Due to popular demand, a second screening of Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land has been added at 9:45 PM on June 26. Advanced tickets for the 7:30 and 9:45 PM showings may be purchased online.

Join us at Anthology Film Archives for a screening of Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land, featuring an introductory conversation with Magnum photographer Josef Koudelka and the film’s director, Gilad Baram.

Koudelka follows the photographer on his journey photographing Israel and Palestine from one enigmatic and visually spectacular location to the next. In each location a scene unfolds, gradually introducing us to Koudelka’s method of working, his perception of the world he is documenting, and the people he encounters. A fascinating dialogue emerges between the moving images Baram films and Koudelka’s still photographs, as Baram places the photographer in his own breathtaking compositions. Austere images of landscapes divided by concrete walls and barbed wire reveal the tragic absurdity of the infamous conflict. Baram’s long-term documentation of the photographer in the field, together with the exclusive use of Koudelka’s photographic archive, result in a unique record that offers a rich and intimate look into the solitary creative process of one of photography’s greatest living masters.

This screening is presented in conjunction with the ICP Museum’s current exhibition, Magnum Manifesto. Co-produced by ICP and Magnum Photos, this landmark exhibition celebrates the 70th anniversary of the renowned photo agency created by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, and Chim (David Seymour) in 1947. Magnum Manifesto is on view through September 3.

Baram’s in-person engagements with this film have been generously sponsored by the Czech Center New York.

Tickets

ICP Members receive a special rate of $7 per ticket. Please present your membership card at the AFA box office when purchasing.

$11 for General Admission. Advanced tickets for the 7:30 and 9:45 PM showings may be purchased online.

See Anthology Film Archives for more information.  

About Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka, born in Moravia, made his first photographs while a student in the 1950s. About the same time that he started his career as an aeronautical engineer in 1961 he also began photographing Gypsies in Czechoslovakia and theater in Prague. He turned to photography full-time in 1967. The following year, Koudelka photographed the Soviet invasion of Prague, publishing his photographs under the initials P. P. (Prague Photographer) for fear of reprisal to him and his family. In 1969, he was anonymously awarded the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal for those photographs.

Koudelka left Czechoslovakia for political asylum in 1970 and shortly thereafter joined Magnum Photos. In 1975, he published his first book, Gypsies, and in 1988, Exiles. Since 1986, he has worked with a panoramic camera and issued a compilation of these photographs in his book Chaos in 1999. Koudelka has had more than a dozen books of his work published, including, in 2008, Invasion Prague 68.

He has won significant awards such as the Prix Nadar (1978), Grand Prix National de la Photographie (1989), Grand Prix Cartier-Bresson (1991), and the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography (1992). Significant exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the International Center of Photography, New York; the Hayward Gallery, London; the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

TOP IMAGE: Gilad Baram, Gilo Settlement overlooking Beit Jala from Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land.