Reel Artists Film Festival 2012



We celebrated the opening night of the annual Reel Artists Film Festival. Hosted at TIFF Bell Lightbox, RAFF is presented by the Canadian Art Foundation and features the very best documentaries on visual art and artists.

Their feature, Canadian premiere of
Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present, is really one you should watch. It will keep you awake at night, in a good way. You don't have to be a fan, or even know about her work. Before the film is through, you're swept up in wonder at the sheer human strength and almost ascetic dedication of Marina. Documented while she spends 3 months as a living exhibit at MOMA, the film is a wealth of candid insight into the mind of an innovator.

Marina herself is shocking in person. A beautiful woman standing a foot above the crowd, she exudes a strange, magnetic energy. Quoting words uttered in the film, "A performer should never lie." are of Marina, who we are so taken by. If you're a creative soul in need of an energy boost, watch this. It will reinvigorate how you think about art, introduces the new to a unique medium of expression and is a study of mental willpower.

We agree with Ann Webb, Executive Director, Canadian Art Foundation and Publisher, Canadian Art magazine, "Marina Abramović is one of the most compelling artists of our time. She has challenged the way people think about art for nearly 40 years, boldly blurring distinctions between life and art."

Congratulations are in order for Marina, director Matthew Akers, producers Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff. When the film ended, the crowd separated into two parties, one side that stayed, awed in their seats, and a small minority that fled immediately at the intensity of what they'd just seen.