Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank

Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank

Saturday, April 14, 2022
6-7:30pm CST At IPHF
3415 Olive St, St. Louis, MO

Completed in 2004, Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank was the first ever feature-length documentary about the legendary Swiss-American photographer and filmmaker. Originally deemed too personal to be shown widely, the film was authorized by Frank for theatrical release shortly before his death in 2019.

Shot in cinema-verité style between New York and Nova Scotia, where Frank now lives, the film captures Frank reflecting on a lifetime of image making that most famously produced “The Americans,” probably the most influential photographic book of the last sixty years. From the Lower East Side to Coney Island, Frank revisits places where he lived and photographed, unsentimentally yet humorously noting the erosion of the New York. He recalls his collaborations with the Beat generation, including his film Pull my Daisy, narrated by Jack Kerouac, as well as his infamous Cocksucker Blues with The Rolling Stones. Affectionate conversations with Frank’s second wife, the vibrant artist June Leaf, reveal decades of closeness, creative exchange and support through the intense tragedies of Frank’s life. In rare moments of vulnerability, Frank speaks movingly about these tragedies and his attempts to cope through his deeply personal photography and films. Unembellished and unflinching, this portrait captures the life and art of one of the most significant and uncompromising artists of the 20th century.

Released 2019, Runtime: 1 hour 25 min, Not Rated

Image: © Robert Frank

This is an In Person event at the International Photography Hall of Fame

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