Since its world premiere at Sundance in January, the film Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present has mesmerized audiences from Berlin to Belgrade. Now it’s on to Art Basel and New York, where Film Forum will screen the feature-length documentary beginning June 13. Those not in NYC (or a European city that begins with “B”) can tune into HBO, which will air the film from July 2.

Directed by Matthew Akers, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present follows the artist as she prepares for her 2010 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. “The two main goals I set for myself in the beginning were to figure out how to make the subject appeal to a wider audience than just the rarefied art world and to avoid the trap of making a plodding biopic-style film,” explains Akers in the production notes. Initially skeptical of performance art, he immersed himself in the subject before hitting the road with Abramović. Then came the task of sorting through ten months worth of footage (shot in six countries), including the entirety of her blockbuster performance-cum-staring contest in MoMA’s atrium. “Vulnerability, human connection, projection, sacrifice, and perception of time were some big ideas that came into focus,” says the first-time director. “My hope is that the film’s audience will have an experiential encounter with the concepts in Marina’s work in a way that might reveal something about themselves, as it certainly did for me.” Check out the trailer:

Previously on UnBeige:
• Marina Abramović, Koolhaas’ OMA to Convert Old Theater into Performance Art Institute
• Marina Abramović’s ‘The Artist is Present’ Becomes Video Game
• Marina Abramović Is on Fire