Film series: Portraits 20 August – 5 October 2014

As Aristotle stated, ‘The aim of Art is to present not the outward appearance of things, but their inner significance; for this, not the external manner and detail, constitutes true reality.’

The Archibald Prize is awarded annually to the best portrait, ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’. However, portraiture is much more than posing a subject and then applying paint to canvas. Insightful portraits record the gestures, expressions and attitudes of the sitter and offer a deeper sense of the subject, capturing the spirit as well as the likeness.

Screening at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 20 August to 5 October 2014, in conjunction with the Archibald Prize 2014, the feature films in our Portraits series can be viewed as intimate portraits of their central character. They reveal the essence of their subject by exploring their lives, their psychology and the motivations that initiate and guide their behaviour.

Films

• 20, 24 August – Bob Roberts (director Tim Robbins, US, 1992, 35mm)

• 27, 31 August – Capote (director Bennett Miller, US, 2005, 35mm)

• 3, 7 September – Downfall (director Oliver Hirschbiegel, Germany, 2004, 35mm)

• 10, 14 September – Vera Drake (director Mike Leigh, UK, 2004, 35mm)

• 17, 21 September – Half nelson (director Ryan Fleck, US, 2006, 35mm)

• 24, 28 September – The conversation (director Francis Ford Coppola, US, 1974, 35mm)

• 1, 5 October – Broken flowers (director Jim Jarmusch, US, 2005, 35mm)