this week in lectures, signings, panel discussions, workshops, and Q&As

FRIEZE ART FAIR WEEK 2015

The art world will descend on Randall’s Island for the Frieze Art Fair this week (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

FRIEZE ART FAIR
Randall’s Island Park
May 14-17, $28-$109
friezenewyork.com

The giant white tents of the Frieze Art Fair will cover Randall’s Island once again for four days in May, promising crowds of eager patrons and onlookers both provocative, astonishing, world-class, expensive art and a group of often delightful, sometimes mystifying, occasionally participatory projects, as well as superlative people-watching and classy eats. Those looking to acquire museum-level works can check out the booths of Marian Goodman, which features the work of Giuseppe Penone, a member of the Italian Arte Povera group; or Paul Kasmin, who has works by Sigmar Polke, Iván Navarro, Jules Olitski, and Laylah Ali on its temporary walls. Matthew Marks will show lots of Nan Goldin and Paul Sietsema; Cheim & Read has Ghada Amer, Louise Bourgeois, and Lynda Benglis; Yoko Ono is at Galerie Lelong; and fans of German painting can choose from Martin Eder, David Schnell, and Melora Kuhn at Eigen + Art. With more than two hundred galleries, Frieze can be overwhelming, but there’s an app to download here and sustenance provided by high-end dining-scene stalwarts Frankie’s Sputino, Milk Bar, Prime Meats, and Roberta’s, among others.

Performance art and an outdoor sculpture garden are part of annual Frieze fair (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Performance projects and an outdoor sculpture garden are part of annual Frieze Art Fair (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

We enjoy the Frieze projects immensely; you can see our video with Marie Lorenz here, as we exited the fair in a rather unique way. This year, there seems to be a theme; two projects boast mazelike layouts and a third is highlighted by a hidden subterranean chamber. Japanese-born Aki Sasamoto makes his maze into a sort of personality test and multiple-choice questionnaire via a series of rooms and doors (shades of Door Number Two and Let’s Make a Deal, perhaps?) while the Flux-Labyrinth reconceives George Maciunas’s 1975 Fluxus work as a participatory set of narrow corridors and mysterious door handles. Korakrit Arunanondchai’s massage chairs and Pia Camil’s free fabric giveaways add to fairgoers’ fun. Los Angeles-based artist Samara Golden’s secret room beneath the fair reveals the working underbelly of pillars, electric cables, and air-conditioning vents — vents that we fervently hope work very well as the enormous crowds descend on this, one of twi-ny’s all-time favorite New York art fairs. Below are some of the special programs at Frieze, as well as information about the other fairs in town this week.

Thursday, May 14
Frieze Talks: ‘Some may like a soft Brazilian singer,’ with Christian Jankowski, featuring the music of Caetano Veloso, 4:00

Friday, May 15
‘Aesthetics’ of ‘Female’ ‘Attractiveness,’ with Casey Jane Ellison, Grace Dunham, Reina Gossett, Karley Sciortino, and Leilah Weinraub, 12 noon

Saturday, May 16
‘Ask Jerry,’ with Jerry Saltz, 12 noon

Sunday, May 17
Paul McCarthy & Leigh Ledare in conversation with Chrissie Iles, 12 midday

COLLECTIVE DESIGN FAIR
Skylight Clarkson Sq.
550 Washington St.
May 13-17, $15-$25
collectivedesignfair.com

Saturday, May 16
“Witness to the Future: Vladimir Kagan and Michael Boodro in Conversation,” 2:30

Sunday, May 17
“Among Friends: The Collaborative Practice and Ongoing Influence of Isamu Noguchi,” 1:00

NADA NEW YORK 2015
Basketball City, 299 South St. at the East River
May 14-17, free
newartdealers.org

Thursday, May 14
“Tachyon Path,” a musical piece composed by Jay Israelson, 6:00

Friday, May 15
Regina Rex presents “Selections from Sports Closet,” a performance by Alina Tenser, 1:00 & 5:00

Sunday, May 17
“On Connectivity,” a discussion with artists from the New Museum’s 2015 Triennial: “Surround Audience,” 3:00

