SERIES
Indie by Design: The Films of Production Designer Thérèse DePrez
September 1428, 2018The New York film world lost one of its most beloved creative forces last December when production designer Thérèse DePrez died of cancer at age 52. In recent years, DePrez designed such high-profile films as Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Park Chan-wook’s Stoker (starring Nicole Kidman). But it was in the 1990s that she made her mark as the production designer of choice for such ambitious and resourceful filmmakers as Tom Kalin, Todd Haynes, Gregg Araki, Tom DiCillo, Todd Solondz, Mary Harron, and John Cameron Mitchell, all boundary-breaking directors with bold imaginations and limited budgets. Frequently working on films produced by Christine Vachon, and photographed by Ellen Kuras, DePrez was responsible for creating the worlds of some of the key New York independent features of the time.
DePrez was energetic and outgoing, a consummate collaborative partner for the directors and cinematographers that she worked with. Frequent colleague John Bruce said “she worked with seasoned professionals and super-green newcomers with the same respect, grace, and care, creating an atmosphere that allowed for the emergence of a certain kind of cinema that was genuinely collective.” And while DePrez’s work was distinctive, adding greatly to the texture of the films, it never drew attention to itself. As she said in an interview for Filmmaker magazine, “When the design is really part of the whole of a film, the film is well designed. When one aspect of a film overshadows the rest, it’s a failure. A good designer will work with the other teams on a film to keep everything at the same level.”
Special thanks to Tom Kalin and John Bruce.
Swoon (with Tom Kalin in person)
Friday, September 14, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening & Live Event
Postcards from America
Saturday, September 15, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Bartos Screening Room Screening
The Doom Generation
Saturday, September 15, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Living in Oblivion
Sunday, September 16, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Screening
I Shot Andy Warhol
Sunday, September 16, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Friday, September 21, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening & Live Event
Happiness
Saturday, September 22, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Black Swan
Sunday, September 23, 3:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Stoker
Sunday, September 23, 6:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater Screening
Summer of Sam
Friday, September 28, 7:00 p.m. Museum of the Moving Image - Redstone Theater