Gerard Amsellem: Film Moderator
Gerard has been an educator for 20 years. When he started La Cinémathèque in 2011, he was fulfilling a lifelong goal of bringing quality film education to his community. Since then, La Cinémathèque has grown to be a community mainstay through which he has hosted several series on film and its history. He has also organized events with other local institutions across northern New Jersey. Today, he continues to expand La Cinémathèque with an ever-widening array of series themes, and he hopes to partner with more local groups and institutions as a guest lecturer.
Gerard has spoken across northern NJ on a wide range of topics within film, film history, and identity. His recent series have included:
Indian Film (2020, SOPAC)
Latin American Film (2019, SOPAC)
Cannes Palme d’Or Winners (2018-2019, SOPL)
Chinese Film (2019, SOPAC)
Northern European Film (2018, SOPAC/SOPL)
Women Film Directors (2017-2018, SOPAC/SOPL)
To see more, download a complete resume of Gerard's film lecturing experience. (coming soon)
To see press about Gerard Amsellem, please click here.
Inquiries: To book Gerard or to speak with him about an idea for an event, click here.
Book Today for Gerard to speak to your group or class!
Reach out using the form below or by calling or emailing (contact info in the graphic to the right) and we will be in touch with you to organize the educational film event you need!
“The foreign film series run by Gerard is a wonderful gift for everyone who loves movies, and who never before felt comfortable watching foreign films until Gerard’s screening lectures. Gerard shares his expertise with the audience by giving us insight into the film, stars, and director. It is always a special evening for movie lovers!”
“Thank you for raising our awareness of the art of film and engaging audiences with your analysis of the great cinema auteurs.”
To offer a testimonial of Gerard Amsellem or La Cinémathèque Film Club, please contact us.
Post-Production
“To make a documentary on Bernard Réquichot has long been one of my most precious projects.”
Bernard Réquichot is a painter known by few outside of France, despite his striking and emotional art. His work has long been a source of inspiration and awe for Gerard Amsellem. Currently, Gerard is engaged in creating a documentary on this unique artist, his work, his life, and his death.
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Gallery
2013
Based on Herman Melville's short story, "Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street", Gerard Amsellem's short film Bartleby tells the story of a man who, quite simply, "would prefer not to". His small act of defiance upsets the delicate balance in the quiet office in which he works.
Released on January 30, 2013, the film has since received numerous accolades. Bartleby was awarded a Director's Citation by the Black Maria Film Festival and made an Official Selection of the Garden State Film Festival, the Twin Rivers Film Festival in Asheville, NC, and the SOMA Film Festival.
Production
As humans, we explore, research, make technical and scientific discoveries for a better life in a better world. But when we speak about subjects like love and death, we know so little. Why? Are these subjects taboo? Are emotions too private? Can we share our intimate thoughts on these matters? What is love? What can we do to progress in our understanding of life?
These are the questions filmmaker Gerard Amsellem poses throughout his extensive and personal documentary The Eternal Question. Gerard has spent years curating interviews in an attempt to uncover the truth about falling in love, an intimately private experience that is also a quintessentially human. If you would like to be a part of this exciting project, please get in touch!
Pre-Production
After the sudden death of his older brother, a straight-laced teacher turns his life upside down and embarks on an urgent journey to validate his brother's life and, ultimately, his own.
Discover more about the Visual Passion Duo at their website.
Artists Mikel Frank and Gerard Amsellem met in 2010 at the grand opening of GAS Gallery and Studio in Maplewood, NJ, and decided to collaborate together soon after. They established a deep bond as a result of philosophical discussions about death, specifically the passing of loved ones. Gerard had lost his brother to cancer and Mikel had lost his father to the same horrible disease.
During the course of their collaboration, they have created many works, notable among which is “The Passing.” This painting was their first large scale public “performance” painting, measuring 15 feet wide by 7.5 feet high. It was created in one day at GAS Gallery and Studio on April 23, 2011.
