Sabra (2015)

This documentary, a labor of love written, directed and edited by Hollywood screenwriter and director Bill Phillips (Christine, The Beans of Egypt Maine, There Goes the Neighborhood) profiles the life and career of Sabra Field. Born in 1935, the Vermont-based Field achieved fame and recognition for her masterful printmaking. The documentary explores Field's most commonly seen and circulated images - which celebrate American pastoral motifs in New England - and asks why some critics have long dismissed the pastoral as an appropriate subject for contemporary art. The film then investigates Field's decision to interpolate a wide variety of stylistic influences in defiance of commercial demands, and discusses how intense personal tragedies have occasionally impacted Field's work.