Alex Rappoport Talks About His Latest Documentary ‘With Peter Bradley‘ screening at Slamdance Festival in Park City, UT.
Peter Bradley had his own renaissance in his late 70s. During the 1970s, Bradley was known for his abstract artwork in New York, that fell out of vogue, yet true grit, determination and a desire to create helped reestablish Peter Bradley as a sought after artist nearly half a century later.
Bradley became the subject of documentarian Alex Rappoport’s film ‘With Peter Bradley‘ which screens twice at Slamdance Festival. Rappoport met Bradley, who lives in the same town through a mutual friend and the two struck up a conversation that lead to the documentary being made over several years during Covid.
Bradley had never given up on being an artist and through his perseverance continued to paint after all these years.
At one point, Bradley, who was financially struggling has recaptured the heart of the art community and no longer has to worry about selling his next painting as he had already been creating. They say luck is when opportunity and readiness meet and Peter Bradley is the luckiest man in the Northeastern United States.
Official Synopsis: With Peter Bradley
Slamdance Competition Documentary Feature Film
About the Film: “With Peter Bradley” is a documentary celebrating artmaking, resilience, and the creative contributions of Black artists to American life. This timely and poignant narrative is unapologetically raw, tender, and emotional as it follows extraordinary trailblazer Peter Bradley. Audiences experience the artists life in real time, interwoven with stills, interviews, and additional striking visual imagery, telling a rags-to-riches to rags-and-back-again story of a truly iconic and innovative artist. Forging a career and reputation in the face of systemic racism in society and the art world in particular, Peter Bradley built an incredible resumé before the age of 35: the first Black art dealer on Madison Avenue (at the prestigious Perls Galleries); and curator of what is considered the first racially integrated modern art show in America (The DeLuxe Show in Houston). “With Peter Bradley” delivers amazing insight into a truly unique creative mind as the film explores Bradley’s innovative methods of applying paint to canvas, inspired by nature and the colorful flowers he tends daily in his garden and greenhouse.
*The film features an original live jazz combo score by the Javon Jackson Quintet.*
Logline: 79 years old and overlooked since the 1970s, abstract artist Peter Bradley reflects on life and shares his artistic process on the cusp of his rediscovery.
Filmmaking Team: Director, Cinematographer, Editor & Producer Alex Rappoport (“Larry Kramer in Love And Anger,” “In The Shadow of The Towers: Stuyvesant Hugh on 9/11”), Composer Javon Jackson (“Malcolm X,” “The Last Time I Committed Suicide”), Executive Producers Adger Cowans (“The legacy Project”), and Robina Riccitiello (“Later Bloomers,” “Soft and Quiet”), Consulting Producers Diane Kolyer (“A Letter to Elia,” “We Are the Dream: the Kids of the Oaklan MLK Oratorical Fest”), and Beth Levison (“Lemon,” “ Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present”), and Grammy winning Music Supervisor Ed Gerrard (“Scream,” “Miles Ahead”).
Running Time: 86 Minutes
Slamdance Screening Times:
Location: Slamdance Film Festival Headquarters
Treasure Mountain Inn
255 Main St.
Park City, UT
Premiere: Sunday, January 22nd at 12:45pm **Full reviews embargoed until after premiere**
Second Screening: Tuesday, January 24th at 5:30pm
