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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.

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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.

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GrantchesterGrantchester

Documentary195815 minsDirector: John R.F. Stewart

Rupert Brooke's poem 'The Old Vicarage, Grantchester' is given the pop video treatment.

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Lives of Artists Not Wives of ArtistsLives of Artists Not Wives of Artists

Campaigning film198446 minsDirector: Sue Aron, Monika Morawietz and 1 more

Five women artists, including Paula Rego, contest the "hierarchy of art forms" in the male-dominated art world.

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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.

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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”.

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