WATCH NOW - stream the film

We are THRILLED to announce "a woman like that" is NOW AVAILABLE for streaming from our own website!

Watch the film in HD (the paintings look GREAT!) on your computer, ipad or TV!

For individuals, the cost is $4.99 for 7 days of access
 

For institutions the cost is $299 for a DVD or Blu-ray Disc

Students; teachers - the website has Artemisia links, art work info, a biography and a film timeline

Let us know what you think, and spread the word to your friends and colleagues!

The DVD/Blu Ray will be released later this year.

The Artist's Magazine - terrific review

We want to thank Ruth K. Meyer for this wonderful review of our film. Since the March 2012 issue arrived in people's mailboxes last week, we have received many inquiries about our film. The Artist's Magazine is a terrific read. 

We hope you will share this link with your friends around the country and internationally. If you click on the image below it will enlarge for reading.

The Artist's Magazine, March 2012, page 10-11

Upcoming Screenings

Click here for hotlinks to upcoming screenings  - Please forward and share - http://awomanlikethat.blogspot.com/2012/01/upcoming-screenings.html

NY premiere this Saturday at Rosendale Theatre

Tonight at 7:30 at the Rosendale Theater in Rosendale NY we will have our NY premiere.  It really is true that while we have been traveling the country and beyond from Toronto, Canada to our upcoming screening April 10th in Cleveland, Ohio, we have not had any public screenings in NY - this is the first. My old UC Berkeley friend Nicole Quinn contacted us and made it happen. We are really grateful Nicole is also a great filmmaker, writer and artist.

While at RSA (Renaissance Society of America) conference in Montreal I had a really great phone interview with Lynn Woods. Her piece about the film can be seen in the almanac weekly.

She asked a lot of provocative questions and I think she really gets at the story of "a woman like that."

You should also check out the Rosendale Theatre Collective it is a really cool community arts organization.

EXCITING!!!! - artemisia exhibition milan september 2011 - january 2012

For a while now we have been hearing about an upcoming exhibition in Milan dedicated to Artemisia  - here is the information and here is a google translation of what it says, (I cannot vouch for the translation)

"The first Italian anthology dedicated to Artemisia Gentileschi, the protagonist of the seventeenth century European artist, who had to wait three centuries to be internationally renowned for the quality of a painter.  The exhibition, curated by Roberto Contini, gives space not only to her paintings from the room, but to her entire artistic production with about 40 works on display, showing a complete artist who knew how to deal with a range of pictorial genres and themes very broad . The set design and construction are by Emma Dante, director and playwright of international renown."



Una mostra: An exhibition: 
Comune di Milano – Cultura City of Milan - Culture 
24Ore Cultura – Gruppo 24Ore Culture 24Hrs - 24Hrs Group 



A cura di: Posted by: 
Roberto Contini Roberto Contini 



Ufficio Stampa: Press Office: 
Giulia Zanichelli Giulia Zanichelli 
Tel. 02 30223739 Tel 02 30223739 
E-mail: giulia.zanichelli@24orecultura.com E-mail: @ giulia.zanichelli 24orecultura.com 

And here is another link - that states, "from 23 September 2011 to 30 January 2012 is expected "Artemisia Gentileschi" directed by Emma Dante yet at the Palazzo Reale."

Not sure what Emma Dante is directing or what the set design and construction pertains to - but here is her facebook link. 

NOW we just have to figure out how to screen our film "a woman like that" during the exhibition! Help - any and everyone!

a great week on the road: 2.28 - 3.5.11

We had an incredible week on the road.

 

Leaving NYC we traveled to URI, 

   

We located the office of Wendy Roworth. Wendy was one of the first people to invite us to screen. She had meticulously arranged our visit and we quickly set out to a delicious early dinner with some of URI's fantastic faculty. We shared our journeys and made some new friends.

Our screening at Swan Hall was lovely - Wendy Roworth and her team really got the word out. 

