Achieving the Unachievable

Sep 1, 2007

0h 52m

★ 5.0

Overview

M.C. Escher is among the most intriguing of artists. In 1956 he challenged the laws of perspective with his graphic Print Gallery and his uncompleted master-piece quickly became the most puzzling enigma of modern art. Fifty years later, can mathematician Hendrik Lenstra complete it? Should he?

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Locomotion Films

Achieving the Unachievable Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self

Denys Arcand

Self

Joost Batenburg

Self

François Bergeron

Self

Hendrik Lenstra

Archival Footage

M. C. Escher

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

0.0

The Standard Deviants: The Dangerous World of Pre-Calculus, Part 2

Jan 1, 1996

This edition includes topics such as exponential functions, common log or base 10, rules of exponents, natural log or base e, applications of exponents, rules of logs, logarithms, solving log equations and converting logs to base 10 or base e.

0.0

Christo: Works in Progress

Jan 1, 1974

“Christo: Works in Progress” takes us around the world on a showcase of the artist’s grand environmental installations. With both critique and praise from members of the communities that have hosted Christo and his works, the film takes a deep look into the process and outcome of pieces such as Wrapped Coast, Running Fence, and Wrapped Walkways. While discussing his inspirations and motives, Christo states, “The work of art is not the fabric, steel poles and cable, the work of art is the hills and the ocean, the sky, the gates, the rocks, the people, the light- this is the work of art.” (Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) Though his work may appear to be visually distracting from the landscapes he creates in, Christo’s aim is to bring attention to the land itself and encourage people to take note of their surroundings.

7.0

Moonface: A Woman in the War

Jan 27, 2019

A walk through the life and career of the legendary French photojournalist Christine Spengler, known as Moonface, one of the few female war reporters in the seventies, also a writer and surrealist painter, who worked in Chad, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and other places where unfortunately war and death prevailed for years.

7.7

Clouds Are Not Spheres

Jan 1, 2010

Until recently geometry was 'cold', incapable of describing the irregular shape of a cloud, the slope of a mountain or the beauty of the human body. With fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot gave us a language for our natural world. In this captivating documentary, the man himself explains this groundbreaking discovery.

0.0

David Hockney: 50 Years on Film

Aug 29, 2023

Using over 50 years of archive footage, this film looks back at the life and career of David Hockney.

7.3

Ashes and Snow

Mar 5, 2005

Ashes and Snow, a film by Gregory Colbert, uses both still and movie cameras to explore extraordinary interactions between humans and animals. The 60-minute feature is a poetic narrative rather than a documentary. It aims to lift the natural and artificial barriers between humans and other species, dissolving the distance that exists between them.

0.0

Art From Art

Mar 25, 2022

Experimental research and dissemination documentary about current contemporary art that compiles the opinions, experiences and anecdotes of artists, gallery owners, curators, museum directors and experts.

8.0

A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth

Mar 18, 1988

Director Philip Haas and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven . As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.

0.0

David Hockney: Pleasures of the Eye

Jan 1, 1997

Pleasures of the eye, David Hockney’s work has shown him to be one of the most versatile and influential artists of our time. The British artist invites the observer to take a visual stroll through his paintings and explore the dimensions of time and space. In communicating a new sense of the spacetime continuum, he injects the medium of photography with entirely new and living components. His sensuous theatre sets make us hear music with our eyes and see colours with our ears. The documentary filmmaker Gero von Böhm paints a memorable portrait of a fascinating artist, whose work allows all of us to see the magic in the small and seemingly insignificant details of everyday life.

7.4

Pictures at an Exhibition

Jan 1, 1996

What does modern art mean for ordinary visitors to an exhibition?

7.4

The Savior for Sale

Nov 25, 2021

In November 15, 2017, the painting Salvator Mundi, attributed to Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), was sold for an unprecedented $450 million. An examination of the dirty secrets of the art world and the surprising story of how a work of art is capable of upsetting both personal and geopolitical interests.

0.0

Pictura

Jun 1, 1951

Pictura is a documentary film directed by seven famous directors, and narrated by several famous Hollywood actors. The film attempts to give the general filmgoing public a taste of art history and art appreciation.

0.0

Altamira: el origen del arte

Oct 23, 2018

A documentary to 'rediscover' the so called Sistine Chapel of Rock Art and to tell the story of the discovery of a cave and some paintings that astonished the world 138 years ago. Filming this documentary lead its director, José Luis López Linares, through many rock caves around the world, grasping information about the life of the Magdalenian man -who lived twenty thousand years ago- and about an art form, the paintings, that make Altamira "the Prado museum of prehistory".

0.0

Whiteley

May 11, 2017

A visual journey into the life and legacy of one of Australia's most celebrated artists, Brett Whiteley.

7.6

The Story of 1

Sep 28, 2005

A humor-inflected history of the of the number one, covering military applications in ancient Rome, the measurement of distances in India, and the decimal system created by Leibnitz.

6.0

Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime

Jun 14, 2017

Celebrating Billy Connolly's 75th birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel MacLean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.

0.0

Murales

Oct 26, 2010

No overview available.

No Image Available

7.2

There We Are John...

Oct 1, 1993

In this revealing documentary, Ken McMullen creates an elegant portrait of artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman, based on an interview conducted by John Cartwright. The questions are unobtrusive, allowing Jarman to reflect on his major films. Despite the debilitating effects of serious illness, we see an artist with his inner vision unimpaired; still humorous, self effacing and disarmingly charming.

6.8

Dark Star: H. R. Giger's World

Oct 23, 2014

An account of the life and work of Swiss painter, sculptor, architect and designer H. R. Giger (1940-2014), tormented father of creatures as fearsome as they are fascinating, inhabitants of nightmarish biomechanical worlds.

Achieving the Unachievable

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Achieving the Unachievable Trailers