Homage to Chagall

In Homage to Chagall, acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmaker Harry Rasky (Song of Leonard Cohen) coaxes artist Marc Chagall's formidable life and transcendent work onto film. This Academy Award-nominated documentary is a symphonic blending of narration by James Mason (North By Northwest), first-person recitations from Chagall's letters and poems read by Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No, Detective Story), and rare interviews with the charismatic Chagall himself as he neared his 90th birthday. Without arrogance or regret, Chagall recalls his journey from childhood in Vitebsk, Russia, to a post as Commissar in the newly formed Soviet Union, to a new life in Paris and beyond. As Chagall describes the path we see his painting transform from the somber browns and reds of his early years to the exultative detonation of color and image that characterizes his Paris work.