High Art

NewFest’s Opening Night Film in 1998 and winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Prize at Sundance, this enduring debut feature from Academy Award nominee Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) is an evocative portrait of ambition, addiction, and passion in 90s New York.

Idle fascination blooms into intense connection when aspiring magazine editor Syd (Radha Mitchell) discovers her upstairs neighbor is Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy), a renowned yet reclusive photographer. As complex emotions and creative forces ignite, Syd lures Lucy out of early retirement when they begin an artistic collaboration. Syd and Lucy fervently fall deeper into each other’s aesthetic aims while manifesting their growing human desires, much to the chagrin of Lucy’s oft-drug-addled German actress girlfriend Greta (Patricia Clarkson).

This is a must see opportunity to experience High Art’s entrancing qualities and celebrate the legacy of a cultural touchstone of queer cinema in a gorgeous new restoration.

Digitally restored by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute from the 35mm original picture negative and DA-88 tapes. Funding provided by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Frameline, Sundance Institute, UCLA Film & Television Archive. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Red Hook Post, Monkeyland Audio.

Queering the Canon: So Obsessed is presented in partnership with NewFest

Join us for a Q&A with writer/director Lisa Cholodenko following the screening