‘Tarnished Angels: Douglas Sirk’s America’ at Sag Harbor Cinema

Following the success of the spotlight programs dedicated to the work of Peter Bogdanovich and Alan Pakula, Sag Harbor Cinema is holding a mini-retrospective tribute to another seminal Hollywood filmmaker, Douglas Sirk (1897-1987). Of Danish origin and born in Germany, where he had established himself as a prominent director both for the stage and for the screen, Sirk fled Nazi Germany for the United States, like so many other great European directors of the time. Bringing his strong interest in melodrama to the backdrop of postwar American society, Sirk cemented his reputation as a master of the genre with a handful of masterpieces made in the 1950s, among which are: “Imitation of Life,” “Written on the Wind,” “All That Heaven Allows,” “There Is Always Tomorrow” and “The Tarnished Angels.” Sirk’s influence looms large on the work of filmmakers such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch and Todd Haynes.

Curated by Founding Artistic Director Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, “Tarnished Angels: Douglas Sirk’s America” has been conceived in conjunction with an exhibition of paintings by artist Sabina Streeter, a fan of Sirk’s work, living between Sag Harbor and Europe, whose visual elaborations of Sirk’s film frames have been exhibited in Munich and Berlin. The programming begins on Saturday, March 11, with a reception for Streeter’s exhibition from 7 to 9 p.m. The brilliant cinematographer Ed Lachman, who shot Todd Haynes’s most overtly “Sirkian” film, “Far From Heaven” will join the cinema for a Q&A following a special 35mm screening of that film.

“When Sabina suggested we combine a tribute to Sirk’s films with a showing of some of her paintings, I was thrilled,” says D’Agnolo Vallan. “I always loved the heartbreak and the irony behind Sirk’s beautifully stylized ’50s melodramas; his heightened use of color and design; his brilliance with light and sound. The quiet doom that haunts his characters.”

“The subjects of films have always been a central point of reference in my work, in particular the movies of the 1940s, 1950s as well as the European Neorealists,” adds Streeter. “In this exhibition I pay homage to the director Douglas Sirk, who was a close friend of my family in Munich, Germany. I strongly feel his films have a particularly timely relevance and should be introduced to a new audience. I am very honored to be part of ‘Tarnished Angels.’”

Streeter met Sirk as a child in Switzerland, in the late 1960s, where he and his wife settled after returning from the United States. Having befriended her parents, Sirk asked Streeter’s mother, the documentary filmmaker Eva Hassencamp, to assist him on what would have been his last film, “Homes Lost,” had not Sirk died in 1987.

Since the 1980s, Streeter has consistently used a figurative visual language in her works, which reinterprets the protagonists of cinema in close-ups on canvas or paper. She thus stands in the tradition of a generation of contemporary painters who refer to photographic and filmic references. Streeter’s paintings and drawings often seem like frozen scenes from the cult films of these eras. The characters in her pictures move between provocative triviality and captivating beauty — usually in dramatic situations. Sirk’s films are often quoted as pictorial motifs.

In her process, Streeter selects from hundreds of film stills, which she photographs and alienates from the monitor. The characters oscillate between tangible proximity and psychological distance, which she reproduces by deliberately blurring her images.

Celebrated cinematographer Ed Lachman is a two-time Oscar nominee and a 2017 ASC Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Collaborating with directors like Steven Soderbergh, Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, Paul Schrader, Larry Clark, and Mira Nair, Lachman’s body of work spans major hits, legendary independent films, music videos, and documentaries. His cinematography credits include “Carol,” “Dark Waters,” “Far From Heaven,” “Wonderstruck,” “Erin Brockovich,” “The Limey,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “Ken Park” (which he also co-directed with Larry Clark) and many others.

Tickets for the screenings are available at sagharborcinema.org. Sag Harbor Cinema is at 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor.