This post comes from my friend Tom Cowan. 

Tom and I have known each other almost 60 years now, which means we are both very ancient. Tom has created many fine films in his lifetime and recently completed a low-budget independent feature film called "LIFE CLASS 1920"  which was awarded "Best Narrative Feature" at the Venice California FINE ARTS FESTIVAL . 

Tom has recently created a very short piece showing a selection of images done by artists who were creating the works which characters in the movie would complete.

 

As well as supplying art that appears in the feature movie, the artists were inspired by the experience of the shoot to create works about the production. About 90 art works resulted from this activity and these were exhibited along with the initial screening of the movie.

Here is the brief video Tom made from a few of the art works:

"Life Drawing Story"

 

LIFE DRAWING STORY from Tom Cowan on Vimeo.

Tom's feature movie:  "LIFE CLASS 1920" 

is set in a small country town suffering the trauma of the Great War. It is the love story of a shell-shocked French artist and a restless farm girl who became his model and the scandal that his life drawing class generated. The story of Monsieur Georges Bresson and Sadie Macgowan is of the healing power of art.

When making the movie, which was a joy to be part of,  I also got cancer. I took on the editing and that was a long struggle. I was suffering. With a lot of help, the edit was finished, mixed and the movie had a few screenings. The original edited version was as sluggish as I was and not as alive as the material we shot. It was not special enough to break through.

I recovered and I saw the movie objectively. After about three years, for my own pleasure, I started to re-edit the material. At first it was just for me. But the material was so alive that I became enthusiastic. It is a radical change from the original edit, and successful, possibly because it was fun to do.

The FINE ARTS FESTIVAL awarded it Best Narrative Feature and it was selected for the SANTA MONICA  INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL at the end of 2020.

In my experience, re-editing rarely improves the movie for the audience. I learnt that is not always true.

Many thanks Tom, well done you!

pt