h. nazan ışık —

21 February 2019—

Doc Fortnight (21-28 February) is MoMA’s (The Museum of Modern Art) annual Festival of International Nonfiction Film and Media, which takes place in February and brings features and shorts from around the globe.

This year, the eight-day series, or small festival opens with French artist Prune Nourry’s feature directorial debut “Serendipity”. It’s a film about Nourry’s personal battle with breast cancer, and how her own artwork, in other words power of art helps her in healing.

Rajendra Roy, The Celesta Bartos Chief Curator of Films, and Kathy Drew, organizer and guest curator of Doc Fortnight, open the festival and invited Angelina Jolie to the microphone.

Angelina Jolie, one of the three executive producers, delivered remarks…

And introduced artist/sculptor/filmmaker/director Prune Nourry.

I always wonder, what makes a film a festival opener film? Is it the film itself, subject matter, cinematography, or (famous) director, or any other famous names in credits?

This film definitely has famous names in credits. Executive producers are Angelina Jolie, Sol Guy and Darren Aronofsky, and film features a special appearance by iconic French director Agnes Varda too.

I decided to get an answer to this question from organizer and guest curator Kathy Brew.

Kathy Brew, Doc Fortnight organizer and guest curator.

h. nazan ışık: Would you please talk about the opening night film “Serendipity”? Why did you pick that film as the festival opening movie?

Kathy Brew: I selected SERENDIPITY for the opening night film for a range of reasons.

I think it’s a very powerful and personal, intimate self-portrait of an artist that intermingles her impressive art practice with the breast cancer challenge she faced.

It was beautifully shot and edited, with powerful sound, and is about serendipity and unexpected connections, underscoring the fragility and vulnerability of human life and yet also a message of resilience and hope; about living one’s life to the fullest in this time that we have.

I was also happy to feature a woman filmmaker for the opening night film this year, as in my previous two years, the opening night films were directed by men.”

It was an adequate answer, since Angelina Jolie’s name was never mentioned in the festival programming.

“SERENDIPITY”

A hospital personnel is pushing a stretcher, and the camera, which is the eye of whatever, whoever is on it, sees the hospital staff. This is an opening scene of “Serendipity”, which lasts two and a half minutes. Takes us to a room, where a woman’s eggs will be harvested for future use before undergoing chemotherapy.

Cut to Prune Nourry’s one of early works.

And to the title: “Serendipity”

Prune Nourry was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy already. Now getting ready for chemotherapy. And legendary French film director Anges Varda is assisting her to cut her long hair by holding a mirror.

The film constantly cuts from Nourry to one of her works, to another work of hers, and back to her cutting her hair…And from more projects to back to her. This time she is shaving her hair alone, by herself.

We see more projects, a chemotherapy session, and more projects, and now, she is at her exhibition opening. And an acupuncture session, more works, and this time she is talking with her doctor about implant.

Last minutes of the film are not any different than the previous ones: The shots cut continuously back and forth from Nourry’s last work “The Amazon” is being taking from her Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse studio to High Line, cut to a hospital, she is on a stretcher, a surgery room …BLACK, and cut to “The Amazon” sculpture at The Standard Plaza at The Standard, High Line, NY, is on view.

What I have taken from the movie is that I got more information on her works of art, her projects that she had done before in the past years, which had links to her illness, which makes the title “Serendipity” is a right title for her film.

Artist/director Plume Nourry at MoMA

But I did not really get much about her emotions, feelings, pain, fear, or worries!

In the movie Nourry says that when you are ill, you realize that health is everything, when you accept (your situation) it gives you another perspective. And, adds,” As cheesy as it sounds, health, love and art are essential”. However, I don’t remember seeing any special loved one with her, next to her in her film.

The most sensitive scenes in “Serendipity” are a chemotherapy session, an acupuncture session and her conversation with her doctor. She says, “ Now you are the sculptor, I am the sculpture,” when they were discussing implant/reconstruction.

Nourry stars and narrates her own story, after has already been diagnosed with cancer, and promotes, really promotes, in this 74-minute movie, her works, projects done earlier and after the diagnosis.

I got a chance to learn about her projects: Procreative Dinner, Holy Daughters, Holy River, Holy Holi, Imbalance, Terracotta Daughters, Spermbar, Anima, And The Amazon.

 Now imagine, somebody, anybody who was diagnosed with cancer, discovers that she can draw, that she is a good writer to tell her story on her blog. In other words she discovers the power of art. And gets enough encouragements and money to make a film about her journey, about HOPE. Do you think that this will make a festival opening film?

Photographs: © h. nazan ışık

© h. nazan ışık