ConceptualistFilms.com
Happy New Year 2016
Hello Everyone! As 2015 drew to a close, we reflected on what had happened over the past couple of years as we looked forward to the promise of new experiences for the year which has just begun. Some of our experiences included moving into a new building in LA, traveling to MN to speak about film and art at Winona State University, beginning principal photography on an amazing new project on Elmyr de Hory with Mark Forgy, and nearly finishing the filming for our movie on jazz legend Arturo Sandoval. We released a second album of Francisco’s music, Groove Morphisms, and will soon release a third. There’s so much to be grateful for, and so much to look forward to! Here is a short video of some of the adventures from the past couple of years as we move into the New Year. May you enjoy today and every day of 2016!
Details
After Elmyr de Hory… A New Film
Happy Media Monday! CF is pleased to announce a new film project, once again tapping into Orson Welles’ genius. In the early 1970’s, Welles travelled to Ibiza, a small island in Spain. He was making a film to eventually be called F For Fake, involving a number of fakers, from to Elmyr de Hory – widely regarded as the best art forger of our time – to his biographer Clifford Irving (himself a fake), to Orson Welles himself. The film is a masterpiece of film editing, and in the middle of the chaos is young twenty-something Mark Forgy. Mark lived with Elmyr as friend, protégé, and assistant for years, up until his death in 1976. Elmyr bequeathed his collection of paintings to Mark, who brought them back to the U.S.
Earlier this year, Francisco reached out to Mark Forgy, and the two began an instant friendship and exchange of ideas about Elmyr and art. From these emails and phone conversations, an idea for a film project emerged – one that goes beyond F For Fake to examine the complications of Welles’ film, the art market, and the work of Elmyr, overlaying these questions in a kind of fugue. Indeed, the story of Elmyr is still relevant and popular, as people have begun to produce fake fakes, which they purport were executed by Elmyr.
Seeing how tangled this web is, we at CF were happy to begin filming this project in October in MN, when Francisco was at Winona State University giving a talk on film, which included discussion of F For Franco and led into F For Fake. This short film gives you a brief intro to F For Fake, Orson, Mark, and Elmyr. Enjoy!
DetailsLA, MN, and a New Adventure
Hello! It’s Thoughtful Thursday, and we have some catching up to do. I was perusing the Hollywood Film Festival website to do some Wikipedia updating, and discovered this photo on our film’s page from the red carpet event the night of F For Franco’s screening. Francisco and I are with the festival’s independently-minded directors Brad Parks and Rod Beaudoin:
When the festival was over, we flew out to Winona,MN – it was my first trip to the Midwest that is Minnesota, and it was beautiful. We were in a small rural town, and the leaves were just changing their colors:
We were there, as the last post indicated, for Francisco to give a class lecture and an evening presentation to usher in a new, interdisciplinary Digital Humanities department at Winona State University, at the invitation of Miguel Elizalde, another former student of his at RISD, now an Assistant Professor at WSU. Naturally, the class and the presentation focused on new media art and film. The students and those attending the lecture were able to watch some sections of F For Franco as part of a discussion on the creative possibilities of film when one doesn’t limit oneself to one particular structure, form, or technique. Experimentation with ideas, form, and visual representation are the ways to move art and film forward, and avant-garde doesn’t have to mean inaccessible or boring. One needs only to be a little quiet and attentive and give the film or artwork a chance to wash over you. Having recently watched 2001:A Space Odyssey for the first time – if ever a film asked for some patience…! 
F For Franco takes its inspiration from the title of Orson Welles’ masterful piece of film editing in F For Fake. This film discusses three fakers, really – Elmyr de Hory, the greatest art forger of the 20th century, Clifford Irving, his ‘biographer’, and Welles himself. Elmyr lived for a time on the island of Ibiza, and in the late 1960’s a young man travelling through Europe named Mark Forgy became Elmyr’s friend and assistant up until Elmyr’s death. Francisco reached out to Mark, and in one of those events that only seem to be real in novels or films, we were able to meet him and his wife before the lecture at WSU, and return with them to their home in New Prague to begin filming a new project. More on that later (soon!). Here is a photo of Francisco and Mark discussing how Mark came to be in F For Fake, with the film version of Mark in the background:
The new project deserves its own post, but what a three-week adventure!Take care!
