RIDM 2013: Finding Vivian Maier

Finding Vivian Maier

PRODUCTION TEAM:

Production: Charlie Siskel, John Maloof
Cinematography: John Maloof
Editing: Aaron Wickenden
Sound: Scott Palmer, Steve Lynch
Language: English

Contact: Michael Boyuk, Films We Like, mike@filmswelike.com
United States, 2013, 84 min.

RIDM OFFICIAL FILM SYNOPSIS:

 "Sometimes, a seemingly innocuous event, for example a storage auction, can shake the art world. If a dogged amateur historian (John Maloof, who also co-directed this film) hadn’t purchased a certain box full of negatives, one of the 20th century’s great photographers might have remained completely unknown. Vivian Maier lived a simple life as a nanny, and she was an intensely reserved and private person. When she died in 2009, she left behind some 100,000 street photographs, many of them truly remarkable. This unknown, slightly disturbing and supremely talented artist left behind a priceless legacy, while also carrying plenty of enigmas to the grave — enough to enthral anyone who watches this gripping art thriller."

This film masterfully incorporates a sense of intrigue and suspense into the searching for an identity and personality of a woman who was a true artist but did not claim or struggled for the artistic recognition she trully deserved during her life. Were it not for John Maloof's chance encounter with her work at an auction, her photographic art would be still undiscovered and most likely lost forever.

Vivian Maier's photography featured in this film is truly remarkable. The images she captured have timeless quality, regardless of the fact they are dated by the specific time when they were taken and even by clothing people wore at the time. Why timeless? Because they capture the essence of a person, the unique emotion, grimace, disposition, or a personal struggle, suffering and even love. Each shot is masterfully delineated, it seems not requiring any additional picture cropping or trompe l'oeil enhancements as freely done now in the contemporary photography. The photo-frame of pictures she was shooting appears perfect from the start, the way they were originally captured by her camera on a celluloid photographic film. 

This documentary film raises a question: what is an authentic art in photography: the masterful picture taking itself or the technical process of picture printing and even self promotion involved in order to become a recognized artist? It is stated in the film that she is not being shown in the museums because she herself has not developed many of the films and has not produced the photo prints herself. However, let's keep in mind that many well renown medieval painters have not painted their canvases entirely by themselves, but had a number of students and helpers in their ateliers - workshops who executed many of the required tasks in the production of a painting. Yet those masterpieces are cherished and attributed to only one painter and are displayed in the museum with only his name.

Vivian Maier was a remarkable photographer. It is worthwhile to discover her as an artists and also a person, to become knowledgeable about her work, her remarkable artistic and photographic vision, her skills of capturing fleeting street moments and making then durable by endowing them with her personal and very private perception and sensibility.

Finding Vivian Maier - Official Movie Trailer