Documentary Film to Tell the Story of Magnum’s Peek into Cinema

Last Updated on 10/23/2017 by Chris Gampat

Screenshot image from the video by FilmStruck’s Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum

While elite photo agency Magnum is recognized as the forerunner of modern documentary photography and photojournalism, its legendary photographers have also taken some of the most enduring pictures of cinema. A documentary film exploring Magnum’s surprising snaps of the movie world will premiere exclusively on film streaming service FilmStruck.

Beginning on October 20th, Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum will be streaming on FilmStruck and making its U.S. and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) premiere. The documentary, directed by Sophie Bassaler, was also screened in this year’s Telluride Film Festival. Photography enthusiasts and cinema fans alike will surely find this documentary film worth a watch, as we can see in a preview below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSlxS3Bgc8

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum promises to give us an interesting peek into the mostly unseen, unknown parts of Magnum’s 70-year-long legacy. Instead of war zones, conflict areas, and social documentaries, we’ll see the agency’s most iconic photographers focus on movie sets, celebrities, and make-believe stories in the making. Among the interesting stories in the documentary film include Magnum’s first foray into the world of cinema, when its founder Robert Capa took photos of Ingrid Bergman on the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious. Eve Arnold’s intimate relationship with Marilyn Monroe and Paolo Pellegrin’s portraits of Kate Winslet will also be featured in the documentary.

To help paint the story of the meeting of two opposite worlds, the film sought original and unseen accounts and interviews, including Bergman’s daughter Isabella Rossellini.

Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum is also part of a curated bundle that includes:

• Instants of Cinema, a collection of six-minute long shorts each featuring a different Magnum photographer; and
• The Misfits and Voyage to Italy, both films referenced in the documentary.

Check out the FilmStruck website to learn more about Cinema Through the Eye of Magnum and explore their extensive selection of films.