Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time (2001) Rivers and Tides (original title)

Director:

Thomas Riedelsheimer

Writers:

(more)

Release Date:

7 March 2002 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Andy Goldsworthy working with time.

Plot:

Portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature. |

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Sculpture | Nature | Rainbow | Ice

Awards:

8 wins

Cast

Andy Goldsworthy	...	Himself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Anna Goldsworthy	...	Herself (uncredited)
Holly Goldsworthy	...	Herself (uncredited)
James Goldsworthy	...	Himself (uncredited)
Judith Goldsworthy	...	Herself (uncredited)
Thomas Goldsworthy	...	Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Thomas Riedelsheimer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Thomas Riedelsheimer		uncredited

Produced by
Trevor Davies	....	co-producer
Leslie Hills	....	co-producer
Annedore von Donop	....	producer (as Annedore v. Donop)

Original Music by
Fred Frith

Cinematography by
Thomas Riedelsheimer		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Thomas Riedelsheimer

Production Management
Jorg Rothe	....	production manager (as Jörg Rothe)

Sound Department
Tom Dokoupil	....	sound mixer
Colin Hood	....	location sound: Scotland
Brian Howell	....	location sound: Scotland
Marilyn Janssen	....	sound editor
Pepe Kristl	....	location sound: France
Jane Porter	....	location sound: Canada
Thomas Schwartz	....	location sound: USA (as Thomas Schwarz)
Alexander Weuffen	....	sound re-recording mixer: Dolby mix (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dieter Stürmer	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Dunja Campregher	....	assistant editor: Final Cut
Ilona Demuth	....	negative editor
Jörg Eybl	....	color timer
Manuela Jesse	....	color timer
Elina Paloheimo	....	commissioning editor: YLE
Sabine Rollberg	....	commissioning editor: WDR/arte
Ulla Salonen	....	commissioning editor: YLE

Music Department
Fred Frith	....	musician
Peter Hardt	....	music mixer
Karoline Höfler	....	musician
Bernd Settelmeyer	....	musician
Wolfgang Stryi	....	musician

Other crew
Judith Anderson	....	production assistant
Mark Austin	....	location manager: Canada
Matthias Behrens	....	technical supervisor
Ellen Bickmeier	....	production assistant
Trevor Davies	....	executive: Skyline
Caroline Foellmer	....	production assistant
Leslie Hills	....	executive: Skyline
Dave Tarvit	....	location manager: Scotland
Annedore von Donop	....	executive: Mediopolis (as Annedore v. Donop)

Thanks
Steve Allen	....	thanks
Jenny Attala	....	thanks
Ute Casper	....	thanks
Norma Cassidy	....	thanks
Régine Chopinot	....	thanks: The Ballet Atlantique, La Rochelle, France
David R. Collins	....	thanks: The Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY
Eric Coltart	....	thanks
Anna Goldsworthy	....	thanks
Holly Goldsworthy	....	thanks
James Goldsworthy	....	thanks
Judith Goldsworthy	....	thanks
Thomas Goldsworthy	....	thanks
Nadine Gomez	....	thanks: The Musée de Digne, France
Keith Graham	....	thanks
Ellie Hall	....	thanks
Guy Martini	....	thanks: The Resèrve Geologique de Haute Provence, Digne, France
Steve McIntyre	....	thanks
Andrew McKinna	....	thanks
Max Nowell	....	thanks
Gabriele Pfennigsdorf	....	thanks
Klaus Schaefer	....	thanks (as Dr. Klaus Schaefer)
H. Peter Stern	....	thanks: The Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY
Taucher	....	thanks
Vivien Treuleben	....	thanks
Gordon Wilton	....	thanks
Jason Wilton	....	thanks
Georgene Zlock	....	thanks: The Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY

Production Companies

• Mediopolis Film- und Fernsehproduktion (as Mediopolis Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH)
• Skyline Productions (in association with) (as Skyline Productions Ltd.)
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) (in co-operation with)
• Arte (in co-operation with)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (in co-operation with)

