Fest Pt. 2 (Art)

More from my film festival files, in which our heroine - me - screens more recent documentaries here, there and everywhere.

While at the Newport Beach Film Festival last month, I screened The Great Contemporary Art Bubble, which follows London art critic Ben Lewis as he investigates the activities that led to the art market collapse in tandem with the world econmonic crisis. He suggests that the credit boom, along with artificial inflation of auction prices and backroom deals by galleries, auction houses, artists and collectors, sent prices into the stratosphere at record levels in the last ten years - and they had nowhere to go but down. This intriguing yet sometimes quirky film explores the habits of the uber-rich art community and how their activities affected the markets as a whole. It's like a very special episode of "Dynasty" from the '80s.

It's also not the only recent documentary suggesting that the art world is actually kind of creepy. I recently screened Don Argott's The Art of the Steal, which I missed at the Palm Springs International Film Festival earlier this year (only because I couldn't drag myself out of bed in time to drive down there), but caught at a local theater last month.

This provocative film chronicles one the most long-standing art world controversies, concerning the priceless art collection cherished (or held captive, depending on which side you fall on) within the walls of the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania. The self-made Dr. Albert C. Barnes collected an unbelievable trove of master works in his lifetime, with the intent that they be used for intimate study - not mass public exhibition, the likes of which he abhorred in the nearby Philadelphia Museum of Art with its elite Main Line benefactors. Unfortunately, Dr. Barnes didn't have the best foresight and between his sudden death, restrictive estate instructions, revolving door of governance issues, and ultimately some suggested high-stakes collusion, his beloved art collection is now set to end up exactly the way he didn't want - in the hands of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The film is heavily skewed but serves as another compelling reminder that while money can't buy you love, it can buy you some art.

And support your (my) documentary film habit.