ART MIAMI NEW YORK
Pier 94, 12th Ave. at 55th St.
May 14-17, $15-$25 (multiday pass $55)
www.artmiaminewyork.com

Friday, May 15
Artist Spotlight: “The Diamond,” with Iftah Geva and Gal Goldner, 1:00

Saturday, May 16
“Bad Collector — A Primer on What Not to Do,” with Karen Boyer, Albina De Meio, James Kober, and Samuel Pugatch, 2:00

Book Signing with Acclaimed Photographer & Stylist Marisol, Post-Modern Booth #B19, 3:00 – 6:00

Sunday, May 17
Artist Spotlight: Alexander Zakharov — Exploring New Media Art,” 1:00

SELECT
Center 548, 548 West 22nd St. St.
May 14-17, $10-$20 (multiday pass $25)
www.select-fair.com

Saturday, May 16
“Freedom of Press?” with Lori Cole, Christopher Howard, Aruna D’Souza, and Colleen Asper, moderated by Dushko Petrovich, Select Lounge, third floor, 2:00

Sunday, May 17
“Digital Objects,” with Zoë Salditch, Greg Borenstein, Andrea Wolf, Marco Antonini, and Siebren Versteeg, moderated by Yin Ho, Select Lounge, third floor, 2:00

FRIDGE ART FAIR
Retro Bar & Grill at the Holiday Inn
150 Delancey St.
May 14-17, free
www.fridgeartfair.com

1:54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ART FAIR
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer St., Red Hook
May 15-17, $5-$10 ($25 with catalog)
1-54.com/new-york

Friday, May 15
Keynote Address: “Black Aesthetics Unbound,” Margo Natalie Crawford, 1:30

Saturday, May 16
“Breaking the Ice,” with Christian Haye and Melvin Edwards, moderated by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, 3:00

SOUNDS LIKE MUSIC — THE FILMS OF MARTIN REJTMAN: TWO SHOTS FIRED

Life goes on after a bizarre shooting event in Martín Rejtman’s absurdist TWO SHOTS FIRED

TWO SHOTS FIRED (DOS DISPAROS) (Martín Rejtman, 2014)
Film Society of Lincoln Center, Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center
Howard Gilman Theater / Francesca Beale Theater
144 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Aves.
May 13-19
212-875-5601
www.filmlinc.com
www.cinematropical.com

Last year, award-winning Argentine writer-director Martín Rejtman returned with his first film in eight years (and only his fourth feature in his nearly thirty-year career), the absurdist black comedy Two Shots Fired. The calmly paced story begins as sixteen-year-old Mariano (Rafael Federman), after a night of dancing, goes about his daily chores, swimming laps in his family’s backyard pool (as the dog runs alongside him) and mowing the lawn. He shows no emotion when he accidentally runs over the mower’s electric cord; instead he simply goes into the house for tools to fix it. There he also finds a box with a gun, so he goes into his room, puts the gun against his head, and pulls the trigger, like it’s a perfectly normal thing to do. He then places the barrel against his stomach and shoots himself a second time. The first shot merely grazes his temple, while the second shot seems to have left a bullet lodged in his body. Mariano evenhandedly claims that he is not depressed and was not trying to kill himself, and his friends and family essentially act as if nothing has happened, going on with their simple, ordinary lives. The only ones who appear to be even the slightest bit concerned are his mother (Susana Pampin), who secretly hides all the scissors and kitchen knives, and the dog, who runs away.