 

After a long day, we were warmly received at the home of Professor Jody Lisberger. We spent a cozy night and headed out the following day to hang out with 3 wonderful URI classes - fielding questions and life's ups and downs. We first met with Wendy's art history class - the students had many perceptive things to say about the film, they offered up their genuine appreciation for the way we tell Artemisia's story and remarked on their gratitude and surprise that this mandatory film screening was not the boring art history film they expected.

From there we moved on to Jody's gender studies class - that was amazing. The students told us of their lives, work, and plans for their futures and then we had to share ourselves as well - it was challenging and enlightening. 

In our final stop we had lunch with a documentary film class - the students told us of their plans for their 7-12 minute film projects and we were impressed by by both their stories and the ambitiousness of their plans - WOW! URI was a great beginning to our week.

In the early afternoon of March 1st we headed out to Providence and on to RISD. The following day would take us to Tufts and then on Saturday we headed donw to DC to the National Gallery of Art. Spring is certainly off to a rollicking start for "a woman like that."

gallery event of the week - DON'T MISS

 Friday, March 4, 2011

 

DON'T MISS

 

"One of the first successful female artists, 17th-century Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. In 1997, the Italian biopic "Artemisia" told her story, with an emphasis on the young woman's erotic awakening. That made for a marketable film, but experts complained it was mostly fiction.

Ellen Weissbrod took a different approach in her 2010 documentary "A Woman Like That," which screens this week at the National Gallery of Art. She stuck closely to the facts, while taking Gentileschi's accomplishments as a personal inspiration. The director considered the few known works attributed to Gentileschi and interviewed scholars and amateur admirers alike. Weissbrod also reenacted a few moments from the painter's life, drawing on limited biographical information.

Weissbrod will introduce and discuss her 93-minute documentary at 1 p.m. Saturday at the National Gallery of Art, East Building Auditorium, Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW. www.nga.gov/programs/film. 202-737-4215. 202-842-6799. Free."

- Mark Jenkins

another good review - yeah team!

This is by Jeannette Catsoulis:
 
 'A Woman Like That' Merges A 17th Century Scandal And A Midlife Crisis'  

" . . .  Weissbrod pieces together a lighthearted commentary on art and gender as relevant today as it would have been four centuries ago."

"Following a release strategy as unconventional as its style, A Woman Like That will screen primarily at universities and museums, including on Saturday, March 5th, at 1:00 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art.

" . . . an extraordinary synthesis . . . moving and powerfully revealing"

Arriving home late last night from 3 days of screenings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island - great screenings at URI, RISD and Tufts - and gearing up for The National Gallery screening in DC this coming Saturday March 5th (really glad the government is still in business . . .) we're gratified to see this nice review.

So check out this review of our film on flick filosopher. We really appreciate everyone helping us get the word out.

". . . Weissbrod blends her own experience as an artist with Gentileschi’s -- via the testimony of art experts and Gentileschi’s own words in documents from her time -- to create an extraordinary synthesis that is part art appreciation, part personal diary, and all very moving and powerfully revealing about what it means to be a woman alive in the world, today and four hundred years ago."

And for another positive take check this out from the Washington Jewish Week, Filmmaker models herself after 17th-century painter - "When a middle-aged woman needs a role model, where does she look? Ellen Weissbrod crossed centuries and seas for her answer, finding inspiration at every turn." . . . 

You can click on the links to read the full reviews. More posts coming soon!

