Vivian Ostrovsky
Encyclopedia
Vivian Ostrovsky is an experimental filmmaker and curator.
at the Cinémathèque Française and of Éric Rohmer
at the Institut d’Art et d'Archéologie.
In the 1970s, together with Rosine Grange, Ostrovsky founded the non-profit organization Ciné-Femmes International (first called Femmes/Media), dedicated to the promotion, distribution and exhibition of films made by women. During its active years (1975–1979) Ciné-Femmes International addressed the lack of distribution and exhibition opportunities for women’s films. It was the only organization in France at the time to initiate film screenings, programs and symposia, focusing on women's filmmaking and on women’s image on film. They toured with women's documentaries, features, animation short and experimental films, distributing them where needed, much before the advent of formats such as VHS and DVD. In 1975 - declared International Women's Year by the United Nations – Ostrovsky, together with Esta Marshall, organized a major women's film festival in Paris (Femmes/Films), as well as an international symposium – Women in Film - under the auspices of UNESCO
. This event was held in the Valley of Aosta, with participants such as Susan Sontag
, Agnès Varda
, Helma Sanders
, Chantal Akerman
, Mai Zetterling
, Márta Mészáros
, Valie Export
and María Luisa Bemberg. An international association Film Women International, was the outcome of this venture.
In 1980 Ostrovsky launched into experimental filmmaking with debut film Carolyn 2, co-directed by Martine Rousset and starring choreographer Carolyn Carlson
. Since then, Ostrovsky has made over 20 films mostly shot in Super-8, often incorporating found footage such as newsreels, excerpts from feature and documentary films as well as personal home movies. As recognized by Yann Beauvais, Ostrovsky's films combine between two genres in experimental film – the film journal and the film-collage – creating her unique version Beauvais names journal-mosaic. Her films are also commonly referred to as nomadic as they cross between countries, cultures and subject matters.
Ostrovsky's films were screened in international venues including: Centre Georges Pompidou
, Paris (retrospective); MAM, Rio de Janeiro (retrospective); MoMA
, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
; Kunsthalle Basel
, and major film Festivals such as Toronto
, London
, Berlin, Rotterdam, Viennale
, Locarno, Tribeca
and others. Her works have been acquired by collections and archives such as MoMA
, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou
, Paris; Freunde der Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin; the French Foreign Affairs Ministry (for the French Institutes worldwide).
Following her father, George Ostrovsky, who was one of the founders of the Jerusalem Film Center in Israel, Vivian has been active as a member of its Board of Directors and is one of the programmers/curators for the Jerusalem Film Festival
held yearly by the Jerusalem Cinematheque. She is also currently on the Board of Directors of Film Forum
, a New York based non-profit movie house with independent and repertory programming.
Her other activities include: curating film programs for the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) in Rio de Janeiro, composing several radio pieces for the French public radio station France Culture
(Ateliers de Création Radiophonique), and a children’s book in cooperation with her sister Rose Ostrovsky (MUMPS!)
Biography
Ostrovsky was born in New York, USA, and spent most of her childhood years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She completed a B.A. degree in Psychology in Paris, at the Institut de Psychologie and later enrolled in Film Studies at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3. She was later a student of Henri LangloisHenri Langlois
Henri Langlois was a French film archivist and cinephile. A pioneer of film preservation, Langlois was an influential figure in the history of cinema...
at the Cinémathèque Française and of Éric Rohmer
Éric Rohmer
Éric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
at the Institut d’Art et d'Archéologie.
In the 1970s, together with Rosine Grange, Ostrovsky founded the non-profit organization Ciné-Femmes International (first called Femmes/Media), dedicated to the promotion, distribution and exhibition of films made by women. During its active years (1975–1979) Ciné-Femmes International addressed the lack of distribution and exhibition opportunities for women’s films. It was the only organization in France at the time to initiate film screenings, programs and symposia, focusing on women's filmmaking and on women’s image on film. They toured with women's documentaries, features, animation short and experimental films, distributing them where needed, much before the advent of formats such as VHS and DVD. In 1975 - declared International Women's Year by the United Nations – Ostrovsky, together with Esta Marshall, organized a major women's film festival in Paris (Femmes/Films), as well as an international symposium – Women in Film - under the auspices of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. This event was held in the Valley of Aosta, with participants such as Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
, Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda is a French film director and professor at the European Graduate School. Her movies, photographs, and art installations focus on documentary realism, feminist issues, and social commentary — with a distinct experimental style....
, Helma Sanders
Helma Sanders-Brahms
Helma Sanders-Brahms is a German film director, screenwriter, producer and actress.She studied acting then German and English. She first worked in TV and then trained as a film director with Sergio Corbucci and Pier Paolo Pasolini making a large number of films often commissioned by German...
, Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman
Chantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...
, Mai Zetterling
Mai Zetterling
-Early life:Zetterling was born in Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actress by the age of seventeen at Dramaten, the Swedish national theater, and appeared in war-era film starting in her teens.-Career:...