Distributors

• Piffl Medien (2002) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Eurozoom (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Look Now! (2002) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Roxie Releasing (2003) (USA)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Switzerland) (DVD)
• absolut MEDIEN (2003) (Germany) (DVD)

Other Companies

• BKM  distribution promotion (uncredited)
• FilmFernsehFonds Bayern  financial support
• Filmbüro NW  distribution promotion (uncredited)
• Galerie Lelong  representation: Andy Goldsworthy
• Galerie Springer & Winkler  representation: Andy Goldsworthy
• Galerij S65  representation: Andy Goldsworthy
• Haines Gallery  representation: Andy Goldsworthy
• Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg  financial support (as Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg)
• Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art Ltd.  representation: Andy Goldsworthy
• Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund  financial support (as Scottish Arts Council National Lottery Fund)
• Scottish Screen  financial support (as Scottish Screen National Lottery Fund)
• The Ballet Atlantique  thanks
• The Buccleuch Estates Ltd.  thanks
• The Musée de Digne  thanks
• The Resèrve Geologique de Haute Provence  thanks
• The Storm King Art Center  thanks

Also Known As:

"Rivers and Tides" - Germany (original title)

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:92 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Country:

Germany | Finland | UK | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Germany:o.Al. | Switzerland:6 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Switzerland:6 (canton of Zurich)

Filming Locations:

Digne, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France

Company:

Mediopolis Film- und Fernsehproduktion

The timeless and the ephemeral

As the jacket proclaims, this film is "Gorgeously shot and masterfully edited," and, yes, it is mesmerizingly beautiful. The timelessness that we perceive in stoic rock and in the unceasing ebb and flow of water frames the ephemeral works from Goldsworthy's hands so that in their very ephemeralness they point to eternity.

And so the beauty of his compositions haunt us with just a touch of melancholy woven in--or in the words of Matthew Arnold from "Dover Beach":

Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in.

At one point near the end of the film Goldsworthy says that "Words do their job, but what I'm doing here says a lot more." As a wordsmith myself I take no offense and not for a moment do I think him immodest because the combination of form and time and change and texture and color and composition that Goldsworthy painstakingly and intuitively creates, is indeed something more than mere words can say.

At another point he remarks on "What is here to stay...and what isn't." That is his theme.

I think that artists sometime in the twentieth century became acutely aware of how ephemeral even the greatest works of art are compared to the vast expanse of cosmic time; and so they began to reflect this understanding by composing works that were deliberately ephemeral. The idea was, that by emphasizing how short-lived are even the mightiest works of humans, a sense of the timelessness of art would be expressed.

Perhaps part of the effectiveness of Goldsworthy's work is in this sort of expression. He painstakingly composes some form of straw or leaves where the tide will reach it, or places it in the river where it will be swept away; and in this process is merged both the composition and its ephemerality.

Both the transitory and the timeless are necessary for us to understand our world and our place within it. And it is important that these works be done within the context of nature so that what is composed is set within what is natural. Thus the walls of stone and the eggs of stone that Goldsworthy constructs are silent and solid yet we know that they are not monuments to eternity, but instead will stay for some undefined length of time and then dissipate and return to a state much like that which existed before we came along.

This is art as art should be, akin to the spiritual.

In a sense Goldsworthy's work is an inarticulated understanding. It is an experience purely of time and form. In a sense his work "answers" Shelley's famous poem "Ozymandias" by saying, even as the tide washes the work away, and even as the river dissipates the expression, even so the art lives on because of our experience of it. Similarly one thinks of Tibetan sand paintings so carefully composed and measured out, and then just as they are so beautifully and preciously finished, they are given to the wind, so that we might know that all is flux.

Yet, in the modern world these works of art endure in photos and videos. Goldsworthy is an accomplished photographer (of necessity I would say) and all his works, even the unsuccessful ones, he tells us, are photographed so that he can look back at them in a more reflective mood and see what he has accomplished and what he has not.

This cinematic production directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer with the beautiful and appropriately haunting music by Fred Frith is not to be missed. It is one of the most beautiful documentaries that I have ever seen and one of the most spiritual.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)