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Connecticut Filmmakers Debut New Film Celebrating the Art of America’s Gilded Age: Features only known film footage of Mark Twain, who gave the Gilded Age its name
ASHFORD, CONNECTICUT (March 9, 2017) – Independent filmmakers Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton of 217 Films in Ashford announce the Connecticut premiere of their new film project – their seventh in twelve years and their sixth “essay in film” – highlighting works from what Mark Twain described as “The Gilded Age.”
The film is titled “America Rising: The Arts of the Gilded Age” and will screen at the New Britain Museum of American Art on March 23, 2017 at 6:00 PM (with a 5:30 PM reception planned).
Clips from the film can be viewed at this link: https://vimeo.com/two17films
Featuring the only known film footage of Mark Twain, who gave “The Gilded Age” its name, “America Rising” tells the story of how, after the Civil War, American art and American artists came into their own on the world stage. In painting, in sculpture, in architecture, and in music, America found its artistic soul and voice in the art created during the explosion of American economic growth, which Mark Twain wrote about in his novel, “The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.”
Using more than 90 works of art, featuring painters as diverse as Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast, and John Singer Sargent, and with the great public sculpture of creative geniuses such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his “Robert Gould Shaw Memorial” (referred to in the film by Director Maglaras as “the finest piece of memorial sculpture in America”), “America Rising” creates a portrait of a country reinventing itself, after the tragic events of the Civil War, as a major artistic force. “America Rising” shows an America poised, through its art, to commemorate its past and invent its future.
Linda Mare, Director of Education at the NBMAA stated, “The Museum always looks forward with excitement and great enthusiasm for every film directed and produced by Michael and Terri. Every time they have brought one of their films to NBMAA, the response from our membership and our community has been outstanding in response to their unique storytelling and passion for American art.”
“We’re very pleased to present our seventh Connecticut film premiere at NBMAA,” said director Michael Maglaras. “This is a time in our nation’s history to present an audience with the truth of America’s greatness…the greatness of America’s grand tradition of artistic excellence.”
What:
Connecticut Premiere film screening with introduction and Q&A by the filmmakers
“America Rising: The Arts of the Gilded Age”
When:
Thursday, March 23, 2017
5:30 PM – Reception
6:00 PM — Screening
Where:
New Britain Museum of American Art
56 Lexington Street
Tickets:
$10 Members, $25 Non-Members
Phone: 860-229-0257, ext. 201
More about 217 Films: 217 Films is an independent film company devoted to the American artistic experience. In 2005, Michael Maglaras and Terri Templeton released their first film “Cleophas and His Own” about the American painter Marsden Hartley’s epic narrative of love and loss. Maglaras both directed and played the role of Hartley in this film. In 2008, they released a second film about Hartley called “Visible Silence: Marsden Hartley, Painter and Poet” – the first-ever documentary on the life of Hartley. In 2010, with their film “John Marin: Let the Paint be Paint!” they established, through the first full-length documentary on this important painter, that John Marin was one of the fathers of American Modernism. These films, among other distinctions, have been shown to acclaim at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 2012, they released “O Brother Man: The Art and Life of Lynd Ward.” In 2013, they released “The Great Confusion: The 1913 Armory Show.” Currently on tour is their latest film “Enough to Live On: The Arts of the WPA” celebrating the ways in which Franklin Roosevelt used the arts to raise the spirits of the American people during the Great Depression.
The Sacramento Bee called Michael Maglaras a filmmaker of “Bergman-like gravitas.” His films have been described as “virtuoso filmmaking” (National Gallery of Art) “alive and fresh” (Art New England) and “elegiac and insightful” (Naples Daily News). David Berona, author of “Wordless Books” has said of “O Brother Man” … “This film is stunning.” A recent review in The Dartmouth said of “The Great Confusion” that “Michael Maglaras… brought the drama of the original show back to life.”
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