NEW YORK, NY.- Film Forum will present the New York theatrical premiere of OUR CITY DREAMS, a new documentary by Chiara Clemente, beginning Wednesday, February 4. Its an affecting love letter to the city which strings together the self-told narratives of five women artists (ages 30 80), each of whom has a passion for art-making inseparable from her devotion to New York . Swoon, the youngest, exhibits cut-outs directly on city walls and subways, and exudes idealism and energy while carrying a two by four the way some women would carry a briefcase. Cairo-born Ghada Amer mixes media -- embroidering with painting -- to confront sexual taboos that cross cultural boundaries. After experiencing the New York Dolls in San Francisco , Kiki Smith realized she needed New York s energy to create her wildly influential paintings and sculptures; Marina Abramovic, originally of Belgrade , is a performance art pioneer who often uses her own body as a canvas. And Nancy Spero returned from Paris with artist-husband Leon Golub in 1964, to meld art and activism during the Vietnam War and become, in her own words, a woman warrior.
Chiara Clemente has been making documentaries on art and artists since 2000. Her work includes THREE WORLDS: A PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO CLEMENTE and short films on Frank Gehry, Jim Dine and Brice Marden, as well as shorts commissioned by W Magazine, Saatchi and Saatchi and The New York Times.