Skip to main content
John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger film image; cameraman filming a painted portrait

John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger

Portraits

This event has passed

Canadian Premiere

The latest in the popular Exhibition on Screen series, John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger provides new insight into one of America’s most beloved painters. Known for his incandescent portraits of the upper echelons of high society, Sargent possessed the ability to capture the essence and soul of a person, producing some of the most memorable portraits ever created. Filmed in conjunction with twin blockbuster shows at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Tate Gallery in London, this allows a detailed look at his masterworks alongside the wardrobes that have been preserved, allowing us to see how Sargent rendered each fold and gather with his brushstrokes.

The film also highlights other important aspects of his work, like his large-scale murals in Boston, and explores his artistic influences, placing his painting within the context of art history and haute couture. Director David Bickerstaff gathers art historians, curators, artists, and fashion experts to illuminate the intersection of art, fashion, and society, and invites us to arrive at a new appreciation for this master of portraiture and light.

 

Sept 28 & 30: Q&A with producer Phil Grabsky

 

Presented by

Media Partner

Director
Credits
Country of Origin

UK

Year

2024

Language

English

Film Contact
Links
Content Warning

Nudity

G

Open to youth!

93 min
Art, Music & Photography Documentary
Exhibition on Screen, Seventh Art Productions

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Executive Producer

Phil Grabsky

Producer

Phil Grabsky

Screenwriter

David Bickerstaff, Phil Grabsky

Cinematography

David Bickerstaff, Joshua Csehak, Phil Grabsky, Hugh Hood

Editor

David Bickerstaff

Original Music

Asa Bennett

David Bickerstaff headshot; John Singer Sargent: Fashion & Swagger director

David Bickerstaff

David Bickerstaff is an artist, award-winning filmmaker, and BAFTA member who founded AtomicTV in 1997. His work has been showcased internationally at venues like the Wellcome Collection and the documentary fortnight at the Museum of Modern Art New York. He directs short artist documentaries for Art360 Foundation and collaborates with producer Phil Grabsky at Exhibition on Screen, creating acclaimed features on artists like Van Gogh and Michelangelo. As Creative Director at NewAngle Productions, David designs video installations for institutions including the Royal Collection Trust and the British Museum.

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

Short Forum 1: The Scarier One
Object of Riddle film image; a disproportionate metal face

Short Forum 1: The Scarier One

93 min

The return of scary: fear in all its chilling, suspenseful, and unsettling shades.

International Village 8

That Shadow Fading

Dir. Samuel Urbina
76 min

Samuel Urbina's feature debut is a quiet, deeply affecting mother and son drama following Sol, a single mother about to become an empty nester as her son Junior prepares to move to Lima upon graduating college.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York
The Only Living Pickpocket in New York film image; man walking down a city street

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

Dir. Noah Segan
88 min

A career thief’s circumstances grow desperate when he fences valuable merchandise stolen from a vengeful crime family. John Turturro is exquisite as a wiseacre who is typically one step ahead of everyone but now finds himself behind the eight ball.

Vancouver Playhouse The Rio Theatre

Gabin

Dir. Maxence Voiseux
105 min

Filmed over 10 years, Gabin follows Gabin Jourdel from age 8 to 18 and the animals, schoolwork, chores, and imagined futures that define his youth. As he grows, his adolescence becomes a question of inheritance and choosing one’s own future.

International Village 10

Frank & Louis

Dir. Petra Volpe
95 min

In a bid to increase his changes at parole, Frank joins an initiative where long-term inmates care for aging prisoners suffering from dementia. But when he meets the elderly Louis, it puts his own predicament into perspective.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only
Iron Boy
Iron Boy film image; 2D animated boy looking at clouds

Iron Boy

Dir. Louis Clichy
90 min

Iron Boy, a hand-painted animated feature, follows a hardworking preteen farm boy and his sublime flights of fancy as he faces the earthshaking upheavals of growing up in an iron back brace. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes 2026.

Image: © Eddy Cinema, Beside Productions, Regular Production, France 3 Cinema, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Cinéma, RTBF

Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island