Rentals
The Arts on Film
Behind the canvas with a movie camera: you can almost smell the turpentine in these fascinating portraits of artists at work.
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture," so it's said. So what about filming about art? Whatever the challenges, filmmakers have never been deterred from exploring other media in film - and for that we should give thanks. These films give us an often unique record of the artist - dancer or architect, painter or sculptor, musician, novelist or poet - at work and at leisure. They present artists speaking lucidly about their work. They preserve performances otherwise lost forever. And, perhaps best of all, they take us inside the creative process, allowing us to witness works of art emerging before our eyes.
National GalleryNational Gallery
Documentary2014181 minsDirector: Frederick Wiseman
The inner workings of London’s National Gallery are laid bare in this absorbing, forensic examination by revered filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.
GrantchesterGrantchester
Documentary195815 minsDirector: John R.F. Stewart
Rupert Brooke's poem 'The Old Vicarage, Grantchester' is given the pop video treatment.
Lives of Artists Not Wives of ArtistsLives of Artists Not Wives of Artists
Campaigning film198446 minsDirector: Sue Aron, Monika Morawietz and Rowena Rowling
Five women artists, including Paula Rego, contest the "hierarchy of art forms" in the male-dominated art world.
Loving VincentLoving Vincent
Drama201795 minsDirector: Hugh Welchman and Dorota Kobiela
The first ever fully painted feature film takes us through the last days of Vincent van Gogh.
Mark of the Hand Aubrey WilliamsMark of the Hand Aubrey Williams
Biopic198753 minsSilentDirector: Imruh Caesar
The Guyanese painter returns to his homeland on a “journey to the source of his inspiration”.
More Arts on Film in our Free collection.