Winds of Heaven

This film is an impressionistic exploration of the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated and irrepressible painters.

Emily Carr (1871-1945), London and Paris-trained and influenced by Post-Impressionism and Fauvism, began painting in an era when women didn’t, at an age when most people shouldn’t, traveling to remote British Columbian locations that few professional adventurers chose to go. Not only did she adopt the painting techniques of modernism, when such ideas were considered dangerous, Carr chronicled the extraordinary art and culture of native peoples, who were invisible to the dominant culture.

With Winds of Heaven, Michael Ostroff, working from letters, diaries and published writings, establishes Carr as one of North America’s important conduits in resurrecting the rich artifacts and rituals of Pacific native cultures. Ostroff’s film amounts to a discovery for American audiences of this nearly-forgotten trailblazer for Canadian art and the women of her time

Print Source: White Pine Pictures, Phil Wilson, phil@whitepinepictures.com