High Art

In-person:

Q&A with filmmaker Lisa Cholondekno, editor Amy E. Duddleston, producer Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte, art director Caryn Marcus, composer Craig Wedren, photographer Jojo Whilden, moderated by Sundance Institute Director of Programming Kim Yutani.

Admission is free. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office opens one hour before the event.

High Art

U.S., 1998

Restoration world premiere

Lisa Cholodenko’s skillful and brilliant debut feature High Art, made a few years after B. Ruby Rich’s groundbreaking New Queer Cinema article, captures the intoxicating haze of limerence, addiction and power struggles through the evolving dynamics between Syd, a driven assistant editor for a photography magazine, and her upstairs neighbor Lucy, a once-acclaimed photographer. Over 25 years ago, High Art garnered critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, launching Radha Mitchell’s career, and earning praise for Patricia Clarkson and Ally Sheedy. The magnetic pull of Cholodenko’s deeply complex characters has a staying power that provokes questions of love, ambition and sacrifice, solidifying High Art as a timeless masterpiece in independent cinema.

DCP, color, 101 min. Director/Screenwriter: Lisa Cholodenko. With: Patricia Clarkson, Radha Mitchell, Ally Sheedy.

Digitally restored by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute from the 35mm original picture negative and DA-88 tapes. Funding provided by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Frameline, Sundance Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Red Hook Post, Monkeyland Audio.

Support for the screening is provided by the Robert Gore Rifkind Foundation Queer Screening Endowment and The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation. Special thanks to Antidote Films, Marcus Hu, John Nein and Strand Releasing.