Film Portrait (1972) is a full-length autobiographical movie directed by, and about, the life of Minnesotan film-maker and artist, Jerome Hill. It was selected as an outstanding Film of the Year for presentation at the London Film Festival in 1972 and won the Gold Dukat Prize at the 21st Annual Film Festival in Mannheim.
Jerome Hill died shortly after the completion of Film Portrait, and so the work is often described as his memoir.
In 2003, Film Portrait was added to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress, recognizing the cultural, historical and aesthetic significance of the work, as well as ensuring the preservation of the original film footage.
Famous quotes containing the words film and/or portrait:
“Is America a land of God where saints abide for ever? Where golden fields spread fair and broad, where flows the crystal river? Certainly not flush with saints, and a good thing, too, for the saints sent buzzing into man’s ken now are but poor- mouthed ecclesiastical film stars and cliché-shouting publicity agents.
Their little knowledge bringing them nearer to their ignorance,
Ignorance bringing them nearer to death,
But nearness to death no nearer to God.”
—Sean O’Casey (1884–1964)
“The explanation of the propensity of the English people to portrait painting is to be found in their relish for a Fact. Let a man do the grandest things, fight the greatest battles, or be distinguished by the most brilliant personal heroism, yet the English people would prefer his portrait to a painting of the great deed. The likeness they can judge of; his existence is a Fact. But the truth of the picture of his deeds they cannot judge of, for they have no imagination.”
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846)