“I love what is beautiful, I don’t know why: painting, sculpture, poetry, everything interests me. And yes, I like to film poets” (Sarah Maldoror). Program 78 min.
Toto Bissainthe. 1985. France/Haiti. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French, Creole; English subtitles. 5 min.
Sarah Maldoror befriended the Haitian singer Toto Bissainthe in Paris in the mid-1950s when they founded the first Black theater company, Les Griots. Here, she films Bissainthe off stage and in concert. She would again pay tribute to the performer in her fiction short L’Enfant cinéma.
Vlady. 1989. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 23 min.
Sarah Maldoror observes the Russian painter Vlady Rusakov—who, with his father, the writer Victor Serge, took refuge in Mexico in 1941—as he paints the frescoes in the oratory of San Felipe Neri during its conversion into a library. Though tempted to paint landscapes, he cannot escape his own history or the mighty tradition of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueros, and the Mexican muralists, so instead he returns to the timeless theme of world revolution in his allegorical series Las Revoluciones y los elementos.
Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Peintre (Anna Mercedes Hoyos, Painter). 2009. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French, Spanish; English subtitles. 18 min.
Through this portrait of the Colombian artist Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Sarah Maldoror foregrounds the nation’s African roots and traditions and its history of slavery.
Assia Djebar. 1987. France/Algeria. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French, Arabic; English subtitles. 6 min.
This far-ranging interview with the underappreciated Algerian writer and filmmaker Assia Djeba touches on her recent novel Ombre Sultane, the place of women in Arab and Muslim society, and her desire for Western readers to recognize themselves in the characters she creates.
Alberto Carlisky, Sculpteur (Alberto Carlisky, Sculptor). 1986. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 6 min.
Maldoror traces the dramatic life of the self-taught sculptor Alberto Carlisky, who fled his native Argentina after being imprisoned in 1944 by the Perón regime for his political views, and who apprenticed in the Paris studio of the Russian Cubist sculptor Ossip Zadkine before striking out on his own.
Wifredo Lam. 1980. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 4 min.
Maldoror reports on a painting exhibition of the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam at the Artcurial gallery in Paris in 1980.
Miró. 1979. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 5 min.
Reporting on a Joan Miró exhibition at the Maeght Foundation, Sarah Maldoror enjoys filming the Spanish painter and sculptor engaging with children during a theater piece.
René Depestre, poète (René Depestre, Poet). 1982. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 5 min.
Maldoror casts a sympathetic light on one of Haitian literature’s most influential figures, the poet and political activist René Depestre.
Emanuel Ungaro. 1986. France. Directed by Sarah Maldoror. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 5 min.
This modest portrait of the fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro seems to mark a departure from Sarah Maldoror’s usual subjects, but it nonetheless reveals her abiding fascination with the sensuality of the creative act.