The life of Jerome Hill corresponded with the first seven decades of cinema and a greater part of the 20th century. Through fragments of Hill’s painted, surrealistic, and documentary films, this
autobiographical work explores the years during which he was developing as a young man and an artist. Insights into his childhood in the St. Paul home of James J. Hill, his creative life in New York, and his guest-filled house in France shape a beautiful and aesthetically complete documentary of one man’s view of art in society, expressed through a very telling mix of emotional filters. As critic/filmmaker Jonas Mekas notes, “Since the period dealt with in this film coincides with the development of cinema as a young art, and the development of the avant-garde film as a form of cinema, Film Portrait becomes also a film about the art of cinema.” Newly restored print courtesy the Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1971, U.S, color, 35mm, 81 minutes.
