Finding Vivian Maier. An excellent documentary for those who love photography. I screamed (really loud) when I saw that the DVD was available through Netflix. The film has been nominated for several awards and yet another one tonight.
Finding Vivian Maier is up for an Oscar, in the Documentary Feature category, at the 87th Annual Award Ceremony. Take a moment to view the trailer if you already haven’t.
A couple of my photo enthusiast friends recommended it to me. There were some live screenings in the Quad Cities, but my work schedule never matched up. I knew nothing about it, except for the fact that the subject was photography. That one word is all it took to get my attention. Little did I know that I would be getting so much more. There are moments of inspiration, sadness, and silence. I don’t want to give away to much about the film therefore leaving some elements of surprise for you to discover on your own.
The DVD sleeve reads…When longtime nanny Vivian Maier died in 2009, she left behind thousands of photo negatives that she’d produced over the years. But the now-famous shutterbug’s unique body of work lay in storage until an amateur historian uncovered the trove.
My boyfriend and I planned a movie night, turned on the surround sound, and enjoyed some popcorn. I was glued to the screen and his review was good as well. To read more about Vivian and her work click here.
The bad news. There is an ongoing legal battle over Vivian’s work. It’s quite sad actually. Read more about it here. John Maloof bought one of her storage boxes at an auction. He’s dedicated years (and hours) of research into this mysterious nanny. The most current article that I found was from the Chicago Tribune and it states that John has put any future plans of distribution on hold. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.
Until then I will enjoy this book I received for Christmas. Highly recommended if your into street photography. And I have high hopes that there will be more books.
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