Upcoming Screenings with Filmmaker Q & A

We're very excited to announce the follow upcoming screenings:

University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI  -  Monday, February 28, 2011 - 7:30 PM Swan Hall, 60 Upper College Road

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI - Tuesday, March 1, 2011 RISD - 7 PM RISD Auditorium, 17 Canal Walk, Providence

Tufts University, Medford, MA - Wednesday, March 2, 2011 - 3 - 5:30 PM Cohen Auditorium, Aidekman Arts Center, 15 South Campus Road

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 1 PM East Building Concourse, Auditorium, 4th and Constitution Avenue NW

York University, Toronto, CA  -  Thursday, March 17, 2011 - 6:30 - 9:00 PM Nat Taylor Cinema, Ross N102, 4700 Keele Street 

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion

Rosendale Theater, Rosendale, NY - Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 7:30 PM - $6.00; theater members $5.00

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH - Sunday, April 10, 2011 - 1:30 PM  Gartner Auditorium 

          The screening includes a talk with European Painting Curator Jon Seydl - $10; museum members, seniors & students $8.

Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA - Friday, June 17, 2011 - time to be determined

Upcoming screenings in the works include Cincinnati, Colorado, Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York City - stay tuned!

Please contact us if you'd like to bring us to your city.

Artemisia painting at auction, Christies January 26th 2011

Artemisia's "The Penitent Magdalene" is coming up for auction at Christies on January 26th 2011. 

We were pleased to see that the estimate is set at $800,000 to $1,200,000. In 2006 we filmed the auction of an Artemisia painting at Christies and that sold for $45,000. During our film screenings people in the audience gasp at that low selling price.

We've heard about the sale from many people. Along with the new signed portrait at Sperone Westwater there is a lot of action on the Artemisia front.

You Will Meet A Tall, Handsome Stranger… On The Bowery

This is an article by David Cohen about the newly discovered Artemisia portrait at Sperone Westwater. It appeared in yesterday's, New York Sun. We were keen to find out further information about the discovery and the future exhibition in Milan.

"The new Artemisia was acquired under a different attribution. During restoration the monogram AG emerged in the trinkets on the young man's chest, and after lengthy analysis experts are agreed now on the portrait being from her hand. It is to be included in a large public exhibition of her work in Milan later this spring. This tall handsome painting is likely from the period just after she gained independence from her father, Orazio's workshop."

Also a nice link to the portrait.

New Discovery! Artemisia Gentileschi rare signed portrait unveiled! In NYC through February 19th!

 (double click to enlarge)

Yes, really, a new Artemisia Gentileschi portrait! We were truly excited when this appeared in our Google Alert a couple of weeks ago. While we have all read that in her time Artemisia was renowned for her portraits - and the Portrait of a Gonfaloniere has been well known - it is really exhilarating when new works appear.

The preview was last night at the recently opened Norman Foster designed Sperone Westwater gallery on the Bowery. The exhibition is presented in partnership Robilant + Voena.

There he is at the far end of the gallery.

His identity is unknown but Artemisia's initials are worked into the jewelry that is at the center of his blouse. 

It is a really beautiful painting. (although this is a bad photograph of it)

This is the gallery's description: ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI, (Rome 1593 - after January 1654 Naples), Portrait of an Unidentified Man, 1630-1635, Oil on canvas, 204.5 x 109.2 cm / 80.5 x 43 in, Monogrammed AG on the silver trinkets, detail.

"The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, scholarly catalogue" - Judy Mann, the curator of the Artemisia portion of the 2002 father/daughter exhibition wrote the catalogue entry. Here is a version of Judy Mann's essay - I think that in the catalogue her essay is even more extensive.

I was told by Marco Voena that the painting has already been sold to a collector of contemporary portraits in New York City - so you best go see him now before he disappears behind the closed doors of this private collection. At the front desk you can pick up this great large format postcard to send to your friends or hang on your wall.

 

Marco Voena also confirmed that there is an UPCOMING, FALL 2011,  ARTEMISIA EXHIBITION SCHEDULED IN MILAN - He kindly said he would help us get in touch with the gallery - it would be great to show our film during the exhibition! We will keep you posted as we get more details about that exhibition.

The Beginning

So our university/museum tour kicked off in September with a journey to Maine. We started at Bowdoin College. We had been invited by Professor Susan Wegner.