DetailsEnter: Digital Humanities at WSU
It’s Thoughtful Thursday, and finds us in Winona, MN. Francisco is speaking at Winona State University at the invitation of another former student of his at RISD, Miguel Elizalde, a member of the faculty at WSU. Miguel and professors from other disciplines are working together to create an interdisciplinary program called Digital Humanities. Francisco will teach a class in the afternoon to film students – discussing Orson Welles’ F For Fake and our own F for Franco, and present in the evening. The campus is beautiful, and ready to launch a new department!
Hollywood, FFF, and Many Thanks to the Festival
Hello and Happy Tuesday to you! It’s so strange that two weeks ago today, the Hollywood Film Festival, held at the ArcLight Cinemas, got under way. It was a new era for the festival, looking to change HFF’s direction, to let great films and little-known filmmakers have a chance to show their work. This article from the LA Times discusses the vision of Brad Parks and Rod Beaudoin for the Hollywood Film Festival:
Our film screened on Thursday night, with an introduction before and spontaneous Q & A after the film by Francisco; a few days later, Neon Tommy – a large, student-run news organization that is part of USC-Annenberg (http://www.neontommy.com/annenberg-digital-news.html), gave F For Franco this review:
View story at Medium.com
The festival was a wonderful experience (speaking from New England experience,the weather was fantastic for late September!), and we at CF thank Brad, Rod, the HFF team, and Linda Brown for realizing their mission to “Incite, Inspire, Inform” the Future of Hollywood! I believe our film embodies all three.
Details13 Days To HFF!
Welcome to Thoughtful Thursday! Conceptualist Films is headed to the Hollywood Film Festival, as we announced earlier. The filmmakers were given a number (e.g. 23 days until the festival, and so on) and asked to create a photo and a very short video proclaiming this. Today marks 13 days to the festival, and so here is our video, done in a style as unique as Conceptualist Films. The music is another Francisco original. Enjoy!
Details
Hollywood Film Festival Beckons!
Hello! For this Media Monday on Tuesday, we have an exciting announcement – our film, F For Franco, has been selected to be shown at the Hollywood Film Festival in Los Angeles in September! The theme for 2015 is, “What is the Future of Hollywood?”, and CF’s experimental journey into the creative mind and process of the art of multi-faceted James Franco is a perfect fit for discussing the possibilities of film beyond the tried-and-true formulas. More details to follow, but we are very pleased to show our film there! Here are just a few stills from our film – have a wonderful day!
Videostills of Douglas Gordon’s and James Franco’s collaborative Film Project “Rebel” for the Venice Biennial 2011. Film produced at Cinegate Studios Berlin, actor: Henry Hopper, camera George Geddes. Still images show take “Crayons”
A Childhood in Cuba – a Podcast
Hello! I had to re-post this as I made a slight error in the YouTube link. I have something “old” and new for you today. I’m re-posting Francisco’s intensely personal journey through his first seven years in Cuba before leaving for Spain, this time in podcast form, so you won’t see it here. In case you missed it the first time, you can re-visit it on our YouTube channel – The Conceptualist – A Childhood in Cuba or catch our podcast on iTunes (search for The Conceptualist). Amongst his memories are José Echeverría, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and the famous La Coppelia.
And for the new, a brand-new composition by Francisco, “Je Me Souviens”, or, I remember.Enjoy!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
DetailsAs a Babe in Arms in Cuba
Happy Media Monday on Tuesday! Do you remember much of your earliest years as a child? Did anything stick out in particular? I confess, I don’t remember much of my own childhood; in sharp contrast, Francisco has very singular memories of his first years. Here is a brief, intense glimpse into his early childhood in Cuba. It’s a unique story, to say the least – one, I daresay, that few could match. Enjoy!
Forgetting the Past
Hello and Happy Media Monday on Tuesday. It’s rather late in the evening to post this, but it’s been a busy day! Francisco, as you may know, hails from Cuba and had a very interesting childhood (that video to come), going from Cuba to Spain to NYC by the time he was nine. In this short film, Francisco discovers a book from his childhood education and ruminates (in the contemplative definition of the word!) on the past and the present and wonders whether or not the past has a role in today’s society.
