Premiered as part of Art21 at the Movies | "Westermann lived a life destined for the documentary screen." - Chicago Reader
Veterans • Art & Sculpture • Healing from PTSD • WWII & The Korean WarDate of Completion: 2023 | Run Time: 91 minutes | Language: English | Captions: Yes | Includes: Transcript | Writer/Director: Leslie Buchbinder | Producers: Leslie Buchbinder, Brian Ashby & Harrison Sherrod | Executive Producers: KAWS & Caryn Capotosto | Editor: Brian Ashby
WESTERMANN: MEMORIAL TO THE IDEA OF MAN IF HE WAS AN IDEA is a 3D documentary film about the life and work of artist, marine, and acrobat H.C. (Cliff) Westermann. As a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, Westermann’s dramatic personal history can be traced through beguiling, surreal artworks he made to process the horrors he witnessed on the front lines. In so doing, he became an inspiration for many young artists. The film reveals ways in which Westermann protected his empathic spirit – and sanity – by ‘sculpting’ his body, artworks, friendships, his hand-hewn house, and his art-filled letters to his dearest friends and family. Our documentary explores themes of resiliency, hope, and humor with a script culled from over a thousand of Westermann’s letters and one audio-interview – voiced by four-time Academy-Award nominee Ed Harris. WESTERMANN: MEMORIAL TO THE IDEA OF MAN IF HE WAS AN IDEA was conceived and directed by Leslie Buchbinder, featuring interviews with Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, William T. Wiley, Billy Al Bengston, and other artist-pals, along with his beloved sister, Martha Westermann Renner. The film is executive produced by the internationally acclaimed artist, KAWS, along with award-winning documentary producer Caryn Capotosto, whose prior projects include Won’t You Be My Neighbor and Best of Enemies. WESTERMANN features music by legendary artists Laurie Anderson (with the Kronos Quartet) and Terry Allen; Tomeka Reid, MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner, composed the original score.
Westermann is available to screen in both 3-D and 2-D. For more information about facilitating a 3-D screening, please contact: harrison@pentimentiproductions.org
Chicago Reader
"Westermann lived a life destined for the documentary screen."
Frank Gehry during Hammer Museum post-screening discussion
“Staggeringly powerful; mind-blowing”
Art Report Today
“[Westermann’s] hand-carved wooden sculptures pop off cinema screens.”
New York Sun | Mario Naves
“The true star of ‘Westermann: Memorial to the Idea of Man If He Was an Idea’ is not its subject, the artist H.C. Westermann (1922-81), but its director, Leslie Buchbinder.”
Art Newspaper
“The details provided by [Westermann’s] letters and the heartfelt interviews with his family and friends (famous and otherwise), coupled with the 3D focus on his handcrafted objects, here provide a unique kind of intimacy with the subject.”
Document | Tina Kukielski, Art21 Executive Director
“Like Pina, the category-defying artistry of H.C. Westermann lends itself to the expanded medium of 3D. Westermann’s personalized handcrafted sculptural assemblages come to life on screen. With a voiceover by Ed Harris, the film reveals how the tragedies of war find something close to resolution in the polished surfaces of Westermann’s surrealist and anthropomorphized totems.”
Art Net
“A star-studded ensemble”
Documentary Magazine
“Westermann, [was] a marine veteran whose anti-war stance and social commentary are humorously transformed in his art practice, and who influenced a generation of renowned artists.”
Time Out LA
“Recommended ✓”
HoloFiles | By George Bate & Josh Reilly B.
“Explores Westermann’s work, its novel insightful into psychological trauma, its impact on generations of artists, conceptions of masculinity, hope, resiliency, and more.”
Curate LA
“Extraordinary”
AWARDS
Runner-Up, Best Documentary Feature | Veteran's Film Festival
SCREENINGS
Hammer Museum at UCLA
The Art Institute of Chicago
Art21 at the Movies