Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own is an artistic biography of one of the few women in the world working in monumental sculpture.

Von Rydingsvard’s work has been featured in the Venice Biennale and is held in the collections of some of the world’s great museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. But she may be best-known for work in public spaces – imposing pieces painstakingly crafted with complex surfaces.

In this documentary, we go behind the scenes with von Rydingsvard, as she and her collaborators – cutters, metalsmiths, and others – produce new work, including challenging commissions in copper and bronze. But the film also delves into the artist’s personal life, and how it has shaped her work. Born in Poland during the Second World War, she was partly raised in a displaced persons camp and came to the US as a refugee with her nine-person family. Her younger brother shares memories of being raised by their violent, domineering father – a man whose influence von Rydingsvard continues to feel. Brought up in a blue-collar environment, she became a teacher and then, as a single mother, moved to New York in the 1970s to take up her artistic practice full-time.

In conversations with curators, patrons, family, and fellow artists, we come to know von Rydingsvard as a driven but compassionate sculptor with a deep commitment to her art and the world around her. 

Director: Daniel Traub
Producers: Daniel Traub, Ken Kobland, Simon Taufique
Executive Producer:  Morning Slayter
Editors:  Ken Kobland, Melody London
Cinematographer: Daniel Traub
Music: Simon Taufique
Post-Production Supervisor: Michele Zarbafian


Contacts
Press
New York (Film Forum) Adam Walker | adam@filmforum.org
LA/SF/Regional (EG PR) Emma Griffiths | emma@eg-pr.com

Distribution for US and Canada
Icarus Films | Bob Hunter, Director of Exhibition | 32 Court Street, Floor 21, Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA  | 718.488.8900 | bob@icarusfilms.com

Distribution for Europe and Asia
Poorhouse International | Heike Connolly, General Manager |  58 Broadwick Street, London W1F 7AL Tel. +44 (0)20 74368663 |  heike.connolly@poorhouseintl.co.uk



"Outstanding." –San Francisco Chronicle

"Extraordinary! If you loved the Andy Goldsworthy documentary 'Rivers and Tides,' this one is a must." –Mercury News

"A welcome cinematic account of her work." –The New York Times

"A revelation." –Musée Magazine

"Visceral, heroic; the story of one of our greatest contemporary sculptors." –Black Book

"A movie you want to reach out and touch." –Los Angeles Times



Official Selection
☆ Vancouver International Film Festival 2019
☆ Berkshire International Film Festival 2020
☆ Architecture Design Art Film Festival 2020
☆ Sante Fe Film Festival 2020
☆ Hamptons Doc Fest 2020


Info
︎︎︎ Screenings/Broadcasts
︎︎︎ Press/Q&A
︎︎︎ Director’s Statement
︎︎︎ Press Kit
︎︎︎ Filmmaker Bios
︎︎︎ Original Music: Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube


Video On Demand
︎︎︎ Amazon
︎︎︎ iTunes
︎︎︎ Vimeo

The Barefoot Artist chronicles the long and colorful life of Lily Yeh, an artist who has committed herself to creating community-based art projects in some of the world's most troubled areas.

Beginning with the creation of an unprecedented sculpture garden in the projects of North Philly that became known as "The Village of Arts and Humanities," the film also shows Yeh working in various far-flung locations, such as Kenya and Rwanda, where she teaches survivors of war and calamity to make murals and build sculptures drawn from their own experience. Working with Yeh on these projects, they are able to regain hope, a sense of purpose, and a belief that life can be about creation as well as destruction.

Director/Producer: Glenn Holsten/Daniel Traub
Editor: Ann Tegnell
Director of Photography: Daniel Traub
Composer: Michael Aharon


Distribution
US and Canada
Film Movement |  237 West 35th Street, Suite 604, New York, NY 10001

Europe and Asia
Poorhouse International | Heike Connolly, General Manager |  58 Broadwick Street, London W1F 7AL Tel. +44 (0)20 74368663 |  heike.connolly@poorhouseintl.co.uk


"There is much healing in "The Barefoot Artist," Glenn Holsten and Daniel Traub's fascinating documentary portrait of the artist Lily Yeh." – Andy Webster, New York Times

"A poignant documentary about the transformative power of art." – Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times


Official Selection
☆ Carmel Art and Film Festival 2014
☆ United Nations Association Film Festival 2014
☆ Louisville International Film Festival 2014
☆ Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival 2014
☆ Environmental Film Festival in the Nations Capital 2014


Info
︎︎︎ Screenings/Broadcasts
︎︎︎ Press/Q&A
︎︎︎ Press Kit
︎︎︎ Filmmaker Bios


Video On Demand
︎︎︎ Amazon Prime
︎︎︎ iTunes
︎︎︎ Kanopy

"Drawing inspiration from the contemporary realities of his fast-changing country, Chinese artist Xu Bing spent two years creating his newest work, Phoenix.

The installation features two monumental birds fabricated entirely from materials harvested from construction sites in urban China, including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and remnants of the daily lives of migrant laborers. At once fierce and strangely beautiful, the mythic Phoenixes bear witness to the complex interconnection between labor, history, commercial development, and the rapid accumulation of wealth in today's China." MASS MoCA

The film Xu Bing: Phoenix documents the process of creating the work through to its installation at the Massachusettes Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA).

Director/Producer: Daniel Traub
Editor: Scott A. Burgess
Cinematography: Daniel Traub, Rick Widmer, Tian Li
Music: Benjamin Kaplan and Hildur Gudnadottir
Produced in association with: Freer/Sackler Museum and Xu Bing Studio


Distributor
Icarus Films | Bob Hunter, Director of Exhibition | 32 Court Street, Floor 21, Brooklyn, NY 11201 USA  | 718.488.8900 | bob@icarusfilms.com


Press
Hyperallergic, A Tale of Two Phoenixes, Ellen Pearlman, July 3, 2013


Selected Screenings
☆ The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)
☆ Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
☆ Crow Museum of Asian Art, Dallas, TX
☆ Cathedral of St John Divine in New York
☆ United Art Museum, Wuhan, China
☆ International Film Festival of Cinematic Arts

Shorts

Selected short-form documentaries made in collaboration with cultural and civic organizations.

Philly Creatives at Work (2024)

A group portrait film profiling five Philadelphia-based creatives, produced in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989 (2023)

A documentary produced for the Philadelphia Museum of Art examining artists and artworks featured in the exhibition The Shape of Time.

Carmen Winant: A Brand New End: Survival and Its Pictures (2022)

A short documentary accompanying Carmen Winant’s exhibition at The Print Center, tracing the development and execution of the project through process and installation.

David Lebe: A Life in Photographs (2022)

A portrait of photographer David Lebe, reflecting on his life, work, and personal history in connection with the Philadelphia Museum of Art.