imagine... - Season 15

imagine... - Season 15

Season 15

Network
DatesApr 5, 2009 - Jul 25, 2009
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Episodes

Yes We Can! The Lost Art Of Oratory
Season 15Episode 170 min

Yes We Can! The Lost Art Of Oratory

The remarkable election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States has been propelled as much by his exceptional skill as an orator as by any other factor. From the silver-tongued to the tongue-tied, the sublime to the ridiculous, this programme takes a fond look at the art and history of the political speech.

Apr 5, 2009
Save the Last Dance for Me
Season 15Episode 290 min

Save the Last Dance for Me

At an age when most people are content to take it easy, one group of pensioners have taken up contemporary dance for the first time. Alan Yentob follows them on their journey as they prepare to perform at Sadler's Wells, one of the top dance venues in the world. Save the Last Dance for Me challenges people's preconceptions about the physical and creative abilities of the over sixties.

Jun 23, 2009
David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
Season 15Episode 390 min

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture

Filmed over three years with unprecedented access, this documentary captures the return from California of England's favourite living artist.

As Hockney approaches the age of 70, he re-invents his painting fromscratch, working through the seasons and in all weathers out in the Yorkshire countryside, ending up with the largest picture ever made outdoors. It is at once the story of an unusual homecoming and also an intimate portrait of what inspires Hockney as his time runs out.

Jun 30, 2009
Rufus Wainwright, Prima Donna
Season 15Episode 490 min

Rufus Wainwright, Prima Donna

Alan Yentob explores the rapid rise of one of modern music's most mercurial talents, Rufus Wainwright.

Wainwright talks candidly about his background, his family of musical luminaries (father Loudon Wainwright III, mother Kate McGarrigle and sister Martha Wainwright), his troubled personal history with drugs and the tensions that have informed his music.

The film also follows his journey into the classical world as he creates his very first opera, Prima Donna.

Jul 7, 2009
The Colourful Mr Eggleston
Season 15Episode 590 min

The Colourful Mr Eggleston

William Eggleston is one of the most influential and original photographers alive today.

A Mississippi aristocrat with a fondness for guns, drink and women, he dragged colour into the world of art photography. Reviled in the 1970s, he is now considered a legend whose unique visual style has influenced generations of photographers and filmmakers.

Imagine shows the normally shy and elusive Eggleston at work - taking photographs on the road, in and around his home town of Memphis.

Jul 14, 2009
Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art
Season 15Episode 690 min

Art in Troubled Times: A New Deal for Art

The Great Depression and the Second World War changed what was expected of the arts; Alan Yentob asks if this recession could see the next transformation.

Artist Chuck Close talks about the New Deal in America in the 30s, when the government paid artists to work, while actor Simon Callow tells how thrilled actors were to feel their work mattered.

And dealer Kenny Schachter explains how, in a perverse way, he feels this recession is the best thing that has happened to the art world in ten years.

Jul 21, 2009
Art in Troubled Times: Part II – The Home Front
Season 15Episode 890 min

Art in Troubled Times: Part II – The Home Front

In times like these, what is art worth? And what is art for?

The big moment for publicly funded art in Britain was the Second World War. "Something absolutely remarkable happened during the war", says actor Simon Callow. "The theatre suddenly was right at the heart of society."

After the war, the idea of "art for all" led to the founding of the Arts Council - "very much a response to the distress, the fear, the uncertainty of war." Alan Yentob asks if culture can play that role again today.

Jul 28, 2009
The Smoking Diaries Update
Season 15Episode 1090 min

The Smoking Diaries Update

Arts series. As part of an evening of programmes celebrating the life and work of the playwright and diarist, Simon Gray, who died in 2008.

This updated Imagine is a rare insight into one of Britain's foremost playwrights, author of many West End hits, but best known for his work with Harold Pinter, and as the writer of the notorious Cell Mates.

This intimate film gives a darkly entertaining account of his childhood experiences and very personal views on addictions to smoking, alcohol and the traumas of modern day life for a writer. By way of tribute, the conclusion to the film is provided by a number of friends, well known actors and writers, reading from Simon Gray's last volume of diaries, CODA.

Jul 25, 2009

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