Film About A Father Who

a film by Lynne Sachs
2020, 74 minutes

Poster

Synopsis

Over a period of 35 years between 1984 and 2019, filmmaker Lynne Sachs shot 8 and 16mm film, videotape and digital images of her father, Ira Sachs Sr., a bon vivant and pioneering businessman from Park City, Utah. Film About a Father Who is her attempt to understand the web that connects a child to her parent and a sister to her siblings.

With a nod to the Cubist renderings of a face, Sachs' cinematic exploration of her father offers simultaneous, sometimes contradictory, views of one seemingly unknowable man who is publicly the uninhibited center of the frame yet privately ensconced in secrets. With this meditation on fatherhood and masculinity, Sachs allows herself and her audience to see beneath the surface of the skin, beyond the projected reality. As the startling facts mount, she discovers more about her father than she had ever hoped to reveal.

Reviews

Critic's Pick "[A] brisk, prismatic and richly psychodramatic family portrait."
- Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times

"Formidable in its candor and ambition... one chapter in a continuing stream of work by an experimental, highly personal filmmaker."
- Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

"Lynne Sachs' spirit of intelligent compassion lights up the film, giving voice to the anger and pain, but also providing the space and distance needed to recover from it... a spectacular gift to the viewer."
- Matthew Sorrento, Film International

"Raw, honest and eye-opening, Film About a Father Who is just like its subject matter, something quite extraordinary."
- Bianca Garner, In Their Own League

"[Sach's] greatest achievement to date... a unique, brilliant film that has stayed with me ever since."
- Benjamin Hollis, Documentary Weekly

Press Materials

High Res Stills
Press Release

Where to watch

Playdates

Jan 15 - Museum of the Moving Image - New York, NY
Jan 15 - Laemmle Theatres - Los Angeles, CA
Jan 15 - Philadelphia Film Society - Philadelphia, PA
Jan 15 - Cleveland Cinematheque - Cleveland, OH
Jan 15 - The Belcourt - Nashville, TN
Jan 15 - The Lark - Larkspur, CA
Jan 15 - Time & Space Ltd. - Hudson, NY
Jan 15 - The Flicks - Boise, ID
Jan 15 - Frida Cinema - Santa Ana, CA
Jan 15 - Bedford Playhouse - Bedford, NY
Jan 15 - Burns Court Cinemas - Sarasota, FL
Jan 15 - Webster Film Series - St. Louis, MO
Jan 15 - Space Gallery - Portland, ME
Jan 15 - The Nickelodeon - Columbia, SC
Jan 15 - Oklahoma City Museum of Art - Oklahoma City, OK
Jan 15 - Pickford Film Center - Bellingham, WA
Jan 15 - Utah Film Center - Salt Lake City, UT
Jan 15 - Darkside Cinema - Corvallis, OR
Jan 15 - Downing Film Center - Newburgh, NY
Jan 20 - a/perture cinema - Winston-Salem, NC
Jan 22 - SNF Parkway Theatre - Baltimore, MD
Jan 22 - Brattle Theatre - Cambridge, MA
Jan 22 - Indie Memphis - Memphis, TN
Jan 22 - FilmBar - Phoenix, AZ
Jan 22 - The Ryder - Bloomington, IN
Jan 22 - Northwest Film Forum - Seattle, WA
Jan 22 - Park City Film Series - Park City, UT
Jan 22 - The Film Lab - Detroit, MI
Jan 29 - Amherst Cinema Arts Center - Amherst, MA
Jan 29 - Facets - Chicago, IL
Jan 29 - DelArt Cinema - Wilmington, DE

Feb 5 - The Cinematheque - Vancouver, BC
Feb 5 - Cine-File - Chicago, IL
Feb 11 - Duke University Cinema - Durham, NC
Feb 12 - Roxie Theatre - San Francisco, CA
Feb 12 - Los Angeles Filmforum - Los Angeles, CA
Feb 12 - Austin Film Society - Austin, TX
Feb 26 - Montclair Film - Montclair, NJ

Mar 2 - Walker Art Center - Minneapolis, MN
Mar 3 - National Gallery of Art - Washington, DC
Mar 12 - MFA Houston - Houston, TX
Mar 26 - DCTV - New York, NY

Apr 2 - Maysles Cinema - New York, NY

Dec 10 - Metrograph - New York, NY

Apr 7 - SF Cinemathèque - San Francisco, CA
Apr 9 - Other Cinema - San Francisco, CA

Festivals & Awards

Official Selection - Slamdance Film Festival
Official Selection - Sheffield International Documentary Festival
Official Selection - Documentary Fortnight

Trailer

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