The Great Artist | |
---|---|
Directed by | Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri |
Screenplay by | |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Ray Wongchinda |
Edited by | Sean Olson |
Music by |
|
Production company | Purpose Co. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 23 min |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Great Artist is a 2020 American short drama film directed by Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri and written and produced by Sunny Vachher and Matthew Postlethwaite. Starring Matthew Postlethwaite, the rest of the cast includes Marimar Vega, Rain Valdez and Benjamin Patterson. [1]
The film was produced during the COVID-19 pandemic and enjoyed a successful festival run, which began virtually on December 31, 2020 in that month's edition of the 2020 TopShorts Film Festival. This resulted in it winning and being nominated for numerous awards, including for Postlethwaite's performance, Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri's directing, Richi Carter's score and the original song "Brave" (which was written by Matthew Postlethwaite, Jon Altham and Pia Toscano; performed by Pia Toscano), which made history as the first song from a live-action short film to win the Hollywood Music in Media Award for Outstanding Song Written for Visual Media (Short Film). It screened at the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes Film Festival. [2] The film qualified for consideration for the Live Action Short Film Shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards [3] and was selected by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the Oscars' Top 5 Live Action Shorts.
A gifted artist finds himself in a broken balance between creating world class art and the all too silent struggle of self care as his life begins to unravel because of his Dissociative Identity Disorder. [4]
Postlethwaite created the story and wrote the film with Vachher at the beginning of January 2020 as a way to bring awareness to mental health, inspired by Postlethwaite’s experience when he was admitted to the hospital in his 20s for feeling suicidal. Postlethwaite further added in an interview for Albuquerque Journal , "As I talk about it, it becomes easier. A lot of people are more open to talk about their struggles with mental health. We need to know that we’re not alone. That’s what we’re trying to do with the film. We’re trying to open the conversation.” [5] Later that year, Postlethwaite and Producer Sunny Vachher's production company, Purpose Co., received the green-light from SAG-AFTRA to move forward with production, and received endorsements from various major mental health organizations. [6]
The film has the support of major organizations such as GLAAD, American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Movember, Kindred, Tethr, The Tramuto Foundation, and Stand with Impact, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) further sponsoring the film at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.
Filming took place in Los Angeles, California with COVID-19 safety protocols in place, with production ending with zero positive cases for the virus.
"It is the climax that is truly brilliant -- one that earned the film a consideration for the Live Action Short Film shortlist for the 93rd Academy Awards...Are we all striving to achieve 'greatness' by holding our authentic self hostage? This is the haunting question that Pal-Chaudhuri leaves her viewers with," according to Prerna Mittra of The Indian Express.
Markos Papadatos of Digital Journal was positive about the film and praised Postlethwaite's performance, writing that "...he is not afraid to be raw and vulnerable, where one can really hear his heart in this short movie. He layers his emotions well and he delves beyond the surface to bring this complex character to life." He then went on to add that "It truly underscores the fact that for great art to be produced, there needs to be major suffering. Viewers are bound to find it warm, heartfelt, and relatable, especially in the era of COVID-19." [7]
Christopher Henry of The Blunt Post praised the directing, cinematography, writing and performances, concluding his review that "It manages not only to humanize not only the illness of DID but to humanize the idea of an artist as well. That behind the carefully constructed work of beauty, lies the turmoil and sorrow that one had to endure to produce it." [4]
Awards | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Award | Category | Recipients | Result |
2020 | Aphrodite Film Awards [8] | December Edition Award - Best Piece of Music (Only Music) | Jon Altham, Pia Toscano and Matthew Postlethwaite (for "Brave") | Semi-Finalist |
Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival [9] | Honorable Mention - Best Original Song | Won | ||
Beyond the Curve International Film Festival [10] | December Award - Best Original Song | Nominated | ||
Calcutta International Cult Film Festival [11] | Golden Fox Award - Best Film Score - Soundtrack | Richi Carter | Nominated | |
Best Film Score - Soundtrack | Won | |||
Festigious International Film Festival [12] | December Award - Best Picture | The Great Artist | Won | |
December Award - Best Actor | Matthew Postlethwaite | Won | ||
Festival Award - Best Original Score | Richi Carter | Won | ||
Global Film Festival Awards [13] | December Award - Best Composer | Won | ||
Global Music Awards | Outstanding Musical Achievement For Female Voice | Pia Toscano (for "Brave") | Won | |
International Music Video Underground | Best Lyrics Written for Song | Jon Altham, Pia Toscano and Matthew Postlethwaite (for "Brave") | Nominated | |
Best Original Song | Nominated | |||
Los Angeles Film Awards [14] | LAFA December Award - Best Narrative Feature | The Great Artist | Nominated | |
LAFA December Award - Best Drama | Won | |||
LAFA December Award - Best LGBTQ Film | Nominated | |||
LAFA December Award - Best Actor | Matthew Postlethwaite | Nominated | ||
LAFA December Award - Honorable Mention - Best Actor | Won | |||
Festival Award - Best Score | Richi Carter | Won | ||
New York International Film Awards | November Monthly Award - Best Song | Jon Altham, Pia Toscano and Matthew Postlethwaite (for "Brave") | Won | |
Queen Palm International Film Festival | Fourth Quarter Performance - Best Original Song | Nominated | ||
Fourth Quarter Performance - Best Music | Richi Carter | Nominated | ||
TopShorts Film Festival [15] | Film of the Month - December 2020 | The Great Artist | Won | |
December Award - Best Narrative Film | Nominated | |||
December Award - Best Drama Film | Won | |||
December Award - Best LGBTQ Film | Won | |||
December Award - Best Actor | Matthew Postlethwaite | Won | ||
December Award - Best Score | Richi Carter | Won | ||
Toronto Independent Film Festival of Cift [16] | December Award - Best Female Director | Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri | Won | |
World International Film Festival | Best Song | Jon Altham, Pia Toscano and Matthew Postlethwaite (for "Brave") | Nominated | |
2021 | 11th Hollywood Music in Media Awards [17] | Best Original Song — Short Film | Won | |
Atlanta Award-Qualifying Film Festival [18] | Best Original Song | Nominated |
Searchlight Pictures, Inc. is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios sub-division of Disney Entertainment, a business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Founded in 1994 as Fox Searchlight Pictures for 20th Century Fox, the studio focuses primarily on producing, distributing, and acquiring specialty films.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focused on independent and experimental films. The inaugural festival took place in June 1972, led by founder Huub Bals. IFFR also hosts CineMart and BoostNL, for film producers to seek funding.
