Harry Rasky: Poet With A Camera
Fall 1999 Wendy Michener Symposium

TORONTO, October 6, 1999 -- The work of acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Harry Rasky, whose unique form of filmmaking has come to be known as "Raskymentaries", is the focus of the fall 1999 Wendy Michener Symposium.

Titled Harry Rasky: Poet with a Camera, the program consists of a film series featuring five of Rasky's biographies running on consecutive Monday evenings starting Oct. 18 and culminating in the presentation of the Wendy Michener Lecture by Harry Rasky on November 22.

Over the course of his long association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Rasky made more than forty documentaries, among them many penetrating biographies of leading artists, performers and writers. These films provide a fascinating look at the particular forces that create artistic genius, while being seminal studies in the art of biographical filmmaking.

The film program:

Monday, October 18
Homage to Chagall: The Colours of Love A portrait of the Russian painter Marc Chagall, featuring interviews with the artist and his wife and the visual splendour of more than 300 of his paintings, murals and stained-glass windows.
"A magical blend of sight and sound that transcends the screen" ... Judith Crist

Monday, October 25
Tennessee Williams: A Portrait in Laughter and Lamentation The playwright recites his poetry against a backdrop of Southern landscape, with scenes brought to life by actors Colleen Dewhurst, Jessica Tandy and Maureen Stapleton.
"Extraordinary entertainment. Mr Rasky is a film poet." ... L.A. Times

Monday, November 1
The Song of Leonard Cohen An insider's view of Canadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen, following Cohen on an international concert tour and wandering with his cronies, Irving Layton and Mort Rosengarten, through their favourite Montreal haunts.

Monday, November 8
StrataSphere Spotlights Canadian opera star Teresa Stratas as a dynamic talent charged with volcanic emotion and compelling candour. With a special appearance by stage and film director Franco Zeffirelli.
"Here's a film that will haunt you ... a moving and triumphant special".... Toronto Star

Monday, November 15
Karsh: The Searching Eye A profile of one of the greatest portrait photographers of modern times: Yousuf Karsh, chronicler of the artists and scientists, popes and politicians who define our era.

The Wendy Michener Lecture entitled Private Lives, Public Eyes will be delivered by Harry Rasky on Monday, November 22.

The annual Wendy Michener Symposium was instituted at York University's Faculty of Fine Arts to commemorate the late Wendy Roland Michener, a noted Canadian arts critic and journalist.

The series takes place at the Nat Taylor Cinema, Ross Building, Room 102, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto. Time: 7 p.m. Admission is free. For further information: (416) 736-5136

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For further information, please contact:

Carol Bishop
Communications, Faculty of Fine Arts
York University
(416) 736-2100 ext. 20421
email: cbishop@yorku.ca