Celebrating the work of Albert Maysles

The second edition of the New York Documentary Film Festival – Festival dei Popoli (May 27-31, 2009) at Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003) is part of an ongoing movement by the FESTIVAL DEI POPOLI of Florence, Italy, to celebrate its 50th anniversary through the circulation of its rich collection of archival films abroad. Founded in 1959 in Florence, the FESTIVAL DEI POPOLI is devoted to promoting and studying social documentary cinema. In fifty years, the collection has grown into an unparalleled treasure of documentary films covering the history of non-fiction filmmaking.

Legendary New York documentarist Albert Maysles, a regular guest of the Festival dei Popoli in Florence, will open the five-day event with a rare screening of his Meet Marlon Brando with the director in-person. Maysles draws an intimate and unusual portrait of Brando as himself during a lengthy, semi-voluntary session of press interviews set up to try to save his ill-fated film project Morituri. The Festival dei Popoli is honored to pay tribute to Maysles’s unique vision with two more of his films in this year’s program, including his first film Psychiatry in Russia.

The festival features three programs of auteur documentaries with a total of 18 films, depicting reality and history as filtered through the deeply personal aesthetics of very different directors:

“A TRIBUTE TO ALBERT MAYSLES” – The Festival dei Popoli is proud of its long-term relationship with Albert Maysles whose extraordinary contributions to the documentary as an art form have been among the Festival’s highlights for many years. This program is a rare chance for New York audiences to catch three of his lesser-known gems, suggested by the director himself.

“ITALIAN CHRONICLES” – A selection of works directed by three award-winning Italian documentarists: Alina Marazzi, Leonardo di Costanzo, and Bruno Oliviero. Although all directors work in their own inimitable style, together these six films offer a panorama of everyday life in Italy from the 1970s to the present.

“50 YEARS OF DOCUMENTARY (50th!)” – A selection of nine of the best documentaries of the last 50 years from the Festival dei Popoli's archive, featuring iconic international auteurs such as Agnès Varda, Alan Berliner, Artavazd Pelechian and Volker Koepp.

A press conference will be held on Tuesday May 26 at 12:30 at the Italian Cultural Institute,
686 Park Avenue, (btw 68th and 69th Street) RSVP: office@claudiatomassini.com

PRESS SCREENINGS
Thursday May 14. 1 pm, Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003)
“A TRIBUTE TO ALBERT MAYSLES”
Meet Marlon Brando by Albert Maysles (USA, 1966, 28') – Opening Night Film
Psychiatry in Russia by Albert Maysles (USA, 1955, 14')
With Love from Truman by Albert Maysles (USA, 1966, 29')
RSVP to: Stephanie Gray, Anthology Film Archives, Email: publicity@anthologyfilmarchives.org

SCREENERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE OTHER PROGRAMS please contact: Claudia Tomassini, Claudia@claudiatomassini.com