Agnes Gund: George Gund III Award + “Aggie”

Description

Agnes Gund is an American philanthropist, collector of contemporary art, and a renowned advocate for arts education and social justice. Responding to public school budget cuts in the ’70s, she established the Studio in a School program. Since then, she has served on numerous museum boards, received the National Medal of Arts, and, most recently, the inaugural Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award. Her recently founded Art for Justice Fund includes grants for film projects emerging from social justice concerns. SFFILM salutes Agnes Gund for her commitment to the arts with a moderated conversation and screening of Aggie.

Aggie
Catherine Gund, USA, 2020, 91 min
“I hope this film will not be seen by too many people,” says art collector, philanthropist, and subject of this documentary Agnes Gund, though her story deserves a wide audience. Though she’s most well-known for establishing the Art for Justice Fund with $100 million in proceeds from selling a prized Roy Lichtenstein, the film shows that her passion for art and social justice goes back over 40 years. In addition to her mom’s personal stories, director Catherine Gund includes compelling interviews with artists, curators, and journalists who attest to Aggie’s vital legacy.

“Anyone who lives and breathes the fine art world knows who Agnes Gund is. Now, thanks to the documentary Aggie, everyone has the chance to know her and her unique understanding of how creativity and expression are the essence of life-long learning and can create change.” –Sabina Dana Plasse, Film Threat

Director Catherine Gund

Catherine Gund is a documentary director, producer, and cinematographer who began her career making short films, including Among Good Christian Peoples (1991), Bird in the Hand (1992), and When Democracy Works (1997). She made her feature debut with Hallelujah! Ron Athey: A Story of Deliverance (1998). Among her other features are Making Grace (2004), Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity (2014), and Chavela (2017), winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at Frameline.

“My mother taught me many things about creativity, beauty, listening, and looking. To her, the fundamental purpose of art is to guarantee a world in which artists can exist. That’s the world Aggie wants to live in and every move she has ever made has functioned to create that world. So that is also the world of my film.” –Catherine Gund, Filmmaker Magazine

Film Details