Behind the Scenes: A Look into Art21’s collaborative filmmaking

Dive into the world of artist storytelling with Art21, learn what made artists like Arthur Jafa and Hannah Levy compelling collaborators for a documentary film, and watch the premiere of the forthcoming New York Close Up film “Trey Abdella’s Miserable Dream.” Gain inside knowledge about how Art21 crafts stories with artists and filmmakers, and how filmmakers, producers, artists, and curators work together to create a documentary. Over 25 years, Art21 has collaborated with more than 300 artists, producing award-winning films that offer unique insights into artists' lives, careers, and practices.

Art21's associate producer, Andrea Chung, and associate curator, Jurrell Lewis, will screen excerpts from “Arthur Jafa: Sequencing the Notes” and “Hannah Levy’s Adaptive Structures” and discuss the nuances of each film. Later, they will be joined by Andrew Nadkarni, director of “Trey Abdella’s Miserable Dream,” to discuss its making, concluding with a world-premiere screening of the film.

This program is part of Art21 at the Movies. Art21 at the Movies is Art21’s foremost public program. The biennial event gathers artists, filmmakers, and art lovers for premieres, screenings, and engaging conversations with artists.

For the second iteration of Art21 at the Movies, programming will focus on the theme Between Worlds, the theme of the second episode of Art in the Twenty-First Century’s twelfth season. How do artists navigate the spaces in between? How do they create works that exist between cultures, fictions, migrations, and cosmologies? Expanding on the theme of this episode allows Art21 to highlight artists previously featured in Art21 films and to engage artists, filmmakers, and curators in contemplating this theme with us.

Host or Publisher Art21