films about French photographers?

[claudiocambon]

I wanted to ask for everyone's input for films about photographers I might try to locate to show my intro class this summer. The class goes from French, and specifically Parisian photographers from Marville all the way to Couturier pretty much, stopping at Atget, Kertesz, Cartier Bresson, Brassai, Germaine Krull, Ilse Bing, Doisneau, Man Ray, Lee Miller on the way. Are there any films about these photogs that you know of that are worth seeing?

I have seen a film by Sarah Moon about Cartier Bresson, but it is somewhat abstract (and un-subtitled), and I can't really recommend it, at least for teaching purposes. The class is in English by the way, so films would at least need subtitles.


Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

[r.e.]

I think that Charlie Rose's conversation with Cartier-Bresson, which commences with some comments by Richard Avedon, is delightful: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/200...artier-bresson

[claudiocambon]

I think that Charlie Rose's conversation with Cartier-Bresson, which commences with some comments by Richard Avedon, is delightful: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/200...artier-bresson

Thanks! In fact it looks good, especially for what he doesn't say!

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, check out the "Contacts" series available from Netflix. I believe they originally aired on French TV.

Jon

[Payral]

You can get "Contacts" DVD from there:
http://www.arte-boutique.fr/
and much more…

[r.e.]

Kultur Video, in its Masters of Photography series, did an episode on Kertesz: http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=129

There are three films about Lee Miller, plus her performance in Cocteau's Le sang d'un poete: http://www.museupicasso.bcn.es/leemi...ctivitats.html I saw Cocteau's film, but not the documentaries, in December at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was showing an exhibit of Miller's work.

For a more general survey, BBC Four has a series called The Genius of Photography that I've seen and quite enjoyed: http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/gallery/. You can get a sense of what the series is about by doing a search for it on YouTube, because someone has uploaded parts of it.

[mdd99]

Check the Sundance Channel, which has been running documentaries on various photogs. You could tape 'em to show your class.

[claudiocambon]

Thanks for all this.

I got a beautiful doc about Cartier Bresson called 'The Impassioned Eye,' which I recommend.