When Mariano attempts to go anywhere with his brother (Benjamín Coelho) that involves passing through a metal detector, the system beeps at him; when his brother tries to explain that it must be because there is a bullet in him, Mariano doesn’t care, opting not to enter, instead waiting outside without complaining, explaining, or making a scene. When he practices with his woodwind quartet, his recorder releases a second note every time he plays, presumably the result of the lodged bullet, but he continues on, like it’s no big deal. And when his cell phone incessantly goes off, he doesn’t get mad or embarrassed; he simply tries to find a place to put it where it won’t disturb him or anyone else. He, and everyone around him, including a potential girlfriend (Manuela Martelli) and his music teacher (Laura Paredes), just keep on keeping on, going about their business, virtually emotionless. They’re not trying to forget what happened; instead, it’s like it is just another part of daily existence in this Buenos Aires suburb. A minimalist, Rejtman first focuses his camera on a place, then doesn’t move it as characters walk in and some kind of “action,” however critical or monotonous, takes place; then the people leave the frame as the camera lingers, like Ozu on Valium. What happens is just as important, or unimportant, as what doesn’t happen. Every scene is treated the same, a meditation on the mundanity of life (with perhaps more than a passing reference to how Argentina has dealt with los desaparecidos and its long-running volatile political climate). And just like life, parts of the film are boring, parts are wildly funny, parts are unpredictable, and parts are, well, just parts of life. A selection of the 52nd New York Film Festival, Two Shots Fired is having its official U.S. theatrical release May 13-19 at Lincoln Center in conjunction with “Sounds Like Music: The Films of Martín Rejtman,” with Rejtman on hand for Q&As following the 6:30 screenings on May 13 and 15. The one-week festival also includes Rejtman’s Elementary Training for Actors, The Magic Gloves, Rapado, and Silvia Prieto.

ONE CUT, ONE LIFE

Lucia Small and Ed Pincus team up to film the end of his time on Earth in ONE CUT, ONE LIFE (photo by Danielle Morgan)

ONE CUT, ONE LIFE (Lucia Small & Ed Pincus, 2014)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Opens Wednesday, May 13
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
onecutonelife.com

When documentarian and flower farmer Ed Pincus, considered the father of first-person film, was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he did what he had done previously in his life: turn the camera on himself. Teaming up with Lucia Small (My Father, the Genius), with whom he had made the post-Katrina nonfiction film The Axe in the Attic in 2007, Pincus (Black Natchez, Diaries [1971–1976]) shared the intimate details of his story as they compiled what would become One Cut, One Life, named for a Japanese Aikido philosophy that means “Everything could be the last time,” “Everything counts,” “Everything has meaning.” Not everyone was thrilled with Pincus’s decision; in particular, Jane, his wife of fifty years, had severe reservations about his making a film with death on the horizon. But in her director’s statement, Small explains, “Rather than slowing us down, Ed’s illness created a flurry of creative work, as well as the impetus to delve into difficult emotional territory. We wrote [in a grant application], ‘When he is filming, he easily immerses himself into something productive, something that extends his creative life. Making another film offers a much-needed crucial distance from his potential fate.’” Pincus died in November 2013, but One Cut, One Life lives on, to show how he faced the end. The film opens Wednesday, May 13, at the IFC Center, and the first week will feature a series of special discussions at select shows. On May 13 at 7:15, “Celebrating Ed Pincus’s Life and Legacy: Pushing Boundaries — Up Close and Personal” brings together Small, Michel Negroponte, Marco Williams, and moderator Tom Roston. On May 14 at 7:15, Small, Nina Davenport, and Judith Helfand will delve into “Female Voice and First Person Non-Fiction.” On May 15 at 7:50, Liz Giamatti will talk about “The Art of Collaboration: Trauma, Loss, and Creative Partnership.” The 7:50 screening on May 18 will be followed by a Q&A with Small. And on May 19 at 7:50, Judith Schwarz explores “The Reality of Being Mortal: End of Life, Quality of Life, and Navigating Options.”

TICKET ALERT: NEW YORK COMIC CON 2015

The mad rush for New York Comic Con begins on May 13, when tickets go on sale for the October event (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Spotlight Guests Jewel Staite, John Rhys-Davies, Adam Hughes, Chris Claremont, Greg Capullo, Masashi Kishimoto, Scott Snyder, Todd McFarlane, and John Rhys-Davies, Featured Guests Allison Sohn, Amy Reeder, Charles Soule, Terry Dodson, and many, many more to be announced
What: New York Comic Con
Where: Javits Center, 655 W 34th St. at 12th Ave.
When: October 8-11, single day $40-$50, three-day pass $75, four-day pass $105, tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 13, at 12 noon
Why: New York Comic Con continues its exponential growth as it reaches its tenth anniversary, making it harder and harder to get tickets, so there’s no time to waste if you want to go to the annual celebration of pop culture, with particular focuses on gaming, science fiction and fantasy books and films, anime, and all things comic-book-related. The four days, part of New York Super Week, are chock full of panel discussions, sneak-peek screenings, photo and autograph opportunities, book signings, and tons and tons of costumed fans. It’s getting so that those who come dressed in regular clothes are the minority. Tickets will go very quickly, so get yours now; don’t wait around until the big-time celebrity attendees are announced, as there will be plenty of major stars there to promote their latest work and smile for the camera with you.

