Near the end of Imber’s Left Hand, the 2014 film about artist Jon Imber’s struggle to keep on painting as he was dying from ALS, there is a beautiful scene of a show of the hundreds of portraits that Jon painted, in the last year of his life, of friends in Boston and Maine who came by to keep him company and to help. Some of those friends, and others who had never met Jon, gathered together, teary-eyed, at 13FOREST Gallery after watching the Arlington International Film Festival’s screening of the film.
Read MoreDirector's Cut: 'Imber's Left Hand' Post-Screening Reception
Join us at 13FOREST Gallery on Saturday, October 29, from 5:30 to 7 pm for a post-screening reception of Arlington International Film Festival's acclaimed film, Imber's Left Hand (62 mins).
We will be joined by director/producer Richard Kane, co-producer Melody Lewis-Kane and art critic Rebecca Nemser who will collectively discuss the film as well as the incredible life and work of Somerville artist Jon Imber (1950-2014).
Imber's Left Hand will be screened at 4 pm as part of the Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) at the historic Capitol Theatre in East Arlington. Tickets available here.
After the film, stroll down to 13FOREST Gallery for refreshments, Q&A with the film's makers and the opportunity to view Jon Imber's paintings up close. We have partnered with Imber's Boston representatives, Alpha Gallery, who are loaning us a selection of Imber's later paintings for the event, so that the public may personally experience the paintings and themes of the film.
Reception will begin at 5:30 pm, discussion at 6 pm. This event is free and open to the public, and is not limited to AIFF ticket holders.
Film Synopsis: A bittersweet and deeply moving document of Jon Imber, a local artist who lived and painted among us and his courageous and darkly humorous response to a diagnosis of ALS. The film traces Imber's life, career and adaptations, switching from painting with his right hand to his left, then to both as the degenerative condition progresses.
"A masterpiece of intimacy in the face of tragedy, "Imber’s Left Hand” is an extraordinary accomplishment in film. It is the eulogizing of the creative force and artistic life of one of America’s leading painters – in his own vibrant voice," -Daniel Kany, Maine Sunday Telegram.