits. Last, but certainly not least, I filmed some fascinating interviews for forthcoming films.  The rest of my work was scripting (and of course endless contracting) for the big film that is coming up MATISSE: LIVEFROM TATE MODERN – on June 3^rd!  UK only – then to the rest of the world in October.  Now this is going to be fantastic….

 

26th January 2014

A rather belated Happy New Year to everyone! January seems to have whizzed by and Spring is certainly just around the corner, unless you live in the many parts of the world experiencing strange weather these days. We, in the UK, have had a wet & windy time of late and there’s a good deal of flooding still around. I also feel for my many friends in the USA & Canada who have experienced some of the coldest weather in memory. It hasn’t really had much impact on me as I’ve been pretty well tied to my desk or edit suites since before Christmas. 

The good news is that yesterday we ‘Picture-Locked’ IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN. It’s been more or less a 4 year journey so to finally say ‘That’s it! No more picture editing’ is a great moment. There is still a lot to do with grading, audio mixing, subtitling and credits but I do feel a mountain has been climbed. Am I happy with it? Yes, definitely. I guess I wouldn’t have stopped editing were I not. But more than that, I admit there were times when I struggled with Chopin – it seems strange to say (after life stories like Mozart & Beethoven) but there seemed to be endless hard choices about what not to include. As ever, summarising (in an entertaining, accessible way) someone’s full and significant life in only 110 minutes is always going to be a challenge. The first good news for me is that one eminent historian of the period and a key Polish Chopin Institute have all given a full thumbs up. The Chopin Museum in Warsaw want to be able to show it regularly in their (wonderful) gallery – and actually that’s the best recommendation I could have got. The film is not yet finished but that’s a good sign. A lot of time is also being spent on sorting out the film’s distribution….and that goes well too.  We will be announcing officail release dates soon. So posters, press stills, social media and all that kind of thing are being worked on. What’s nice is those countries want to take the opportunity to reshow MOZART, HAYDN & BEETHOVEN. Well, we’ll see….let’s hope financially we can at least break even! 

 In a musical vein, I’ve been working on the other music film too which is the film about Beethoven’s 5 piano concertos – with Leif OveAndsnes and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Having filmed (a 5-camera shoot) two more of the concertos in Brussels recently, we had a chunk more material to start playing with ideas in the edit suite. That’s always such an exciting, important and creative moment in any film’s life… This is a film that just has to avoid me messing up. I have the best music, performed by ‘the world’s best pianist’ `(The Irish Times) and a great orchestra. I’ve been hamstrung as always by the horrors of funding but I don’t think it’s impacted on the filming or the film…So I’m getting excited about that one too (which will be released in 2015). As for EXHIBITION ON SCREEN…we’re getting lots of requests for repeat screenings (To book a screening visit seventh-art.com). More on all that another time…. One last thing, if you’re in the UK, do try to see Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies at Stratford – brilliant.

27 November 2013

Now this is a day I have looked forward to for some time….  I guess I have been working on the IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN script for two or three years…tweaking, amending, cutting, revising….  Sometimes weeks go by with nothing and other times it’s highly engaged and productive.  Gone are the days that one could focus on one project at a time – and the EXHIBITION ON SCREEN project has been extremely time-consuming.  But I have always had Chopin in my head and certainly in recent weeks, as the date of final narrative readings approached, my mind has been very focused on this.   It’s one thing to have a general sense of things in a script – a note-form paragraph, something roughly done, a marker.  But when you know that within days Juliet Stevenson is going to be reading the final script and David Dawson reading the letters of Chopin, there is no longer any room for inaccuracy or flaccid writing. Everything has to be precise, accurate, flowing and accessible.

On the early train to London, I make last minute changes and alterations…As I walk from Victoria Station past Buckingham Palace to the voice-over studio in Soho, I am still going over it all in my head…Every word, one has to think how will Juliet and David deliver it.  The studio is a smallish basement on Berwick Street but they’re good. Except they don’t have a printer for three 83-page scripts…Possible delay is averted though by a professional printers next door.  Juliet is first up.  What can I say about Juliet that you don’t already know?  Simply one of this country’s finest actors – as well as being smart, sensitive, gorgeous, friendly and highly professional.  Choosing her to be the narrator of Mozart was a brilliant suggestion (by a colleague of mine in 2005) and being able to use her subsequently for Beethoven, Haydn and now Chopin is simply fantastic.  She makes sentences come to life.  Any of you that listen to her audio books will know she is a born story-teller.  It only took us two hours to read the whole script…and she did it so well.   Then in came David Dawson – a brilliant actor that I first saw playing Romeo in Stratford. I thought long & hard about the right voice for Chopin and decided that David was absolutely right – not only for the skill with which he can deliver lines but the ability to carry that mix of frail body but fiercely competent and endlessly sharp intellect.

