Canadian Premiere
Known for their innovative use of light and shadow while imbuing psychological realism into classical scenes of intense religious and violent drama, Caravaggio’s paintings still feel as fresh and vivid today as they did four hundred years ago. In the latest from Exhibition on Screen (Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers), co-directors David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky shed light not only on Caravaggio’s paintings, but his life, often kept half-hidden in the same chiaroscuro tones he shaded his masterpieces with.
An immersive biography chronologically following Caravaggio’s volatile life, Caravaggio seeks to understand the depth of the artist’s work by intertwining his artistic and personal development. We’re guided not only by art historians, critics, and curators, but by a delightfully dramatized Caravaggio who narrates the film. This blend of thoughtful analysis with realized version of the famously violent and mercurial artist provides an imaginary window into his inner world, emphasizing the sheer power of his life and art through the ages.
Oct 3 & 4: Q&A
Missed it at VIFF? Catch it at the VIFF Centre after the festival.
Presented by
Media Partner
Jack Bannell
UK
2025
English
Book Tickets
Credits & Director
Producer
Phil Grabsky, Amanda Wilkie
Screenwriter
David Bickerstaff, Phil Grabsky
Editor
David Bickerstaff
Original Music
Simon Farmer
David Bickerstaff
David Bickerstaff is an award-winning filmmaker and artist, and founder of Atomictv — a platform for digital art and collaborations. His documentaries and installations have screened internationally at MoMA, Vitra Museum, and others. He directs artist films for Art360 Foundation (since 2016) and Exhibition on Screen (since 2011). He is also Creative Director at NewAngle Productions.
Filmography: Heavy Water: A Film for Chernobyl (2006); Making War Horse (2009); Vincent Van Gogh – A New Way of Seeing (2015); Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse (2016); The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (2016); Van Gogh: Poets & Lovers (2024)
Phil Grabsky
Filmography: In Search of Beethoven (2009); Vincent Van Gogh – A New Way of Seeing (2015); The Impressionists (2015); Renoir: Revered and Reviled (2016); Leonardo: The Works (2019); Easter in Art (2020)
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