DIRECTED BY CHIARA CLEMENTE

“Lyrical!” – Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

“Not only a first-rate portrait of great artists but also an impressive look at the way they interact with the city.”
– Bilge Ebiri, New York magazine

"VIBRANT AND ILLUMINATING. A tantalizing glimpse into the lives of five fabulous women."
– Dennis Dermody, Paper

“Exquisitely crafted…ranks as a work of art itself.” – Ronnie Scheib, Variety

“An intimate portrait of five women artists. Celebrates the metropolis as a cauldron of creativity. “
– Leslie Camhi, Vogue

“A multifaceted profile of work, gender and location!”
– Time Out New York

“An engaging and life-affirming celebration of the artists’ lives that gives them the space to explain who they are,
why they do what they do and why in particular they felt they had to do it in New York.”
– The Art Newspaper

CHIARA CLEMENTE’S AFFECTING LOVE LETTER TO THE CITY STRINGS TOGETHER THE SELF-TOLD NARRATIVES OF FIVE WOMEN ARTISTS (ages 30 – 80), each of whom has a passion for making art inseparable from her devotion to New York. Swoon, the youngest, exhibits cut-outs directly on city walls and subways, and exudes idealism and energy while carrying a two by four the way some women would a briefcase. Cairoborn Ghada Amer mixes media — embroidering with painting — to confront sexual taboos that cross cultural boundaries. After experiencing The New York Dolls in San Francisco, Kiki Smith realized she needed the energy of the big city to create her wildly influential paintings and sculptures; Marina Abramovic, originally of Belgrade, is a performance art pioneer who often uses her own body as a canvas. And Nancy Spero returned from Paris with artist-husband Leon Golub in 1964, to meld art and activism during the Vietnam War and become, in her own words, “a woman warrior.” Ronnie Scheib in Variety writes that the film is “exquisitely crafted” and “ranks as a work of art itself.”

• Official OUR CITY DREAMS web site
• Listen to our podcast:
  Q & A with director CHIARA CLEMENTE and artists SWOON & GHADA AMER (Recorded February 4, 2009)
• Listen to our podcast:
  Q & A with director CHIARA CLEMENTE and artist MARINA ABRAMOVIC (Recorded February 12, 2009)

USA • 2008 • 87 MINS • First Run Features