Guided Tour: Museums in Cinema

July 6–August 31, 2016

Fiction, nonfiction, and experimental films encourage us to contemplate and debate the role of museums in contemporary society.

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  • The New Rijksmuseum

  • At the Museum: A Pilgrimage of Vanquished Objects

  • That Which Is Possible

  • Russian Ark

  • Circuit

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • Innocence of Memories: Orhan Pamuk’s Museum and Istanbul

    • Wednesday, August 31 7 PM
    Grant Gee
    United Kingdom, 2015

    Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence captures “the magic of ordinary objects”; this film does the same, and showcases Pamuk’s relationship to his beloved Istanbul. With Dana Levy’s short, Dead World Order.

  • Museum Hours

    • Wednesday, August 24 7 PM
    Jem Cohen
    Austria/United States, 2012

    Amid artwork and strangers in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, a guard and a visitor are drawn into each other’s lives.  "A powerfully contemplative look at the transformative ability of all art" (Indiewire).

  • Francofonia

    • Thursday, August 18 7 PM
    Alexander Sokurov
    France/Germany/Netherlands, 2015

    Russian master Alexander Sokurov's portrait of the Louvre extends into a transcendent investigation of art, life, and cultural and political power. With Alain Resnais and Chris Marker’s short, Statues Also Die.

     

  • That Which Is Possible

    • Wednesday, August 10 7 PM
    Michael Gitlin
    United States , 2015

    An intimate portrait of a community of artists, musicians, and writers who create work at the Living Museum, located on the grounds of a psychiatric center. With the Quay Brothers short, The Phantom Museum.

     

  • National Gallery

    • Sunday, August 7 3 PM
    Frederick Wiseman
    United States, France, 2014

    Master documentary filmmaker Wiseman turns his attention to the inner workings of London’s National Gallery. "A tribute to the wonders of creative expression" (Village Voice).

     

  • At the Museum: Short Films

    • Wednesday, August 3 7 PM

    Jeanne Finley and Judy Fiskin in person
    Artists look at museums with wit, insight, and in some cases, pointed critique, in this group of shorts. Includes films by Andrea Fraser, Jeanne Finley, Ximena Cuevas, Amie Siegel, and Judy Fiskin.

     

  • Russian Ark

    • Saturday, July 30 6 PM
    • Sunday, July 31 5:30 PM
    Aleksandr Sokurov
    Russia, Germany, Japan, 2002

    Sokoruv’s technically astounding feature—shot entirely in one continuous, unbroken take—moves through St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, and entire eras of Russian history and culture.  “A magnificent conjuring act, an eerie historical mirage” (NY Times).

  • The New Rijksmuseum

    • Thursday, July 28 7 PM
    Oeke Hoogendijk
    Netherlands, 2014

    A fascinating trip through the battles, discussions, and minutiae behind the remodeling of Amsterdam’s famed Rijksumusem. “An elegant portrait of dysfunction.” (LA Weekly).

  • Animals and More Animals

    • Sunday, July 24 5:30 PM
    Nicolas Philibert
    France, 1995

    Imported Print

    A droll and engrossing look at the restoration of Paris's Natural History Museum and the reinstatement of its inhabitants—elephants, badgers, butterflies, and more. With shorts Circuit (Amie Siegel) and The Wake (Dana Levy).

     

  • The Mill and the Cross

    • Wednesday, July 20 7 PM
    Lech Majewski
    Poland, Sweden, 2010

    BAMPFA Collection Print

    Bruegel’s painting The Way to Calvary is brought to life in this technologically stunning interpretation “starring” Rutger Hauer, Michael York, and Charlotte Rampling. With short Black Mirror at The National Gallery.

  • Amie Siegel Artist Talk: Provenance

    • Sunday, July 10 7 PM

    Amie Siegel in person
    Provenance travels in reverse from houses populated by midcentury-modern furniture to the collectibles’ origins in the modernist city of Chandigarh, India. With short, Lot 248.

     

  • Louvre City

    • Wednesday, July 6 7 PM
    Nicolas Philibert
    France, 1990