Matthew Avery Modine is an American actor and filmmaker. He shared the Venice Film Festival‘s Volpi Cup for Best Actor as part of the ensemble cast of Robert Altman film Streamers (1983). He went on to play lead roles in several high-profile films throughout the 1980’s, including include Birdy (1984), Vision Quest (1985), and Married to the Mob (1988). He gained further prominence for playing U.S. Marine J.T. "Joker" Davis in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987).
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, held over nine days each September. It is one of the largest film festivals in Canada.
Corey Daniel Sevier is a Canadian actor, known for his role on the Fox television series North Shore as Gabriel McKay and as Timmy Cabot in Lassie.
Puppetoons is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets for each frame in which the puppet moves or changes expression, rather than moving a single puppet, as is the case with most stop motion puppet animation. They were particularly made from 1932-1948, in both Europe and the US.
Marshall Curry is an Oscar-winning American documentary director, producer, cinematographer and editor. His films include Street Fight, Racing Dreams, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Point and Shoot, and A Night at the Garden. His first fiction film was the Academy Award-winning short film The Neighbors' Window (2019).
Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri is an Indian artist, film director, and photographer.
Mike Manning is an American actor, producer, reality television personality and activist. Manning gained fame as a cast member on the MTV series The Real World: D.C. in 2009 at 22 years old. Before subsequently embarking on an acting career, he appeared in a number of films and television programs, such as the 2014 Disney Channel original movie Cloud 9, in which he played Nick Swift, Hawaii Five-0, Love Is All You Need? (2016), Teen Wolf, The Call, Son of the South and Days of Our Lives. As a producer, his work includes the documentary Kidnapped for Christ, and The Bay, which won the 2020 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series. He won the 2021 Daytime Emmy Award Outstanding Performance By a Supporting Actor in a Daytime Fiction Program for his performance as Caleb McKinnon.
Lee Isaac Chung is an American filmmaker. His debut feature Munyurangabo (2007) was an official selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in the Kinyarwanda language.
The Reel Shorts Film Festival, held annually in Grande Prairie, Alberta since 2007, is recognized as one of North America's best short film festivals. Its programming focus is short-form cinematic storytelling, screening "gems of storytelling brilliance" from around the world, across Canada, and in the Peace Region. The purpose is twofold: to entertain, educate, and engage audiences; and to grow the film-making community in the Peace Region by inspiring, developing, and showcasing its filmmakers. Thousands of submissions are received annually from which 80-105 short films are selected. It is a qualifying festival for the Canadian Screen Awards.
April Phillips is an actress, writer, singer, director and producer of film and theatre. She was born in Coventry, England, but resides in Wellington, New Zealand. Her production company, Godiva Productions Limited, was named after the Lady Godiva legend of her hometown of Coventry.
Scott Takeda is an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He is known for his recurring roles on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and General Hospital, and for appearances in films such as Everything Must Go (2010), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Gone Girl (2014), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016), The Space Between Us (2017), and The Tale (2018).
Matthew Postlethwaite is a British actor, writer, singer, artist and entrepreneur. He produced, created and starred in the 2020 short film The Great Artist.
Benjamin Cleary is an Irish writer, director and producer from Dublin. He is best known for his short-film Stutterer that earned him an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards with producers Shan Christopher Ogilvie and Serena Armitage.
Rachelle Henry is an American actress and filmmaker. She played the role of Sandy Hobbs in the TLC series Escaping the Prophet and Lissa Golaski in Depth, the film prequel to the video game Soma, by Frictional Games. She is also known for directing and producing short films with social influence and coming of age themes, including Missing,Defining Moments, and Almost Boyfriends.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a 2021 animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation. The film was directed by Mike Rianda and co-directed by Jeff Rowe, from a screenplay written by both of them. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Kurt Albrecht served as producers. The film stars an ensemble voice cast that includes Danny McBride, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Rianda, Eric André, and Olivia Colman, with Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Blake Griffin, Conan O'Brien, and Doug the Pug in supporting roles. It follows the dysfunctional Mitchell family that must save Earth from a global uprising of robots while on a road trip.
Great Artist may refer to:
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run is a 2020 Swiss short film directed by Maria Brendle and produced by Nadine Lüchinger and Flavio Gerber, Filmgerberei. The film is about a Kyrgyz girl who falls victim to bride kidnapping.
The After is a 2023 British short film directed by Misan Harriman in his directorial debut and written by John Julius Schwabach from a story by Harriman. The film starring David Oyelowo and Jessica Plummer, tells the story of Dayo, a grieving rideshare driver who, after losing family members to a violent crime, picks up a passenger who helps him confront the past.