Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters

Synopsis

An acclaimed photographer with the eye of a filmmaker, Gregory Crewdson has created some of the most gorgeously haunting pictures in the history of the medium. His meticulously composed, large-scale images are stunning narratives of small-town American life—moviescapes crystallized into a single frame.

While the photographs are staged with crews that rival many feature film productions, Crewdson takes inspiration as much from his own dreams and fantasies as the worlds of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Edward Hopper and Diane Arbus. Shot over a decade with unprecedented access, Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters beautifully bares the artist’s process—and it’s as mesmerizing and riveting as the images themselves.

Cast

Critical Response

The New York Times reviewed the film as a “Critics Pick”

Los Angeles Times Film Critic Betsy Sharkey wrote “in the excellent new documentary "Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters,"filmmaker Ben Shapiro gives us fly-on-the-wall access over a 10-year period to an acclaimed artist.”

Ronnie Scheib wrote in Variety: “A perfect canvas for Crewdson’s epic creations, “Brief Encounters” reps a must-see for art lovers.”

Slant Magazine said “Brief Encounters is great entertainment”

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters won the Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary Film at the Denver Film Festival. The jury that presented the award included this statement: “A film that at first seems like a simple portrait of an artist, but actually touches on deep and complex issues facing suburban America today through provocative photographs.” It also won the Best Documentary Award at the Savannah Film Festival.

Release

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters premiered at South by Southwest, and opened at Film Forum in New York on October 31, 2012, and on November 16 2012 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, then into limited theatrical release. It has shown widely at film festivals in the US and internationally including SXSW, LACMA Film Independent, Big Sky, New Orleans, Newport, FIFA, Oslo.

Music

The original score was composed by Dana Kaproff. The soundtrack was released by Perseverance Records on December 5, 2012. The closing credit music is a performance of Crewdson’s teenage band’s song “Let Me Take Your Foto” by the group Little Silver.