HAUTE COUTURE ON FILM: HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE

CinéSalon: HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE (Jean Negulesco, 1953)
French Institute Alliance Française, Florence Gould Hall
55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
Tuesday, May 12, $13, 4:00 & 7:30
Festival runs through May 26
212-355-6100
www.fiaf.org

Fox’s first CinemaScope romantic comedy, How to Marry a Millionaire, is not exactly a feminist’s dream, as a trio of gorgeous blonde models concoct a dubious plan to snare rich husbands in très chic 1950s Manhattan. Mastermind Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall), blind-as-a-bat Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe), and far-from-genius Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) move into a luxury Manhattan high-rise on Sutton Place when the previous tenant, Freddie Denmark (David Wayne), has to suddenly disappear because of tax problems. The three women are going for the gold, so Schatze refuses the constant attention of Tom Brookman (Cameron Mitchell), a man she thinks is a “gas pump jockey” but is actually one of the richest men in the city. Instead, she soon drapes herself all over aging widower and Texas cattleman J. D. Hanley (William Powell), while Loco goes away with married businessman Waldo Brewster (Fred Clark) and Pola takes up with mysterious oil baron J. Stewart Merrill (Alex D’Arcy). But no one ends up with who they brought to the dance in this outdated, old-fashioned, often annoying, yet still fun farce.

Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall go wealthy husband hunting in 1950s romantic comedy

Director Jean Negulesco (Humoresque, Johnny Belinda) tries to inject some class into the proceedings by beginning the film with Alfred Newman conducting the Twentieth Century-Fox Symphony Orchestra performing part of his score for the 1932 film Street Scene before the opening credits. Cinematographer Joseph MacDonald’s (My Darling Clementine, Pickup on South Street) camera lingers over shots of such iconic locations as Rockefeller Center, the George Washington Bridge, and the United Nations as Monroe, Grable, and Bacall seek out a ritzy future built on the wallets of men. Screenwriter producer Nunnally Johnson (The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The Three Faces of Eve), who based the story on two plays, Zoë Akins’s The Greeks Had a Word for It and Dale Eunson and Katherine Albert’s Loco, includes inside jokes for each of the three female stars, Bacall referencing husband Humphrey Bogart, Grable mentioning hubby Harry James, and Monroe being told that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” Just because the filmmakers know the premise is silly doesn’t excuse it for several ridiculous plot twists and its not-so-subtle misogyny. But it all looks great, especially the lead actresses, who are dressed to the nines in dazzling Christian Dior outfits that earned Charles LeMaire and Travilla an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design (Color), so it is appropriate that How to Marry a Millionaire is screening in the French Institute Alliance Française CinéSalon series “Haute Couture on Film,” part of the larger “Fashion at FIAF” festival, being shown May 12 at 4:00 & 7:30; both presentations will be followed by a wine reception, and Wesleyan professor and All We Know: Three Lives author Lisa Cohen will introduce the later show. The series continues through May 26 with Luis Buñuel’s Belle de jour and Deborah Riley Draper’s Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution.

THE APU TRILOGY: PATHER PANCHALI

Apu (Subir Banerjee) watches life unfold in his small Indian village in Satyajit Ray’s PATHER PANCHALI

PATHER PANCHALI (SONG OF THE LITTLE ROAD) (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
May 8-28
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

