The Mystery of Picasso

press release: France | 78 min | NR | DCP | Dir. Henri Georges-Clouzot

In 1955, Clouzot joined forces with his friend Picasso to make an entirely new kind of art film — a film that could capture the moment and the mystery of creativity. Together, they devised an innovative technique — the filmmaker placed his camera behind a semi-transparent surface on which the artist drew with special inks that bled through. Clouzot thus captured a perfect reverse image of Picasso’s brushstrokes and the motion picture screen itself becomes the artist’s canvas.

“The film is about poetry and we feel overwhelmed by it … A work by

Picasso created before our very eyes!” - François Truffaut (Cahiers du Cinéma)