Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary. Stay for the post film discussion. In 1950s and ‘60s Chicago, an enigmatic nanny moonlighted as a street photographer. Her remarkable images, which were never exhibited, were discovered by director Maloof, who began to investigate her but discovered little. When he posted her photos, a “star” was born. Framed as a riddle to be solved, this absorbing film is partly a meditation on who gets to sanctify work as art, and why. It’s also the story of a single woman who found freedom and her voice. USA, 2014, 83 minutes, documentary
After the film, stay for a discussion with Kenneth Jay Linsner, director of Art Services Group (ASG), offering a range of appraisal, conservation, and litigation support for works of art. Past president of the American Society of Appraisers, Mr. Linsner has for 30 years provided counsel to the Rockefeller, Kennedy, and Mars families, among other distinguished clients. The discussion will be moderated by Lynn Stein, Artistic Director of Rockland Center for the Arts.
“Maier is a great artist who discounted adulation entirely. Her life was a masquerade; her genius, quite literally, was unexposed. . . .”
– Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
“It’s a big puzzle that the filmmakers piece together in an intriguing and engrossing way.” – Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times
“Maier’s images are truly stunning—vivid documents of the working class that are off-the-cuff yet rigorously composed, always capturing that enigmatic bit of her subject’s soul that leaves you in spine-tingled awe.” – Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
“More connect-the-dots detective thriller than traditional doc, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s revelatory riddle of a film unmasks a brilliant photographer who hid in plain sight for decades working as an eccentric French nanny.” – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
