‘Grey Gardens,’ ‘Gimme Shelter’ to be introduced at IU Cinema

Standing behind the camera, documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles has what Jean-Luc Godard calls “the eye of the poet.”

Maysles has made films about The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and traveling bible salesmen.

Beginning Thursday evening, he brings his expertise to IU to lecture and introduce four of his most celebrated films.  

Thursday night Maysles introduced two films about husband and wife Christo and Jeanne-Claude, two artists recently recognized for the 7,503 orange gates they installed for 16 days in New York City’s Central Park in 2005.

Thursday’s films, “Islands” and “Running Fence,” reveal what happened with these works behind the scenes, as Jeanne-Claude and Christo wrestle with bureaucracy and red tape to realize their artistic visions. In 1983, they surrounded 11 islands in Biscayne Bay, Miami, with 6.5 million square feet of pink woven polypropylene fabric, extending 200 feet from each island into the Bay.

“Running Fence”, completed in 1976, was an 18-foot-high fence running 24.5 miles in Sonoma and Marin Counties, Calif., eventually vanishing into the ocean.

The fence was made of 2,222,222 square feet of heavy woven white nylon fabric, strung between 2,050 steel poles.

These films, which Maysles made with his brother David, capture the temporary grace with which Christo unites nature and human construction.

Maysles will lecture at 3 p.m. Friday at the IU Cinema and will later introduce two films: “Grey Gardens” from 1976 and “Gimme Shelter” from 1970. The films will be shown at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., respectively.

“Grey Gardens” has risen to near-cult status throughout the years, with its portrayal of Big and Little Edie Beale, two Hamptons socialites living in squalor.

“Gimme Shelter” is equally iconic, showing the backstage lives of the Rolling Stones’ band members with camerawork which became a trademark of Maysles’ cinéma vérité, or direct cinema, style.

Maysles continues to make films, with three documentaries currently in production.