- James Franco's friend and professor Francisco Ricardo takes us on a visual journey into Franco's creative mind and artistic process, inviting audiences to experience a multitude of the star's unique conceptual projects.
- With books, art shows, and director credits on his resume, one cannot call James Franco an actor and leave it at that. In an unconventional examination of his inspiration and creative process for many works that may be unknown to--or dismissed by--critics and the general public, author, art theorist, and filmmaker Francisco J. Ricardo discusses and presents, with James Franco, some of the films and art projects that lie outside the realm of the feature films for which Franco is famous.—Anonymous
- Filmmaker and art theorist Dr. Francisco J. Ricardo delves into the creative mind of the multi-faceted James Franco in this innovative documentary or film essay. As the two converse on Franco's thoughts and process in executing some of his early experimental art and film work, the viewer is privy to these art pieces, some of which were rarely seen outside of a film festival or art show.
- Art theorist Francisco Ricardo examines questions of art, authenticity, and celebrity through a collage of experimental filmmaking full of interviews, spontaneous epiphanies and poetry for true cineastes who love movies about movies or documentaries about how we create value. For those who enjoyed Morgan Neville's documentary "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead," this is a contemporary glimpse into many of the same institutions of value and meaning explored by Orson Welles in "The Other Side of the Wind" and Neville's documentary about the filmmaker's point of view. "F for Franco" leads viewers through the philosophical reflections of James Franco, Frank Bidart, and Francisco Ricardo.—JJ
- Art theorist Francisco Ricardo examines questions of art, authenticity, and celebrity through a collage of experimental filmmaking full of interviews, spontaneous epiphanies, and poetry for the true cineaste who is seeking a documentary about how we create value in art. The film is particularly relevant for those who enjoyed Morgan Neville's documentary "They'll Love Me When I'm Dead," since "F for Franco" gives the viewer a contemporary glimpse into many of the same institutions of value and meaning explored by Neville in that documentary and in Orson Welles' "The Other Side of the Wind." "F for Franco" encourages viewers to follow the philosophical reflections of James Franco as Ricardo asks the question "What makes the artist?" and then examines Franco's answer to the question from the moment he ponders his look-alike doll to his rumination on the cult of celebrity and what is 'real' in the portrayal of the actor, including a glimpse into Franco's re-interpretation of the 1970's hit series "Three's Company." At one point, Franco, Bidart and RIcardo go in search of the grave of the actor Rudolph Valentino in the middle of the night, symbolizing the quest for meaning in the life (and death) of the celebrity. The film is an intellectual ride through the philosophical underpinnings of fame, institutions of value, and art. "F for Franco" encourages the audience to engage in philosophical inquiry on the 'real' and 'fake' asks us to conceptualize how art and celebrity are ways of defining reality. The film offers numerous possible ways of interpreting Picasso's quote, "Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth." This films also interrogates institutions of power that often define what we call the truth and leaves viewers with lasting epiphanies that will heighten their critical acceptance of representations of so-called 'reality' in art.
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