The Visual Passion Duo came about after Gerard and Mikel created a multi-media, interactive art extravaganza in July 2012 at 1978 Maplewood Arts Center called Visual Passion: On Love. In 2013 the Duo was invited to exhibit at The Herb & Milly Iris Gallery at South Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ. That same year Mikel and Gerard did a live painting demonstration in conjunction with the South Orange/Maplewood Artists Studio Tour at The Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ. In 2014-15 they were invited to exhibit and paint live at MICA: Then and Now, a two-part exhibition, which made its debut at the Ethan Cohen Gallery in Chelsea and simultaneously at The KuBe in Beacon, NY. In 2015 Gerard and Mikel exhibited and performed with the ETHEL Quartet at The Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville, NJ in conjunction with MICA: Then and Now, part 2. That same year The Visual Passion Duo was asked to be the featured artists at Maplewood Memorial Library for the Ideas Festival. In 2016 they were invited back to exhibit once again in Maplewood Memorial Library's Art Gallery, and that same year they were asked to do a live performance piece at Maplewood's Gallery 1978 in conjunction with Off the Shelf: A Tribute to June Cater.
Besides his work with Visual Passion, Gerard is always hard at work at new paintings, collages, and three-dimensional pieces. Here are a few photos from his studio of works in progress.
2011
“Creativity is a pure attempt to feel the emptiness, the void and the loss inside.”
I write
I scream
Je crie
J’écris
February 7, 2011, would have been my brother’s 58th birthday. For the past two years I commemorated his birthday by expressing the void he left in my life through my creations. The first show was in 2009 and it was called 7 Stars from You, 7 Stars to You. In that show I exhibited 7 of my stars and 7 of his stars. The second show was in 2010 and was a series of my paintings before and after his death.
This show is an expression of the void he left in my life.
The title is: J’écris, je crie, I Write, I Scream.
My brother was a painter, a writer and a conceptual artist. He loved to play with words not unlike the title I chose for this show.
I created three canvases which was inspired by his creativity, his presence and absence.
On one wall you will see my canvases with writings about my feelings.
These writings are my scream which express my difficulty in accepting that he is not here.
On the opposite wall you will see some of my brother’s work.
In the last few years of his life we had wanted to create a show together. This current show is the essence of our combined work.
This is it ...and I scream for his absence
To my brother
For my brother
2010
"Today my brother would have been 57 years old. Last year I showed 7 stars by him and I created 7 stars for him. From me to him. That was our first show together. This year I chose to show the paintings I did before and after his death. In my eulogy of him, I said that I would represent the continuation of his creativity and his contribution to the world.
There are 20 paintings, pastels, mixed media on wood or acrylic on canvas in this show.
13 from before his death.
7 completed after his death.
The first 13 paintings were created while he was still alive when we discussed having a show together, the last 7 are works that I produced after his death. The impact of his absence on my paintings, my grief and pain are in my paintings.
BEFORE
From the Inside is the name of the series from before his death.
From the inside comes the strength, the passion, and the impossible which is without definition until the end.
Each person contributes to the world vibrations and the sum of their inner experience. By going inside we explore our self-image, our being, and our view of the world.
Unleash everything, express without limit, scream with all your being.
AFTER
From The Higher Side is the name of the series of 7 paintings completed after his death.
When I feel what is not there anymore I replace it with a vision beyond human existence. I look at the sky, the water, the trees and I feel my brother’s soul in my paintings.
Quiet, peaceful with a trace of infinity. To his soul with all of me.
To my brother, to his paintings, to my family, to creation and endlessness."
February 7, 2010
2009
7 STARS FROM YOU
7 STARS TO YOU
FROM MY BROTHER
TO MY BROTHER
7 ÉTOILES DE TOI
7 ÉTOILES POUR TOI
DE MON FRÈRE
POUR MON FRÈRE
“Today is February 7, 2009. It is my brother’s birthday. He passed away 19 months ago. He would have been 56 years old today. He died when he was 54 years old. In a few months I will turn 54 and will have lived longer than he.
I will have outlived him.
Our lives were connected through a great relationship made stronger by painting and by exploring artistic visions. We always had a plan to show some of our works together and as it turns out, this is our first exhibition together.
It’s a story of two lives and a deeper connection than anything else life can bring.
When he disappeared I understood that I had to continue our planned project and integrate my work and his work as one. This is our first common show and a commemoration of his work and life.
In this show I take one group of his work of seven stars because seven is his number and his birth date. I offer seven of my stars based on our world, his absence, what he left and what I will continue without him.
Under the stars from the sky we are together
Under the universe
The sun
The life
And expression
To my brother Alain.”
2005-2010
Paintings and 3-D artwork from 2005-2010.
Prints and originals available for purchase through button below.
Click any photo to see it full-size.
