Film Forum, New York October 31-November 13, 2012

 Film Forum, New York

 October 31-November 13, 2012

Film Forum is pleased to open GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS, a new documentary by Ben Shapiro. Gregory Crewdson's riveting photographs are elaborately staged, elegant narratives compressed into a single, albeit large-scale image, many of them taken at twilight, set in small towns of Western Massachusetts or meticulously recreated interior spaces, built on the kind of sound stages associated with big-budget movies. Shapiro's fascinating profile of the acclaimed artist includes stories of his Park Slope childhood (in which he tried to overhear patients of his psychologist father), his summers in the bucolic countryside (which he now imbues with a sense of dread and foreboding), and his encounter with Diane Arbus's work in 1972 at age 10. Novelists Rick Moody and Russell Banks, and fellow photographer Laurie Simmons, comment on the motivation behind their friend's haunting images. But Crewdson remains his own best critic: "Every artist has one central story to tell. The struggle is to tell and retell that story over again - and to challenge that story. It's the defining story of who you are." Gregory Crewdson's work is in many collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The body of work featured in the film is "Beneath the Roses," and was produced from 2002-2008. Film Forum will be selling the book by the same title during the film's engagement. On Gregory Crewdson: "Crewdson often shoots at twilight, and the bewitching qualities of what T.S. Eliot called 'the violet hour' fill almost every shot... He is a master of menace, melancholia and the macabre. He turns the American dream into a quiet nightmare." --The Telegraph (UK) On the film: "A refreshingly frank look at the artistic process, as comprehensive and lovingly realized as the work it pays tribute to." --Filmmaker Magazine GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS (2012, 77 mins.) Produced, Directed and Photographed by Ben Shapiro. Editor: Tom Patterson, Nancy Kennedy. Original music: Dana Kaproff. Featuring: Gregory Crewdson, Russell Banks, Rick Moody, Melissa Harris, Richard Sands. USA. Zeitgeist Films. EVENTS: Gregory Crewdson and filmmaker Ben Shapiro in person Thursday, November 1 at 8:00 pm screening VISITOR INFORMATION Film Forum 209 West Houston Street New York, NY 10014 USA T. +1.212.727.8110 Website: Film Forum | Crewdson For further information please contact the gallery at newyork@gagosian.com or at +1.212.741.1111. ---------- Gagosian Gallery was established in 1980 by Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles. Attuned to the dynamics of today's world, Gagosian Gallery has since evolved into a global network, currently maintaining distinctive exhibition spaces in eight cities: New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong. On October 19th, 2012 Gagosian Gallery will inaugurate its twelfth gallery space in the north of Paris, at Le Bourget. Over the last three decades, Gagosian Gallery has presented an exceptional historical program alongside a roster of ambitious exhibitions by the world's most renowned living artists. Such exhibitions, which have placed Gagosian Gallery at the forefront of the contemporary art scene, are accompanied by beautifully designed, scholarly catalogues and monographs. The gallery is also publishing catalogue raisonnés on several of its artists.