A Letter to Elia

Colour, HD CAM
USA, 2010, 60 min
Section: Out of the Past

Synopsis

Director Elia Kazan (1909-2003) had an immense influence on audiences and film professionals alike, one of whom is director Martin Scorsese. In his work, the latter often refers to Hollywood’s living legacy, of which Kazan was a part as early as the 1940s thanks to movies such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) and Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director. In their documentary, Scorsese and codirector Kent Jones show respect and enthusiasm in their investigation of Kazan both as a person and a filmmaker. Knowledgeable guide Scorsese follows the creator of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), On the Waterfront (1954 – Oscar for direction), and A Face in the Crowd (1957) from his theatrical beginnings to the pantheon of filmmaking. Kazan, who was presented with an honorary Oscar in 1999, had a complex vision without unnecessary embellishment – but the directors also value him as a creator who maintained his artistic identity in the face of the impersonal environment of America’s factory of dreams.

About the director

Martin Scorsese (b. 1942, Queens, New York City) is one of the most highly awarded Hollywood personalities of the last 40 years. In 2006 he won an Academy Award for directing the drama The Departed. He has also earned respect as a documentarist of (primarily) the music industry. An acknowledged film buff, he often puts his expertise to work in his own movies (e.g. the TV doc A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies, 1995). Kent Jones (b. 1964, Missouri), journalist, screenwriter, and producer, cowrote the script for Scorsese’s autobiographical documentary project My Voyage to Italy (Il mio viaggio in Italia, 1999). He then codirected Scorsese’s TV documentary Lady by the Sea: The Statue of Liberty (2004). He also directed Scorsese in Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007), a portrait of the legendary producer.