Film Screening: Buena Vista Social Club
A special screening in support of the exhibition "Terry O'Neill, Stars"
About the event
With a small film crew, Wim Wenders accompanied his old friend Ry Cooder, who had written the music for Paris, Texas and The End of Violence on a trip to Havana. Cooder wanted to record his material for Ibrahim Ferrer’s solo album at a studio there—following the recording of the first Buena Vista Social Club CD (which had not yet been released at that time).
Wenders immersed himself in the world of Cuban music. Over the course of several months, he observed and accompanied the musicians—first at home in Havana; then, weeks later, in April 1998, on their trip to Amsterdam for the first public performance of the band (who had never played together outside a studio); then, still later, in July 1998, to their triumphal concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. He thus followed the old heroes of the traditional Cuban son music on their path from being completely forgotten to becoming world famous—within the period of just a few months. “I thought, I’ll shoot a documentary,” Wenders has said, “and here we were, about to witness a fairy tale that no one could have imagined in this form.”
The music documentary became a cinematic sensation and an international success. Along with an Academy Award nomination for best documentary film, Buena Vista Social Club won in the same category at the European Film Awards, the German Film Prize in Gold, Germany’s Golden Camera, and the Grand Prize for Film in Brazil, as well as garnering numerous other awards.
Runtime: 105 minutes
Movies were integral to Terry O’Neill’s life both personally and professionally. He grew up in post-war London where radio and two black-and-white TV channels were the only entertainment available, unless you could afford the cinema and dance halls. However, as his career exploded and Hollywood came calling for his services on set, Terry said “I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.” Suddenly, he was on the set of Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, or the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby Road movies. He was quickly offered the opportunity to photograph the first Bond movies and of course, being on set with stars who had become close friends, like Sean Connery, gave him and his camera a front row seat to fame. Invariably it was his friends, such as Paul Newman or Frank Sinatra who would call on O’Neill.
Screening rights courtesy Janus Films. Founded in 1956, Janus Films was the first theatrical distribution company dedicated to bringing international art-house films to U.S. audiences.
More Summer Screenings (Every Wednesday at 7 PM!)
July 12th: Mona Lisa (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/events/film-screening-mona-lisa/)
July 19th: A Hard Day’s Night (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/events/film-screening-a-hard-days-night/)
July 26th: Buena Vista Social Club (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/events/film-screening-buena-vista-social-club/)
August 2nd: L’Avventura (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/?post_type=events&p=11376&preview=true)
August 9th: 8 1/2 (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/?post_type=events&p=11384&preview=true)
August 16th: The Comfort Of Strangers (https://www.fotografiska.com/nyc/?post_type=events&p=11392&preview=true)
All event tickets include museum admission to experience our exhibitions on view: Terry O’Neill, Stars, Prix Pictet: Fire, and For Freedoms: Listen Until You Hear.