Film Forum

All new DCP restorations. Approx 70 min.

Van Gogh (1948) evokes the life of Vincent Van Gogh, using only his paintings as visuals. Oscar winner for best short documentary film and Film Prize at the 1948 Venice Biennale. Approx. 18 min.

Guernica (1949) features paintings, drawings and sculptures made by Picasso between 1902 and 1949. Accompanying the artworks is a dramatic piece by surrealist poet Paul Eluard, read by actor Maria Casares. Co-directed by Robert Hessens. Approx. 14 min.

Paul Gauguin (1949) melds writing and visual art, tracing the artist’s creative journey via the pivotal moments in his life, from Brittany to Tahiti. Approx. 13 min.

The Song of Styrene (1957) When the young Alain Resnais was asked by the Péchiney plastics giant to make a short documentary on polystyrene, “that noble, entirely man-made matter,” Resnais sensed a rapport between Alexandrine verse and CinemaScope. With text by Raymond Queneau and music by Pierre Barbaud. Approx. 13 min.

Reviews

“If short films didn’t exist, Alain Resnais would have surely invented them.”
— Jean-Luc Godard, Cahiers du Cinéma n.92, February 1959

“His early work in documentaries obviously encouraged Resnais to concentrate on perfecting the details of his craft, to concentrate, that is, on the more intellectual, the more abstract aspects of filmmaking.”
— Film Comment