LOCAL SPORTLIGHT
HOUSE OF CARDIN
ICONICITY
USA/France, 2019 97 minutes Directors: P. David Ebersole, Todd Hughes With: Pierre Cardin, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Philippe Starck, Sharon Stone, Naomi Campbell
USA, 2019 89 minutes Director: Leo Zahn Print Source: Mirage Films
It would be hard to overstate the impact Pierre Cardin has had on the world of fashion. This Italian-born French icon who began his career in 1945 making costumes for Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast later made his name at Dior, and started his own house in 1950. And at 97 he’s still going strong. Cardin was a trailblazer, his futuristic designs liberating women’s bodies from confinement. What everyone does now, he did first: He was the first to move from haute couture to ready-to-wear (which created a scandal), the first to use women of color as his models, the first to start a menswear line and the first to branch out globally into sunglasses, ties, furniture and hundreds of other products branded with his name. Filled with interviews with admirers from Sharon Stone and Naomi Campbell to Alice Cooper and designer Philippe Starck, and with surprising revelations about his love life, House of Cardin is a five-course feast for fashion lovers.
Who knew that the Southern California desert was a hotbed (pun intended) of artistic creativity on par with the art scene in any metropolis? Director Leo Zahn’s fascinating documentary takes us from Slab City to the Salton Sea’s Bombay Beach via Borrego Springs, Joshua Tree and other locales, introducing us to a multitude of artists and their works. The late pioneer of “environmental sculpture” Noah Purifoy, Joshua Tree legend Bobby Furst, and animal sculptor Ricardo Breceda are just three of the dozens of artists we encounter, all of whom use the freedom afforded to them by living off the grid to produce their inspired work. This potpourri of retinal delights — the desert’s pastel colors really pop off the screen — culminates at the annual Bombay Beach Biennale, capping a most captivating and dazzling tour. Selected Filmography: Sinatra in Palm Springs (2018), Desert Maverick (2016)
Selected Filmography: Mansfield 66/67 (2017), Hit So Hard (2011) In English, French, Mandarin, Japanese and Italian with English subtitles.
Sunday, January 5 • 7:30 pm • PSHS Monday, January 6 • 1:15 pm • CAM Saturday, January 11 • 7:00 pm • ANN
World Premiere | In English.
Monday, January 6 • 6:00 pm • REG Friday, January 10 • 9:00 am • CAM
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