Online Shorts Fest with Rita Blitt
We are excited to screen our first documentaries in our Online Shorts Fest. Rita Blitt is an international, award winning painter, sculptor and filmmaker. Check out her shorts here.
Bio
In 2000 Yehuda Hanani, international cello soloist and professor wrote:
“Rita Blitt’s art and life are inseparable. Every gesture, in both, is borne on the wings of spontaneous responses unfettered by self-consciousness and guided by childlike purity and trust, immediacy, and an unshakable belief in ultimate goodness. Her constant search for the spirit and essence of reality is accompanied by a sense of wonder and mischief. She lovingly conveys with experienced choreographic lines her vision of the world, where the kinetic energy of dance and an entire musical universe are transformed into the realm of the visual. The sculpture and drawings are by turn fluid and harmonious or rhythmic and staccato. In each instance they resonate with primal memories of collective symbols.”
Rita Blitt is an international, award winning painter, sculptor and filmmaker. Her works can be seen in museums, public and private collections. As a child, she won scholarships to the Kansas City Art Institute and returned there for further studies after attending the University of Illinois and graduating from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Blitt has installed over forty-five monumental sculptures up to sixty feet in height and has had over seventy solo exhibitions. Her works have been shown or installed in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Uganda and the United States.
Blitt’s art celebrates her love of nature, music, dance and the spontaneous flow of movement captured in the drawn gesture.
How long have you been directing? Since 2003 with Caught in Paint (which screened at over 130 film festivals and won 16 awards). But with earlier films, I was part of the planning and the whole process.
How many films have you directed? Five films: Caught in Paint, blur, Caught in Nature with J.S. Bach, Collaborating with the Past, and Abyss of Time.
Is there any one part of the process that you enjoy more than the others? I enjoyed selecting my artwork to be included in the films and working with the technicians to integrate my art with music and words.
About Caught in Paint
The artistic documentary captures the essence of an all day collaboration between choreographer David Parsons, the Parsons Dance Company, photographer Lois Greenfield and painter Rita Blitt. Creative sparks defy gravity!
What drew you to wanting to tell this story? I met with David Parsons, the Parsons Dancers and photographer Lois Greenfield for a photo shoot to illustrate the similarity of movement in David’s choreography and my spontaneous drawings. I had a hunch that this was going to be wonderful and so I hired a videographer to track this spontaneous day-long experience. Thus, Caught in Paint evolved.
What were some of the challenges in getting this film made and how did you overcome them? I knew I wanted to capture in photos the Parson dancers and my act of painting at the same time. However, David and Lois were too busy to discuss plans in advance. So we met in Lois’ studio, I took out my paints, and the dancers put on whatever they wanted to wear. Lois asked “What kind of music do you want, Rita?” and I responded “Classical!” and the very exciting day long photo shoot took place.
The process of editing the resulting 1500 photos was magical.
The learn more about Rita, check out her website.
