• Friday, May 31 | 7pm

    In 1971, artist and filmmaker Robert Frank was invited to conduct a workshop while on residency at VSW. Over a three month period, seven students were tasked with re-interpreting the idea of the self portrait to reflect the reality of the present. A true collaborator, Frank himself joins them as they attempt to break through the security patrol at Kodak headquarters, frolic on the hillside of the Cobbs Hill Reservoir, improvise an altercation with a gas station attendant, and gather in one of the students’ living rooms to drink, smoke and carry on. The resulting 38 minute film is a valuable portrait of a creative collaboration between artists, and a stimulating document of what Frank refers to as “the chaos of the present.” This film was preserved through a grant from the National Film Preservation Board in 2018, and this will be the first public screening of the new 16mm print.

    Film by:

    Josephine Coatsworth
    Lou Confessori
    Bonnie Donohue
    Robert Frank
    Richard Lefrande
    John Gould
    Ed Lepler
    Jay Manis
    Jack Mlynek

    Part of the VSW 50 Year Anniversary celebration

  • Still from ABOUT US (1972) by VSW students and Robert Frank
  • Robert Frank in ABOUT US
  • Still from ABOUT US (1972) by VSW students and Robert Frank
  • Still from ABOUT US (1972) by VSW students and Robert Frank