By the end of the session, I felt as close to the ‘real’ Chopin as I think I’ll ever get.  Now it’s all electronic signals on their way, via email, to my editor and into the film.  In 20 years time, there they’ll still be…..it’s done, it’s locked, any faults are mine and mine alone.   There still remain two months of finishing the film but the end is in sight….

Sunday 17th November 2013

Middle of November already? Really? Gee. As always, my excuse for not having blogged in a short while is my crazy schedule. It really has been crammed – and no sense of it letting up. IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN is coming to a conclusion – and looking good. We did a guide read through of narrative and Chopin’s letter’s with Juliet Stevenson and David Dawson. This is always a very exciting moment in the production process when finally I can strip my voice out and lay in a top professional’s. All of a sudden both elements come to life….The final read is on the 27th November so all hands are on deck to ensure that Mr Chopin’s life has been accurately summarised into 1 hour and 50 minutes….with no factual errors! Luckily I have four superb historical advisors who will spot any mistake…. It’s been a harder journey than I had expected – finances of course but also in terms of creativity: I feel I’m having to leave so much out – whole periods seem to have to be contained in a short example of music, a letter or two, an interview or two and a bit of narrative. But imagine if I had to make a film about your life and try to keep it in a film of under 100 or 110 minutes. So much would invariably be left out…. That’s the trick. What to keep in and how to present it in a film that folk will enjoy. I don’t want to tempt fate but I think we’ve done a good job with Fryderyk: and the performances of Leif Ove Andsnes, Lars Vogt, Ronald Brautigam, Daniel Barenboim and others are wonderful. Should be releasing to cinemas in Australia and New Zealand in May – watch this space.

Talking of Leif Ove Andsnes, tomorrow I am off to Brussels to film the next stage of my film about the 5 Beethoven piano concertos – all of which will be played in the film by this master of the piano. We’re set up to do a 5-camera shoot (on stage) including a full dress rehearsal (so I’ll have ten camera angles in the end). I’m nervous but also confident it’s going to be great. Leif Ove and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra are a formidable combination. To remind you, this is for a May 2015 release….

Meanwhile, our brand EXHIBITION ON SCREEN also keeps us busy. The film from the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery was very well received with screenings ongoing. Art…and art lovers, sign up to the ExhibitionOnScreen newsletter, Twitter or Facebook site to keep in touch.

This Event Cinema is such a great new genre though – the RSC Richard II was in cinemas last week and by all accounts sold out. I saw it live at Stratford two weeks ago and it is a great show. David Tennant is super. I’d have loved to see the cinema relay but was busy on Wednesday at a Brighton Film Festival event – where Benedict Cumberbatch very kindly gave me an autograph for my daughter (an aspiring actress) and hoped ‘we work together one day’. Benedict, you’ve a fan for life now (me!). Another actor I think is wonderful is Henry Goodman – I went to see his Arturo Ui show at the Duchess Theatre in London last weekend. He is a ‘tour de force’ in it. I have mixed feeling sometimes about the heightened realism or exaggeration of Brecht but I thoroughly enjoyed this show – and especially Henry. If you love acting, go see this – quick.

To end, one sad note: Antony Caro died on the 23rd October. I really liked Antony and tried hard to make a film about him – even financing some filming of an installation he was doing in France – but simply couldn’t get a broadcaster on board. And now he’s gone. A great artist. One small postscript, just for fun: if you’re looking for a musical recommendation today, how about Mozart’s K207 – violin no1 in B flat major. And, if you fancy looking at one painting today, try the Double Portrait of Constantin Huygens and Suzanna van Baerle by Jacob van Campen. At the Mauritshuis, the Hague, Netherlands. You’ll think Suzanna is sitting right next to you……