This week marks the premiere of The Woodmans, a film by C. Scott Willis about a family of successful artists and the fallout from the death of their youngest and most celebrated member. Francesca Woodman was a talented, visionary, and ground-breaking photographer in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and her work is now seen as seminal to the modern craft of portraiture and fashion photography.
Her self-portraits were unnervingly intimate, and revealing, providing a glimpse into a brilliant, yet fragile and troubled psyche. When she committed suicide at just 22, her family was left to guard her legacy while also pursuing their own passions. The film premieres on many stations Thursday, Dec. 22 at 10PM.
Watch the trailer, plus video interviews with Willis and Series Producer Lois Vossen after the jump.
The Woodmans are a family that values the making of art above all other things, making theirs a way of life unfamiliar to most modern Americans. They discuss how the loss of Francesca did and did not change their guiding ethic, and how they balance pride, ambition, and regret as they carry on making art.
In this exclusive video, C. Scott Willis explains how he came to his subject.
And Independent Lens Series Producer Lois Vossen also weighs in.
