Nicholas Gardiner Macdonald (born October 22, 1944) is an American author and filmmaker (as Nick Macdonald) who made several independent films during the 1970s, including Break Out! (1971) and The Liberal War (1974). [1] His book In Search of «La Grande Illusion»: a Critical Appreciation of Jean Renoir's Elusive Masterpiece [2] was published in November 2013.
Macdonald's anti-Vietnam War film, The Liberal War, is set in a utopian, anarchist future, looking back critically on the John F. Kennedy administration's prosecution of the war in Vietnam. [3] Contrary to the belief held by many that JFK intended to decrease American military involvement in Southeast Asia at the time of his assassination, The Liberal War argues that he had every intention of continuing his expansion of the conflict in Vietnam. [4] The Liberal War was acquired for the Study Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1976.
His films have been shown in New York City at Film Forum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Academy of Music and many independent forums and universities. In 2016, the first major retrospective of Macdonald's films outside of New York was held at the University of Chicago, sponsored by South Side Projections (which originated the screening) and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. [5] The same program showed at UnionDocs in New York in April 2017.
Macdonald lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is the son of American writer and critic Dwight Macdonald.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."

La Grande Illusion is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape. The title of the film comes from the 1909 book The Great Illusion by British journalist Norman Angell, which argued that war is futile because of the common economic interests of all European nations. The perspective of the film is generously humanistic to its characters of various nationalities.
Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greatest films ever made. He was ranked by the BFI's Sight & Sound poll of critics in 2002 as the fourth greatest director of all time. Among numerous honours accrued during his lifetime, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975 for his contribution to the motion picture industry. Renoir was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and the uncle of the cinematographer Claude Renoir. He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur.
Carl Koch or Karl Koch was a German art historian, film director and writer with many secondary credits including collaborations with his wife Lotte Reiniger, the animator of The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). In these collaborations, Koch often managed the camera work, which was mounted above Reiniger's animation table.
Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. His 1924 film Greed is considered one of the finest and most important films ever made. After clashes with Hollywood studio bosses over budget and workers' rights problems, Stroheim found it difficult to find work as a director and subsequently became a well-respected character actor, particularly in French cinema.

Dita Parlo was a German film actress.
Jean Gabin was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films including Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). During his career he twice won both the Silver Bear for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival respectively. Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.
Gabrielle Renard was a French woman who became an important member of the family of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, first becoming their nanny, and subsequently a frequent model for the artist. The bond she developed with the Renoirs' second son, the future filmmaker Jean Renoir, lasted throughout their lives. Upon her marriage in 1921, she became Gabrielle Renard-Slade.
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century. The Clark, along with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), forms a trio of art museums in the Berkshires. The institute also serves as a center for research and higher learning. It is home to various research and academic programs, which include the Fellowship Program and the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art, as well as one of the most distinguished research libraries in the country, with more than 295,000 volumes in over 72 languages. The Clark is visited by 200,000 people a year.
Jacques Becker was a French film director and screenwriter. His films, made during the 1940s and 1950s, encompassed a wide variety of genres, and they were admired by some of the filmmakers who led the French New Wave movement.
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatorial departments, is encyclopedic, and includes iconic works such as Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and Grant Wood's American Gothic. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.

The Elusive Corporal is a 1962 French film directed by Jean Renoir that stars Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Brasseur, and Claude Rich. It was entered into the 12th Berlin International Film Festival.
Félix Fénéon was a French art critic, gallery director, writer and anarchist during the late 19th century and early 20th century. He coined the term Neo-Impressionism in 1886 to identify a group of artists led by Georges Seurat, and ardently promoted them.

Renoir is a 2012 French drama film based on the last years of Pierre-Auguste Renoir at Cagnes-sur-Mer during World War I. The film was directed by Gilles Bourdos and competed in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. The film is set in the south of France during World War I and stars Michel Bouquet, Christa Theret, Thomas Doret and Vincent Rottiers.
A list of books and essays by or about Jean Renoir:
Jeanne Boitel was a French film actress. She played a role in the Resistance during World War II, using the surname of Mozart. She met Jacques Jaujard during her resistance activities in the war, and married him.
Marcelle Hainia (1896–1968) was a French stage and film actress.
Charles Granval was a French stage and film actor. He was Jean-Pierre Granval's father.
Max Dalban was a French film actor.
Marcel Lucien (1902-1958) was a French cinematographer.