7 surprising films every artist should see

Cinema and the visual arts have always been closely linked. If at first it was the seventh art that let itself be influenced by painting and sculpture, in recent decades these arts have been forced to open up to a discipline that has gained immense popularity. Although a very high percentage of the films released every weekend is a long way from our idea of “art”, there are still people who take cinema as something more than industry and pointless entertainment.

A while ago we put together a list of films that every Fine Arts student should keep in mind, and today we want to bring up 7 great titles that anyone passionate about Art —with a capital A— has to see at least once in their life.

1. "F for Fake" (1973, Orson Welles)

The greatest troublemaker in the history of classic American cinema went through absolute hell to keep getting film projects off the ground after the monumental Citizen Kane. Despite the difficulties in finding funding —shooting a film is a little more expensive than painting a picture— Welles managed to go on creating one-of-a-kind works for decades. Among them, there will always be a special place for F for Fake, a mockumentary that reflects on the art object, forgery and the influence of the mass media.

2. "Utamaro and His Five Women" (1946, Kenji Mizoguchi)

Impressionism is the most popular painting style of the contemporary age, but its origins bring together numerous influences that reach as far as Japan. This film tells the story of one of those artists who changed the way painting was seen in Europe. When Utamaro's prints arrived in Paris in the 19th century, many young painters were smitten with his style, and it became an essential part of what would later be known as Impressionism.

As well as a way into the popular 18th century Japanese ukiyo-e print, Utamaro and His Five Women is a good way to get to know the work of one of the great Japanese filmmakers in history, the man behind such fundamental films as The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum and The Life of Oharu.

3. "Hour of the Wolf" (1968, Ingmar Bergman)

Plenty of films have dealt with the madness of the artist, but none quite like this one. A painter shuts himself away on an island with his partner to devote himself entirely to his art. But no artist can isolate himself completely from his demons, which can keep haunting him even in the remotest of places. Hour of the Wolf is one of the most chilling films by the man many film lovers consider the best director in history.

4. "The Great Beauty" (2013, Paolo Sorrentino)

Sorrentino must have had a visit from the muses with this film, which won the Oscar for best non-English language film at the 2013 Oscars. The Great Beauty is about a lot of things, but its reflection on the contemporary art world and the characters who make it up is meaty. Melancholy, hilarious, moving and, above all, beautiful, this film has left four or five scenes for the history books, like the one with the little girl artist in the middle of her creative process...

5. "Andrei Rublev" (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Considered the most important icon painter in the history of Russia, Andrei Rublev's life is the subject of this film. For the average western art fan, stuck in the mud of the avant-gardes of the first half of the 20th century, it can be a breath of fresh air to discover that there is art beyond Picasso and Pollock. And besides, as in any Tarkovsky film, the visual and emotional experience is unique.

6. "Certified Copy" (2010, Abbas Kiarostami)

“A love story about love stories, about how we project our lives onto other people's lives and call that Art”. Those are the words of the critic Diego Lerer in the newspaper Clarín: we can't think of a better way to pin this film down. Certified Copy is essential viewing for anyone who loves art, life, love... and Juliette Binoche.

7. "Porco Rosso" (1992, Hayao Miyazaki)

And an animated film couldn't be missing from this list. And if we're talking animation we have to go to Japan, and if we go to Japan we have to talk about Hayao Miyazaki, creator of the famous Ghibli studio and the man behind films that left a mark on several generations of children and not so children both in Japan and in the rest of the world. In Porco Rosso, a brilliant script and a unique look go hand in hand to create a work that goes beyond the cinema screen: don't you wish life were like a Miyazaki film?