OBSESSED WITH LIGHT pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller (1862-1928), a wildly original performer who pioneered modern dance though combining fabric and movement to develop a completely new kind of spectacle. Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, filmmakers Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum delve into the astonishing influence Fuller’s work has had on contemporary culture including artists like Taylor Swift, Bill T. Jones, Shakira, William Kentridge, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others. “A rich tapestry of discoveries by a passionately devoted mover and transformer of light and shape,” (Eye On Dance) OBSESSED WITH LIGHT is a close study of a woman who became famous on her own terms – unapologetic about her body type, open about her sexuality, and protective of her signature, often mimicked, style. OBSESSED WITH LIGHT is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create as well as about how Marie Louise Fuller became famous on her own terms– unapologetic about her body type and open about her life partner, a woman. It is about a visionary artist who disrupted the prevailing notions of dance and the imagined limits of the human body. Co-directors Sabine Krayenbuhle and Zeva Oelbaum join us for a conversation on how her friendship impacted contemporaries like inventor Thomas Edison, dancer Isadora Duncan and sculptor Auguste Rodin and why Loïe Fuller’s story is crucial to understanding both early cinema and theatre, as well as why contemporary artists like William Kentridge, singer / songwriter Taylor Swift, fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Dior continue to draw inspiration from her visionary work.

For where to watch and more go to: filmmovement.com/obsessed-with-light

For more go to: obsessedwithlightdocumentary.com

About the filmmaker – Sabine Krayenbühl is an award-winning filmmaker with over twenty theatrical documentaries and narrative features to her credit. She co-directed and edited the NEH-supported documentary  Letters from Baghdad, which showed in the US in over 70 venues and was broadcast on PBS, ARTE and the BBC. Her editing work includes Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominated My Architect for which she received an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award nomination and the Emmy-winning The Hunt for Planet B. Additional credits include Mad Hot Ballroom, one of the top twenty highest grossing documentaries, The Bridge produced by IFC, Picasso and Braque go to the Movies, produced by Martin Scorsese, Virgin Tales, Ahead of Time, Jennifer Fox’s Emmy nominated My Reincarnation, Salinger on which she consulted and HBO’s The Price of Everything. Krayenbühl has a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a  member of NYWIFT and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

About the filmmaker – Zeva Oelbaum is an award winning filmmaker. She co-directed and produced the NEH- supported documentary Letters from Baghdad, which showed theatrically in over 125 theaters in the U.S. and U.K. and premiered on PBS in 2018. The film is voiced and exec. produced by Tilda Swinton. Oelbaum also produced Ahead of Time, a feature length documentary about journalist Ruth Gruber, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before garnering six Best Documentary awards. She comes to film from a career in still photography and her work has been published in periodicals such as The New York Times Magazine and collected in public collections such as the Bibliothèque nationale de France, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and The Brooklyn Museum. Two monographs of Oelbaum’s photographs have been published by Rizzoli International Publishers. She is a  magna cum laude  graduate of Brandeis University with a degree in anthropology and a member of the Producers Guild.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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facebook.com/LoieFullerDoc

instagram.com/filmmovement

instagram.com/sabinekrayenbuhl

instagram.com/o.zeva

instagram.com/loiefullerfilm

Reviews:

“With someone as fascinating as Fuller, a more lyrical approach might draw all the pieces together more fruitfully. Still, I liked “Obsessed With Light” for that older footage.” – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times

“As is often the case with films like this, it is both baffling that it took this long to tell Fuller’s story and comforting that finally great women pioneers like her are getting the attention they deserve.” – Louis Roberts, Loud and Clear Reviews

“A captivating, well-edited and illuminating albeit often hagiographic documentary biopic on Loïe Fuller. The breathtaking footage of Fuller dancing ultimately speaks louder than words.” – Avi Offer. NYC Movie Guru