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.

"Director Richard Kane’s bittersweet and deeply moving film," Maine Sunday Telegram. In the summer of 2012, painter Jon Imber was diagnosed with a fatal degenerative disease, ALS. Imber’s Left Hand tells the story of this artist’s courageous and sometimes darkly humorous response to such a sentence. The film traces his adaptations, from switching from painting with his right hand to his left, and then to both hands as the condition progresses. Adversity only makes him more determined to paint, and paint he does: more than 100 portraits in a four-month span. In the film we first encounter Imber in his Somerville, MA studio. He and his partner, painter Jill Hoy, analyze a self-portrait and talk about the anxiety to come. The painting becomes an unsettling metaphor of Jon’s psychological journey living into his dying through his art. In one scene, while reviewing family photos, he comes across a picture of himself at nine at a Passover Seder. Hoy says it’s his Judaism that’s at the root of who he is. “How so?” Imber asks, to which Hoy replies, “How you present yourself, your sense of responsibility, your constant search for truth and authenticity.” The way in which Imber carries on that search against the greatest of odds is at the heart of this portrait. Especially moving is the way in which members of the Stonington, Maine community rally to support Imber—dropping by to give him a back rub or bring a dish to eat—even as he invites them to have their portraits painted. In the end, Imber’s Left Hand is a testament to the life-giving force that is art and the ability of two people and their community to face an uncertain future with passion and resolve. "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.

"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.

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