Skip to main content
The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons film image, co-directors Judd Tully and Harold Crooks

The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons

This event has passed

North American Premiere

An astonishing documentary about the elusive and provocative African-American artist David Hammons, The Melt Goes On Forever chronicles the legendary artist’s incredible body of work, from his body prints in the 1960s, to found object sculptures, to cheeky installations in upper crust galleries, which overtly mock the elite art world and critique the capitalist and arbitrary notions of value in art.

Hammons’ work is often blistering, firmly rooted in questioning the dominant culture and exposing racial injustice, and exploring the space that Black people hold in America. Hammons is notoriously private, and this conflict between his personal reticence and worldwide attention is fascinating to watch. The film reveals the tension between insiders and outsiders in art, and explores the fickleness and push-pull antics of the established art world. Using archival footage, interviews with artists, curators, and critics, alongside animation, this film is a remarkable record of the work of an artist who constantly defies the establishment and remains subversive at every turn.

 

Q&A Sept 30 & Oct 2

 

Presented by

Audain Foundation logo

Series Media Partner

Stir Logo

Media Partner

 

 

Directors
Credits
Country of Origin

USA/Canada

Year

2022

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
18+
101 min
Art, Music & Photography Documentary

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan
157 min

Neither a fairytale, nor a Leonesque shoot-em-up, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's somber, melancholy masterpiece is both a ruminative comedy about mortality and a subtle, poignant murder mystery.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Make Me Famous

Dir. Brian Vincent
93 min

This engaging doc casts a light on the halcyon East Village art scene of the late 70s/early 80s, when Edward Brezinski was one among many artists waiting for his big break. In his case, it never came...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Brightness of Light film image; painted reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows that combine to look like a flower

Georgia O'Keeffe: the Brightness of Light

Dir. Paul Wagner
118 min

Drawing on her copious correspondence and the world's leading scholars, this is a definitive documentary on the life and work of "the mother of American Modernism."

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Under the Skin

Dir. Jonathan Glazer
108 min

Between Birth and the death camps of Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer gave us sex, with Scarlett Johansson, picking up and disposing with interchangeable men. It's a bleakly unforgettable movie, with a mesmeric Mica Levi score.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore

Dir. Shoshannah Stern
98 min

A moving and insightful film about the Academy Award winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God; CODA).

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Paprika

Dir. Satoshi Kon
90 min

A device capable of transmitting dreams falls into the wrong hands in this dazzling anime meta-movie from visionary filmmaker Satoshi Kon. The imagery here is never less than overwhelming; it's probably the greatest scifi movie of our times.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Credits

Executive Producer

Lisa Cortés, Rea David Tully

Producer

Judd Tully

Screenwriter

Harold Crooks

Cinematography

John Russell Foster, Christina Wairegi

ANIM

Tynesha Foreman

Editor

Louis-Martin Paradis

Original Music

Ramachandra Borcar

Directors

Judd Tully headshot, The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons co-director

Photo by Anthony Sherin

Judd Tully

Judd Tully’s career in journalism began with the 1970s underground paper The Berkeley Barb, where he covered the politically-charged trials of the Soledad Brothers, George Jackson, and Angela Davis in San Francisco and Marin County. For over two decades, he was Editor-at-Large of Art & Auction Magazine. His journalism and art criticism has appeared in Flash Art, ARTnews, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Art Newspaper, as well as his blog juddtully.net.

Harold Crooks

Photo by Medrie Macphee

Harold Crooks

Harold Crooks’ The Price We Pay premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was voted Best Canadian Documentary in 2014 by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. He co-directed Surviving Progress (2011), which premiered at TIFF and was screened at Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. His film writing credits include The Gig Is Up (2021), and Sundance and TIFF Audience Award winner The Corporation (2003), whose narration he co-wrote with director Mark Achbar.

Filmography: Surviving Progress (2011); The Price We Pay (2014)