Eloquent Nude: The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston & Charis Wilson

Since I wasn't able to see this film at Full Frame back in April, director Ian McCluskey was kind enough to give me a press kit with a screener.  We got to chat extensively about his film on the interminable shuttle ride from The Hilton to downtown Raleigh where everything "Full Frame" was going on.  Although the hotel was a lovely place, it was crazy far.  I needed to reserve a couple of hours out of my day just to change clothes and freshen up a bit--ridiculous.

I spoke with him and his producer, Julie Gliniany, about NW Documentary Arts & Media's distribution/screening plans--they're a collective of artists out of Portland, Oregon.  They had booked upcoming screenings at SF MOMA, the National Gallery of Australia and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, all very impressive venues.  Wanting to reach an audience that would appreciate the hour-long doc, they wanted to concentrate on showing it at museums and other art institutions, as many as possible. 

So, I lobbed it over the fence at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to Tim Wride, the photography curator there, who passed the info on to a colleague and ecco, a screening will happen at LACMA in the near future--hopefully with McCluskey in attendance to do a Q&A.  I'll let you know the dates, and if you can catch it there, do.  The International Center of Photography in New York is my next victim--ha, ha!

Look for an upcoming interview with McCluskey about his documentary, the first in over 40 years on the great American photographer Edward Weston through the eyes of Weston's wife, Charis Wilson.

Joined by leading photography experts, the 90-year-old Wilson shares the intimate stories of her years with Weston.  The film features unpublished photos from Weston, as well as from his influential circle of friends: Dorothea Lange, Imogen Cunningham and Ansel Adams.  The reenactments of their life together, played by some young, very talented actors and shot on beautiful super 8, are stunning.