''Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar'' is a 2010 feature-length

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about

Candy Darling Candy Darling (November 24, 1944 – March 21, 1974) was an American actress, best known as a Warhol superstar and transgender icon. She starred in Andy Warhol's films ''Flesh'' (1968) and '' Women in Revolt'' (1971), and was a muse of The Velve ...

, pioneering

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

, actress and Andy Warhol superstar. The film was written and directed by James Rasin and features Chloë Sevigny as "the voice of Candy Darling", reading from Candy's private diaries and letters.

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

voices

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

and

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

. It also features interviews with

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

regulars such as Paul Morrissey, Vincent Fremont, Bob Colacello, Gerard Malanga, Pat Hackett, George Abagnalo, and Fran Lebowitz as well as an archival interview with playwright Tennessee Williams.

Louis Durra Louis Durra (aka John Louis Durra) is an American pianist and composer living in Berlin, Germany. Discography * Rocket Science—CD, (September 2012) * Head Radio Retransmissions -- (1 track on ESC Radiohead compilation CD) 2012 ESC Records * T ...

composed the score.

Film festival history

''Beautiful Darling'' had its world premiere as an official selection of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2010. The film's United States premiere took place in April, 2010 in New York City as an official selection of the 39th

New Directors/New Films Festival The New Directors/New Films Festival is an annual film festival held in New York City, and organized jointly by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Society of Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center, previously known as the Film Society o ...

, a co-presentation of

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...

and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. On October 23, 2010, it won the Gold Hugo award for Best Documentary at the 46th

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. It also won Best Film at the Montenegro International Documentary Film Festival (UnderhillFest). In all, ''Beautiful Darling'' was an official selection of over thirty international film festivals, including the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

, the

Vienna International Film Festival The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria. The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Metro ...

, the

Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...

, and the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

. It was also given special screenings at the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desi ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

and The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.,

in New York City,

The Andy Warhol Museum The Andy Warhol Museum is located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is the largest museum in North America dedicated to a single artist. The museum holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archive ...

in Pittsburgh, and the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...

in Minneapolis. 2010-11-04-Beautiful-Darling-Hirshhorn

Release

Distributed by Corinth Films, ''Beautiful Darling'' opened at the

IFC Center IFC Center is an art house movie theater in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Located at 323 Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) at West 3rd Street, it was formerly the Waverly Theater, an art house movie theater. IFC Center is ...

cinemas in New York City on April 22, 2011. Due to its critical and box office success, the film's one week run at the IFC was extended for a month, and the film then played in other selected cities around the country including Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston. In February 2012, Corinth Films released the official DVD of the film.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0960730
Corinth Films Official ''Beautiful Darling'' release page
;Reviews
Amy Taubin review in ''Art Forum''Hilton Als review in ''The New Yorker''''LA Times'' review
2010 films 2010 documentary films 2010 LGBT-related films American documentary films American LGBT-related films Documentary films about actors 2010s English-language films Transgender-related documentary films Films about trans women Biographical films about LGBT people 2010s American films