Ultan Guilfoyle, producer of Sydney Pollack’s ‘Sketches of Frank Gehry’, will participate in a Q&A at the IFI this Friday, 29th June, after the 6.40pm screening of the documentary film.
Ultan Guilfoyle is an award-winning Irish film producer and writer whose films have appeared on CBS, HBO, Bravo, and PBS in the United States, and the BBC and Channel 4 in Britain. While at the BBC, Guilfoyle produced music and arts programs, including rock show, ‘Whistle Test’, and the international rock concert ‘Live Aid’ which, at the time, was the biggest single television broadcast ever produced.
In 1998, Guilfoyle was invited by the Guggenheim Museum to curate the exhibition, the Art of the Motorcycle. The exhibition was inaugurated in New York and subsequently toured to the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain and the Guggenheim Las Vegas, achieving a total attendance of more than 2 million visitors, placing it among the top five of museum exhibitions ever held.
Famous for romantic comedies and political thrillers, Oscar winner Pollack has, until now, avoided the documentary format.
Frank Gehry and Pollack have been close friends for years, and Pollack’s admiration and affection for Gehry is apparent in his gentle, informal and unobtrusive shooting style, which is often content to simply observe the man at work.
Gehry is best known as the architect responsible for the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997), the Pritzker Bandshell Chicago (2004) and his unique cardboard furniture. His technique of developing ideas with 3D models rather than on paper confounds the prevailing canon of architectural processes.
As its title suggests, Pollack’s film is a loosely rendered portrait, a series of sketches rather than a complete picture. Although talking-head interviews with the likes of Philip Johnson and critic Hal Foster provide a degree of balance, this is essentially a celebration of individual talent.
In May 2006 ‘Sketches of Frank Gehry’ was an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in France. It was also featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
‘Sketches of Frank Gehry’ opens exclusively at the IFI on the 29th June and runs till the 8th July. The Q & A will be chaired by Gemma Tipton.
To book tickets for this event and other screenings contact the box office on 679 3477 or online at www.irishfilm.ie.
