Covering Media

The director of OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW, Sophie Fiennes on location in 2008. Photo by Remco Schorr. Picture courtesy Alive Mind Cinema. All rights reserved.

Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (2010/2011)

Opened: 08/10/2011 Limited

Trailer: Click for trailer

Websites: Home

Genre: German Documentary

Rated: Unrated

Synopsis

In 1993 Kiefer left Buchen, Germany for La Ribaute, a derelict silk factory near Barjac. From 2000 he began constructing a series of elaborate installations there. Like a strange, sprawling village, La Ribaute extends over 35 hectares and is composed of old industrial buildings and working studios that link to a network of underground tunnels dug out by Kiefer, which run underneath pavilions built to house paintings and installations. An underground pool at the cul-de-sac of a tubular iron tunnel is embedded within a crypt which backs onto to a 20 m tiered concrete amphitheatre. There are caves and woods, an open landscape of concrete towers -- assembled like so many card houses -- and secluded, private spaces. Traversing this landscape, the film immerses the audience in the total world and creative process of one of today's most significant and inventive artists.

Shot in cinemascope, the film constructs visual set pieces alongside observational footage to capture both the dramatic resonance of Kiefer's art and the intimate process of creation.

This polarity -- in terms of scale, sensibility and time -- animates the film, creating a multi-layered narrative through which to navigate the complex spaces of La Ribaute.

Here creation and destruction are interdependent; the film enters into direct contact with the raw materials Kiefer employs to build his paintings and sculptures - lead, concrete, ash, acid, earth, glass and gold. OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW gives privileged access to Kiefer's last days at La Ribotte prior to his move to Paris, where he now lives and works.

Biographies

Anselm Kiefer

Anselm Kiefer's monumental body of work occupies a fascinating place in the canon of late 20th Century art. Born in 1945, a son of post-fascist Germany, he initially embarrassed his country through his excavations of the nation's recent past when he photographed himself performing Nazi salutes in the landscape. Kiefer came to prominence in 1980 when he represented his country in the Venice Biennale. His work is now held in museums and private collections internationally.

Recent exhibitions include a retrospective at the Guggenheim Bilbao and Monumenta (2007) at the Grand Palais in Paris. In 2008 the Louvre commissioned a painting for their permanent collection and Kiefer was awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels in Germany. His creation at La Ribaute represents his most ambitious work to date in the second half of his career.

Sophie Fiennes

Sophie Fiennes was born in Suffolk, England, in 1967. She attended art school briefly, worked with Peter Greenaway from 1987 to 1992 and managed choreographer Michael Clark from 1993 to 1995. She began making her films in 1998. She is widely acclaimed for her unique observational eye and strong sense of cinematic form. Previous films include her infamous THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA (2006), a film collaboration with radical thinker Slavoj Zizek. She made HOOVER STREET REVIVAL (2002), a feature documentary about a Pentecostal church community in Los Angeles and the sermons of its resident preacher. Kasander co-produced both films with Fiennes. Future projects include GRACE JONES, THE MUSICAL OF MY LIFE, a marathon digital-video feature project with singer and performer Grace Jones, and THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY, her second collaboration with Slavoj Zizek. Fiennes was awarded a NESTA fellowship in 2000 and at Rotterdam's 2008 Cinemart she won the ARTE FRANCE CINEMA AWARD.