A groundbreaking work in the history of world cinema, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and its two sequels, Aparajito and Apur Sansar, have been meticulously restored by the Criterion Collection and the Academy Film Archive following a nitrate fire in 1993 — the year after Ray was awarded an honorary Oscar on his deathbed — and now are being shown together as “The Apu Trilogy,” running May 8-28 at Film Forum. Inspired by a meeting with Jean Renoir in Kolkata, where Renoir was shooting The River, and watching ninety-nine films in six months while working as a graphic designer for an advertising agency in London, Ray decided to make his first film, adapting Bibhutibhushan Banerjee’s 1929 novel, which he knew well; Ray had contributed illustrations to a later edition of the book. The film took nearly five years to make as Ray faced repeated financing problems, such delays as cattle eating flowers that were needed for an important scene, and a cast and crew primarily of nonprofessionals. Despite all those issues, Pather Panchali is a stunning masterpiece, a bittersweet and captivating tale of a rural family mired in poverty, struggling to survive in extremely hard times. In a small village, Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee) is raising her daughter, Durga (Runki Banerjee), a rambunctious teen, and son, Apu (Subir Banerjee), while her husband, dreamer Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), a wannabe playwright and poet, goes off for months at a time, trying to find work in the city. (The actors shared a common surname but were not related in real life.) Sarbajaya is also caring for their elderly cousin, “Auntie” Indir (retired theater actress Chunibala Devi), who walks very slowly, hunched over and with impossibly leathery skin. The family goes about its business from day to day, as the kids play with friends, figure out how they can get something from the sweets man, and hang out with Auntie, who offers a fresh perspective on life. Sarbajaya is embarrassed that she cannot pay back several rupees she owes her relatively wealthy neighbor, who owns an orchard from which Durga steals fruit. It’s a meager existence, but it avoids being completely dark and bleak because of Auntie’s sense of humor and Apu’s wide-eyed innocence. The film is told from his point of view — in fact, the first time we see him, he is lying down, covered, and one of his eyes pops open, dominating the screen. It’s a difficult, challenging life, but there’s always hope.

Durga (Runki Banerjee) offers Auntie (Chunibala Devi) a stolen treat in PATHER PANCHALI

The episodic Pather Panchali was heavily influenced by Italian Neorealism while also evoking works by Ozu, Kurosawa, and Renoir, providing an alternative to the flashier, popular Bollywood style. First-time writer-director Ray and first-time cinematographer Subrata Mitra maintain a lyrical, poetic pace, accompanied by a traditional score by sitar legend Ravi Shankar. The film succeeds both as a cultural testament, lending insight into the poor of India, as well as a fully realized cinematic story; it won the country’s National Film Award for Best Feature Film while also earning Best Human Document honors at Cannes. Sarbajaya, Durga, Apu, and Auntie are almost always barefoot, wearing the same clothes, scraping the bottom of the pan with their fingers for that last grain of rice, but there’s an elegance and grace, an intoxicating honesty, to their simple, laborious daily lives. Ray would go on to make such other films as Teen Kanya, Jalsaghar, Ashani Sanket, Devi, and Agantuk, but he is most remembered for “The Apu Trilogy,” which looks absolutely gorgeous in these new 4K restorations, reaffirming its lofty place in the coming-of-age pantheon alongside François Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series. Ray’s son, director and cinematographer Sandip Ray, who collaborated with his father on several projects, will introduce the 8:00 screening of Pather Panchali on May 8.

RadioLoveFest — SELECTED SHORTS: UNCHARTED TERRITORIES

Hope Davis, Bobby Cannavale, and Parker Posey will participate in thirtieth anniversary of Selected Shorts at BAM

Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton St. between Ashland & Rockwell Pl.
Saturday, May 9, $30, 7:30
Festival runs through May 10
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.symphonyspace.org

BAM’s second annual RadioLoveFest, a collaboration presented with WNYC, continues with a special Selected Shorts evening celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the popular Symphony Space series in which a roster of film and theater actors reads short fiction. On May 9 at 7:30, Hope Davis (American Splendor, In Treatment), Bobby Cannavale (Blue Jasmine, The Motherfucker with the Hat), Parker Posey (The House of Yes, Broken English), and host Robert Sean Leonard (The Music Man, House, M.D.) will focus on works dealing with unexpected encounters. RadioLoveFest continues through May 10 with such other programs as Hilary Frank’s “Speed Dating for Mom Friends,” Glynn Washington’s “Snap Judgment LIVE!,” Anna Sale’s “Death, Sex & Money,” John Schaefer’s “Mexrrissey: Mexico Loves Morrissey,” and “Leonard Lopate & Locavores: Brooklyn as a Brand.”