Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time

The public is invited to discover inspiring and thought provoking cinema at the 2012 Palm Desert Public Art Documentary Film Series. The popular series’ third season of free, public art-themed documentaries begins January 19 with a screening of  Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time. Landscape sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is renowned throughout the world for his work in ice, stone, leaves, and wood. Shot in four countries and across four seasons, this is the first major film that the artist has allowed to be made about his often ephemeral works.

The series is presented by the City of Palm Desert Public Art Department and the University of California, Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center. All films screen the third Thursday of the month, January through April, at 6 p.m. in the auditorium at UCR Palm Desert, 75080 Frank Sinatra Drive, in Palm Desert. Each screening will include a featured speaker who will discuss that night’s film. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. For more information and reservations, please call 760-837-1664.

Additional films include:

February 16 – Tony Cragg: In Celebration of Sculpture

Versatile sculptor Tony Cragg has been making magic come alive in hard materials since emerging in the mid-70s. The film, shot in New York, California, London, Eindhoven, and Dusseldorf, reveals the artist as he installs international exhibitions of his work.

March 15 – The Rape of Europa

This feature documentary tells the story of the theft, destruction, and sometimes miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures by the Third Reich during the Second World War. More than 60 years later, a tragic legacy continues to play out as victim families recover stolen works of art, conservators repair damaged artworks, and nations fight over the spoils of war.

April 19 – An Evening of Short Films

Enjoy a series of short films highlighted by Dreaming of Spirit Animals: The Glass Art of Cappy Thompson, a documentary featuring the aforementioned internationally renowned glass painter. At least two other short documentaries will also be screened during the evening.