A documentary film crew takes a look at the inspiration behind artist John Bolton's painting.
A Short Film About John Bolton is a darkly hip and hilarious film explores the question that torments artists of every medium: "Where do your ideas come from?" Renowned artist John Bolton's paintings of voluptuous she-vampire nudes have earned this quiet eccentric a reputation for having a "damaged imagination." BBC radio personality Jonathan Ross buys his pieces, which leads interviewer extraordinaire Marcus Brigstocke to find out what the appeal is in Bolton's beautiful (but terrifying) artwork. Why does Bolton demand that his gallery "monsterpieces" speak for themselves? What does he do with that ornamental knife that he carries everywhere? Will Marcus ever learn how to operate the camera?
John Bolton
Marcus (Interviewer)
Guest Interviewed
Carolyn Dalgleish
Jonathan Ross
28 Apr 1995
This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.
09 Jun 1992
After Saddam Hussein had the Kuwait Oil wells lit up, teams from all over the world fought those fires for months. They had to save the oil resources, as well as reduce air pollution. The different teams developed different techniques of extinguishing the fires. Man's emergency creativity can be seen at it's best.
15 Oct 1999
By land, by air, and by sea, viewers can now experience the struggle that millions of creatures endure in the name of migration as wildlife photographers show just how deeply survival instincts have become ingrained into to the animals of planet Earth. From the monarch butterflies that swarm the highlands of Mexico to the birds who navigate by the stars and the millions of red crabs who make the perilous land journey across Christmas Island, this release offers a look at animal instinct in it's purest form.
30 Jan 2000
Carl Johan De Geer remembers his old friend Lena Svedberg. He talks about how they used to make their magazine together, how beautiful but strange she drew and how bad she seemed to feel.
30 Jan 2016
Shadowlands is an animated short film about darkness that won't let go. About the constant fear that something terrible might happen. It describes a journey into the inner world and psyche of a young person in distress, a world far from "normal".
07 Jun 2021
Super-8 footage captured while filming Bergman Island. In voice-over, filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve offers intimate reflections on her creative process on the island of Fårö and her relationship with Bergman and Swedish cinema.
12 May 1968
"Society is a carnivorous flower" - About activists in the student revolt in May 1968. Archive footage shows police entering the Sorbonne, street fighting, meetings and demonstrations. Many interviewees testify to police violence and abuses.
12 Mar 2024
A visual essay by filmmaker and critic David Cairns. Recorded for Arrow Video in 2023. Included as a special feature on the 2024 Limited Edition Blu-ray and DVD release of The Shootist.
13 Mar 2023
A sick man discovers empathetic wisdom on how to cope with his deadly autoimmune disease within the colorful expressive works of the late Swiss-German modern artist, Paul Klee.
01 Jan 1929
A walk through the landscapes of the province of Salamanca, Spain, as well as a testimony of the daily life and customs of its inhabitants.
11 Feb 2003
Shot on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and in the Bahamas, Ocean Wonderland brings to you the amazing beauty of the many varieties of coral and the immense diversity of the marine life thriving there.
17 Nov 1943
An opening narration explaining that the film's purpose is to examine the "world strategy of food", in terms of its production, distribution and consumption. The film is then divided into three parts: "Food - As It Was", "Food - As It Is" and "Food - As It Might Be".
25 Nov 2014
A documentary about the work and personality of artist David Hockney.
06 Feb 2009
Susana Barriga’s documentary, the illusion, begins with violence. A long shot reveals a man standing on a street corner, his features indiscernible in the night. He moves out of the camera’s line of vision, but the filmmaker, persistent, moves with him as the jostling of the camera marks her steps. As we learn moments later, the man in the distance is Susana’s father – and this is the clearest image of him we will have. Suddenly, an angry British man demands that Susana cease filming. Susana protests in heavily accented English, “He is my father!” Glimpses of a man’s torso are followed by blurred images as the camera spins rapidly over surfaces. The image cuts to black. A new male voice asks in carefully spaced out words if Susana would like him to call the police. When she doesn’t respond immediately, he speaks louder, as though volume would compensate for the language difference. She gives her name; she refuses the offer of an ambulance.
01 Jan 1992
A compilation of film clips and trailers showing the evolution of vampires in films.
18 Nov 1950
Through the pattern of this film a ‘Test’ at Lord’s runs like a thread and a broadcast commentary on the match is imposed on the background of cricket as a game, a craft, an interest of a people, a piece of history. The craftsmen are shown who make the ball and the bat–that ‘fourth straight stick’ with which the batsmen defend ‘the other three’. The craftsmen are shown who play the game, from W. G. Grace in the ‘nets’ to D. G. Bradman and Denis Compton in the thread of the ‘Test’. The history of the game is epitomized in the Long Room shots at Lord’s and from there the camera moves to the village green; to the London side- street where the urchins play on a ‘bumping pitch’; to South Africa, and India, where in the ‘blinding light’ there is often ‘an hour to play and the last man in.
12 Apr 2012
Three tales from Sacramento's lurid past. The Vampire of Sacramento, The Batgirl and Palm Sundae.
01 Jan 1983
Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon on Camera 1983
03 Oct 2021
Romantic art was a response to the social upheavals of the 19th century, as shown by works by its emblematic painters Friedrich, Venetsianov and Delacroix.
04 Apr 1971
A film about and with Max Ernst.