We first met Professor Wegner at the CAA convention in Chicago in February 2010. Over many years we had strategized how best to roll out our film (when we finally finished) and we believed that CAA was the perfect setting to launch. CAA would be the first step in our DIY distribution plan. And after spending 7 years making the film (hard to admit) we hoped it would be smooth sailing.

We had reserved a booth in the book and trade fair section of the convention. We ordered press materials, booked our travel early and tried to be meticulous, saving money without cutting corners and yet we almost didn't make it to Chicago. 

The conference was scheduled for February 10-13 and when a blizzard hit on the 6th we scurried to find alternate travel routes should we need them. Things were crazy, We booked a sleeper train just in case and kept checking the flights - we had to get there. And then the day before our flight - . . .

Snowmageddon  - that's what they nicknamed it. People said it was epic. The second North American blizzard of 2010 hit the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England regions of the United States between February 9–11, 2010.  The storm dumped 12 to 40 inches of snow across a wide swath from Washington, DC to Boston.

Oh no! We kept checking the flights. And then when it seemed that a later flight might be a better bet we took the chance and changed ours - only to have the earlier one be the last to leave the gate.

So Melissa went to work and pulled some strings - (having a sister-in-law in the travel business is a good thing!)

Pheww . . . a day late - but we got there, many weren't so lucky. Yeah!

We set up our booth, got some power for our laptaps and waited for the crowds. 

People seemed genuinely interested in our film. We told everyone about our plans to self-distribute starting in the Fall of 2010. They watched the trailer, snapped up out postcards and bookmarks and signed our mailing list.

We also made time to see some of the academic presentations at CAA. We were especially eager to see Professor Wegner's talk - "Darkness at Dawn: Artemisia Gentileschi’s Aurora, ca. 1625-27." It was an amazing paper - we were both moved - (actually to tears) and we can't wait for it to be published so we can share it with all of you.

We were pleased when Professor Wegner came to our booth to see our trailer and find out more about our plans for the film. It seems so long ago.

So in September 2010 we set out for Maine. (more coming . . . )

New Radio Interview with Will Corwin

Here is a recent radio interview we did with Will Corwin for Art International Radio. Will is a wonderful artist and a great interviewer - we're really excited to share this. You can listen here or . . .

you can access the interview through the links below.

 

Ellen Weissbrod & Melissa Powell, a woman like that
First broadcast December 10, 2010

▶ Listen NOW or listen with iTunes

Ellen Weissbrod and Melissa Powell, director and producer of the Film, a woman like that, stop by the Clocktower to tell the story of their feature-length documentary. The film follows the life of the 17th century artist Artemisia Gentilesschi, but it does more than that. In researching and talking about Artemisia, director Weissbrod, who also narrates and appears in the film, finds a source of inspiration and strength in the paintings of this painter who had been often misunderstood. In the telling of the story she gathers together art historians and art lovers who have been touched by a woman who succeeded against many obstacles in a time when women were not supposed to be painters to begin with, and certainly not supposed to paint the way Artemisia did. (31 minutes) 

Please share our post with your friends - Thanks!

Venturing Forth

So it has been a long, long time coming - many, many years of trying to figure out how to tell the story of Artemisia Gentileschi, but here we are getting the film out in to the world. (We'll definitely post more about making the film further down the line.)

We finished the film at the end of May and had our first public screenings at the Berkshire International Film Festival, on June 5th and June 6th 2010.

We found ourselves on various blogs - berkshirewomenwrite.com, ginahyams.com/blog/ - everyone did a great job of getting the word out there. Our first two public screenings were a great success - we even sold out!

The audience was extremely moved, expressed its enthusiasm and even laughed in more places than we ever imagined. It was very gratifying.

Many old friends came and brought new friends - we had a lovely dinner after our premiere.

The festival hosted some really fun events, we met lots of people and this part of our adventure was launched.

