Sergei Parajanov: The Rebel

Patrick Cazals’ film, La Dixième Muse, brings Musidora to life for the second time. The first occasion was the publication of his earlier book on the same subject with Henri Veyrier in 1978. The latter remains an essential work of reference because its author was the first person since Francis Lacassin to have surveyed Musidora’s career as a pioneering filmmaker and total artist. It includes previously undiscovered documents that are no longer accessible in their original form. This film too contains many previously unknown images found and selected by Patrick Cazals. Above all, it offers the animated image of a beauty in a close-fitting black suit, and her voice that speaks directly to us, alongside the voices of all those the director has brought together to establish a subtle bond with Musidora and bring her into our own age.

This extraordinary documentary illuminates the genius behind some of the most exquisite images ever set to celluloid by filmmaker Mikhaïl Kalatozov. An insightful account of a reserved man who paradoxically created rapturous, expressive cinema. Colleagues and historians, including Claudia Cardinale, describe the complicated way that Kalatozov made such radical works within the restrictions of film-making in the Soviet state.

A portrait of the brief, luminous life of Amrita Sher-Gil, the pioneer of modern Indian art who died at just 28. Through her letters and legacy, the documentary traces the passion, vision, and extraordinary life of a revolutionary painter, widely regarded as India’s Frida Kahlo.