The Eyes of William Klein March 7-13 at the Quad

The Quad celebrates the diverse cinematic oeuvre of groundbreaking photographer turned filmmaker William Klein, from his nonfiction portraits to his narrative satires and beyond

First garnering attention as a sculptor in Paris after World War II, New York’s own William Klein rose to art stardom in the 1950s as a photographer, shooting groundbreaking fashion spreads for Vogue and publishing the gritty street-level collection Life is Good & Good for You in New York, one of the definitive photographic records of his hometown. By the end of the ’50s, Klein made the logical leap to the moving image, documenting the lights of Times Square in the Pop Art masterpiece Broadway by Light and returning to France for the fashion world send-up Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, aligning himself with the Left Bank filmmakers in the process. (And even providing the English narration to Chris Marker’s La Jetée.) Klein once remarked he had “one American eye and one European eye,” and his exceptional films are marked by this duality, moving between continents and modes, going from delirious satires to stunningly intimate nonfiction portraits (of Eldridge Cleaver, Muhammad Ali, and more). On the eve of Klein’s 90th birthday, the Quad is thrilled to celebrate the utterly singular, hugely influential work of this living legend.

Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther 1970, Algeria/France, 73m, 35mm
Far From Vietnam William Klein, Joris Ivens, Claude Lelouch, Agnès Varda, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker and Alain Resnais, 1967, 115m, France, DCP
The French 1982, France, 130m, 16mm
In & Out of Fashion 1998, 88m, France, DCP
Mister Freedom 1968, France, 95m, 35mm
May Days (Grands soirs et petits matins) 1978, France, 98m, DCP
Messiah 1999, France, 117m, DCP
The Model Couple 1977, Switzerland/France, 101m, 35mm
Mode En France 1984, France, 84m, 35mm
Muhammad Ali, The Greatest 1969, 94m, France, DCP
The Pan-African Festival of Algiers 1969, France, 110m, DCP
Screening with:
Contacts, 1983, France,15m,16mm & Slow Motion, 1984, France, 30m, 16mm
Who Are You, Polly Maggoo? 1966, France, 101m, 35mm
Screening with:
Broadway by Light, 1958, Switzerland, 12m, 35mm
*Zazie dans le Métro Louis Malle, 1960, France, 93m, 35mm
Screening with:
La Jetée, Chris Marker, 1962, France, 28m, 35mm

*Featuring Klein's iconic art direction