New Jersey Film Festival World Premieres Anthony Maranville’s Mimi Vang Olsen: Pet Portraitist this Friday, February 1!
Here is my interview with Anthony:
Nigrin: Your charming documentary Mimi Vang Olsen: Pet Portraitist tells the story of a painter with her own store front in New York’s West Village who immortalizes the lives of her clients and their pets. Please tell us more about your film and what motivated you to make it?
Maranville: It was all by chance. Mimi goes to Denmark for the summer and rents out her place and my wife was on a show that shot over summers in New York. So we actually lived in her apartment above her shop for three summers in a row without ever meeting her – and it was like living in a Wes Anderson movie. Everything is so carefully curated in a whimsical flea market, folk art kind of way. Her and her friend’s artwork are all over the walls and every time we would go outside we’d see people mesmerized by a display of paintings and postcards featuring many of her pet portraits in the shop window.
The longer we stayed in her apartment the more curious we became about who the magical artist was that created these pet portraits was. The project grew from there…
Nigrin: I loved the way you weaved the interviews of the various individuals that Mimi painted. How were you able to line these folks up and tell us why you selected them?’
Maranville: Thanks. We talked to Mimi about doing a documentary on her and the people in the movie are the clients she had lined up at the time we started shooting. Everyone we approached loved Mimi and were happy to participate.
Nigrin: How long did it take to make this film and how did you secure the funding for it?
Maranville: We shot for two days in the fall before she painted the portraits and another two days in the winter for the unveilings -- then we slowly cut it together over the following months. It was all self-financed and made out of love.
Nigrin: What has been the reaction from audiences to your film so far?
Maranville: This is the world premiere! We look forward to seeing the audience response. We’ve only screened it for the folks who worked on it, and we all feel warm and fuzzy watching it. Can’t wait to share it with others!
Nigrin: Are there any memorable stories while you made this film or any other info about your film you would like to relay to our readers?
Maranville:Watching Mimi with animals is like watching Snow White come to life. In the middle of the city she has a magical garden where birds, squirrels, dogs and cats come to be fed by her. Many of the people we talked to said their pets lead them to her shop – she’s a magnet for animals.
For a longer interview with Anthony Maranville see New Jersey Stage Editor Gary Wien’s here: https://www.newjerseystage.com/articles/2019/01/23/mimi-vang-olsen-pet-portraitist/
Two other great films will be screened with Mimi Vang Olsen: Pet Portraitist. Here is more information on this screening:
Harls – Kenzie Sutton (Millburn, New Jersey) A guy named Harls keeps getting reincarnated in this wonderful animated film. 2018; 2 min.
Mimi Vang Olsen: Pet Portraitist – Anthony Maranville (Los Angeles, California) Pets are not just members of the family—they deserve their own portraits! Creating such portraits is the life’s work of Mimi Vang Olsen, a painter with her own store front in New York’s West Village who immortalizes the lives of her clients and their pets. This loving profile of the artist is a thoughtful meditation on the importance of pets and art. 2018; 33 min.
Leaving an Impression: A Portrait of Edward Dufner – David Koh and Emma Quong (Millburn, New Jersey) 100 years ago, the American Impressionist Edward Dufner created two large paintings depicting night and day. He generously gifted these paintings in 1957 to Millburn Township, New Jersey. This documentary follows the restoration process that brought these two beautiful paintings back to life. Celebrating the work of the art restorers, and the volunteers who helped along the way, the filmmakers track the techniques that reversed the damage brought on a by century of neglect, with clarity, passion and humor. 2018; 43 min. Q+A Session with Co-Director David Koh and Producer Laraine Brennan Barach!Co-sponsored by the Rutgers University American Studies Department and theZimmerli Art Museum!
Friday, February 1, 2019 at 7PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University,
71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey
$12=General; $10=Students+Seniors; $9=Rutgers Film Co-op Friends
Information: (848) 932-8482; www.njfilmfest.com