, Márta Mészáros
Márta Mészáros
Márta Mészáros is a Hungarian film director. She worked as an English Teachersmeaning? filmmaker in the 1960s, but in the following decade began making films drawing on the oppression of both state and gender...
, Valie Export
Valie Export
Valie Export is an Austrian artist...
and María Luisa Bemberg. An international association Film Women International, was the outcome of this venture.
In 1980 Ostrovsky launched into experimental filmmaking with debut film Carolyn 2, co-directed by Martine Rousset and starring choreographer Carolyn Carlson
Carolyn Carlson
Carolyn Carlson is an American contemporary dance choreographer and performer. She is of Finnish descent.She is the director of the 'Centre Chorégraphique National' in Roubaix and of the 'Atelier de Paris' at 'La Cartoucherie de Vincennes' in Paris.She was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts...
. Since then, Ostrovsky has made over 20 films mostly shot in Super-8, often incorporating found footage such as newsreels, excerpts from feature and documentary films as well as personal home movies. As recognized by Yann Beauvais, Ostrovsky's films combine between two genres in experimental film – the film journal and the film-collage – creating her unique version Beauvais names journal-mosaic. Her films are also commonly referred to as nomadic as they cross between countries, cultures and subject matters.
Ostrovsky's films were screened in international venues including: Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, Paris (retrospective); MAM, Rio de Janeiro (retrospective); MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
, New York; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington; Musée du Louvre, Paris; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art dedicated to the arts of the 20th/21st centuries. It is located at 11 Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.-Description:...
; Kunsthalle Basel
Kunsthalle Basel
Since opening in 1872, Kunsthalle Basel has examined various positions concerning contemporary art. This renowned exhibition space in the Swiss city of Basel has a very long tradition of supporting avant-garde artists and expanding the accepted boundaries of contemporary art. Contemporary art...
, and major film Festivals such as Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
, London
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
, Berlin, Rotterdam, Viennale
Viennale
The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria.The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are Gartenbaukino, Urania, Metro-Kino, Filmmuseum and Stadtkino...
, Locarno, Tribeca
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
and others. Her works have been acquired by collections and archives such as MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, Paris; Freunde der Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin; the French Foreign Affairs Ministry (for the French Institutes worldwide).
Following her father, George Ostrovsky, who was one of the founders of the Jerusalem Film Center in Israel, Vivian has been active as a member of its Board of Directors and is one of the programmers/curators for the Jerusalem Film Festival
Jerusalem Film Festival
The Jerusalem Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, Israel. The festival was the brainchild of Lia van Leer, who inaugurated it on May 17, 1984...
held yearly by the Jerusalem Cinematheque. She is also currently on the Board of Directors of Film Forum
Film Forum
Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater located at 209 West Houston Street in New York City. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a US$19,000 annual budget. Karen Cooper became director in 1972 and under her leadership,...
, a New York based non-profit movie house with independent and repertory programming.
Her other activities include: curating film programs for the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB) in Rio de Janeiro, composing several radio pieces for the French public radio station France Culture
France Culture
France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes , as well as literary readings, radio plays, and experimental productions...
(Ateliers de Création Radiophonique), and a children’s book in cooperation with her sister Rose Ostrovsky (MUMPS!)
Filmography
- Carolyn 2 (1980) starring choreographer Carolyn CarlsonCarolyn CarlsonCarolyn Carlson is an American contemporary dance choreographer and performer. She is of Finnish descent.She is the director of the 'Centre Chorégraphique National' in Roubaix and of the 'Atelier de Paris' at 'La Cartoucherie de Vincennes' in Paris.She was awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts...
, co-directed with Martine Rousset - Top Ten Stylists (1981) with Thierry MuglerThierry MuglerThierry Mugler is a French fashion designer and creator of several perfumes.-Childhood:Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France on 21 December 1948. His passion led him to focus more on drawing than on school and at the age of 9, he began to study classical dance...
, Issey MiyakeIssey Miyakeis a Japanese fashion designer. He is known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances.-Life and career:Miyake was born 22 April 1938 in Hiroshima, Japan. As a seven year-old, he witnessed and survived the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. He studied...
, Karl LagerfeldKarl LagerfeldKarl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
, etc., co-directed with Soft Ware Prod. - Movie (V.O.) (1982)
- Copacabana Beach (1983)
- Allers-Venues (1984)
- Stalingrad (1984) installation for "Le Génie de la Bastille"
- U.S.S.A.(1985)
- * * * (Trois Etoiles) (1987)
- Propos Decousus (1987) expanded super 8
- Eat (1988)
- M.M. in Motion (1992)
- Uta Makura (Pillow poems) (1994)
- Public Domain (1996)
- American International Pictures (1997)
- Interview with Woody Allen for the Jerusalem Film Festival (1997)
- Work and Progress (1999) co-directed with Yann Beauvais
- Nikita Kino 2002
- Ice/Sea (2005)
- TéLépattes (2007)
- Fone Fur Follies (2008)
- P.W. – Painéis e Pincéis (2008)
- Ne Pas Sonner (2009)
- Tatitude (2010)