We are so grateful to Kelley and Lauren and John and especially Elissa and everyone else at BIFF for making it possible! A wonderful weekend.

Here is a little movie Melissa compiled of our Berkshire weekend.

Food and New Friends - Portland, Oregon

So, being on the road, traveling to show our film "a woman like that" - we are also trying to make the time to explore the different cities we find ourselves in, particularly their food culture - specifically restaurants and markets. Melissa is adroit at sourcing out the best food.

We drove 3 hours in a dark downpour to get from Seattle to Portland. We had arranged to have dinner with Professor Jesse Locker and his wife Laura at a restaurant called Bar Avignon.

The food was delicious and probably half the price from what it would cost to eat similar food in NYC. I'm sorry I don't have photos of the food.

Some of the things we had were: arugula salad, fuyu persimmon, spanish cheese (mandolined persimmon slices have since become my favorite addition to salad), autumn vegetables with chanterelles & fig-walnut salsa, cassoulet: duck, pork belly, shell beans, kale, bread crumbs and dry aged new york steak, potato-celery root gratin, chicories.

I'm probably forgetting something - but it was all delicious. We did share a dessert but I think we roundly agreed it did not rise to the level of the other courses.

One of the reasons for driving that rainy night was so we could get to the Portland Saturday Market, which Melissa had assured me I was going to find totally to my liking. So bright and early, (of course after hitting the gym and having some coffee) we trotted over there.

And of course Melissa was right - it was fantastic!

Mushrooms, for the second time we found local Northwest truffles. I had no idea - they are definitely milder than the Italian ones but also a fraction of the cost.

A plethora of apples, many varieties that were new to me - including these with red interiors. Wow - they would make a beautiful apple strudel.

Beets, rainbow hued.

Multitudes of greens

Enormous rutabagas and the largest leaves I have ever seen (I know this photo provides no perspective but you'll have to take my word for how big they were.

Different from our home town farmer's market in Union Square, Portland's market has amazing prepared foods - from ice cream to sandwiches, tamales to biscuits. Here's Melissa in front of Pine State Biscuits. I'm told it is famous - this picture is for Melissa's son Alex,

who likes their biscuits. We ended up sharing a breakfast egg on biscuit sandwich - it was pretty good.

On the Road

Since September we've been on the road screening "a woman like that" . . . and it has been an exhilarating ride - but I/we have not taken the time to catch up and fill everyone in on what has been happening, all the places we've been, the wonderful people we've met and the fantastic reception that has greeted the film.

So in a typically non-linear fashion - here are some of the highlights of our journey so far.

While we've had a slew of successful screenings, our most recent - at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon - was our largest venue yet. We hoped the word had gotten out - we hoped we would fill the house. This was a big test of our DIY - social networking strategy! We were very relieved to see people waiting to get in before the doors to the theater opened.

And as the theater started to fill . . .

I did some quick iphone video interviews (sorry for the poor sound quality) to see what had brought people out and what they were expecting.

The screening was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1pm and as people continued to straggle in - we began a little late.

Obviously our hosts - Dana Katz from Reed College and Jesse Locker from Portland State -

along with the Portland Bologna Sister City Association did a really amazing job of getting the word out. They filled the house - we counted 350!

The film was presented as "An Afternoon with Artemisia Gentileschi: Film and Conversation." Dana Katz introduced the event and then Jesse Locker, who is writing a new book about Artemisia, gave a really great 10 minute introduction to Artemisia and her work. He then placed our film in a context of all the biographical works; fiction and non-fiction books and movies; that preceded "a woman like that." That was especially gratifying!

The audience was rambunctiously appreciative, and most stayed for the following Q&A. Their comments were warm and emotional - their questions pointed and poignant.

We really appreciate the grand effort of Jesse and Dana. We are grateful for their enthusiasm, support, kind words and of course the after screening drinks and great conversation - cheers all around!

We added a lot more names to our mailing list, too.