Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Painting with Light is a 1999 documentary film about Louise Dahl-Wolfe, an important woman in the history of photography. It was written and directed by Tom Neff, and produced by Neff and Madeline Bell, who previously collaborated on the Oscar nominated short-documentary Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse (1986).
Synopsis
This short documentary film on the life of Louise Dahl-Wolfe draws upon her art and her personality. The documentary reviews how Dahl-Wolfe "discovered" Lauren Bacall, who at the time was a young actress (seventeen years-of-age) and worked as a model. It was Dahl-Wolfe's photos of Bacall that film producer Harry Warner saw, and subsequently asked Bacall that she come to Hollywood for a screen test. As a result, Bacall was cast opposite Humphrey Bogart in the film To Have and Have Not (1944).
Dahl-Wolfe also photographed: Tallulah Bankhead, Spencer Tracy, Eudora Welty, Paul Robeson, Bette Davis, and others.
Background
The documentary took over ten years to complete and features the only surviving modern footage of Dahl-Wolfe, including extensive interviews.
Interviews
Louise Dahl-Wolfe
Lauren Bacall
Babs Simpson
Distribution
The film has been shown on selected PBS television stations and was the first original production of the new digital channel: DOC: The Documentary Channel and was screened at the Bel Air Film Festival.
References
External links
Tom Neff official web site (see Films for film clip)