A new arts-focused documentary film festival is about to launch in Ménerbes, a Provençal town described as “one of the most magical villages in France.”
The inaugural edition of the Dora Maar Film Festival, running from August 29-31, will showcase six documentaries on photography and photographers, including Capturing Lee Miller, directed by Teresa Griffiths, and Ernest Cole: Lost & Found, directed by Oscar nominee Raoul Peck. Scroll for the full program.
The festival, co-founded by Lucy Darwin (producer of Match Point and Lost in La Mancha) and Natasha Bahtia, is presented in conjunction with the Dora Maar Cultural Center. Dora Maar (1907-1997), the festival’s namesake, was a surrealist artist and photographer who lived for many decades in Ménerbes. (The Dora Maar Cultural Center’s home is the Maison Dora Maar, an 18th century town house that Maar bought in 1944).
Dora Maar Film Festival
“Our hope is that this festival becomes a special gathering place for filmmakers and film lovers alike,” co-founders Darwin and Bahtia said in a statement. “Small film festivals have a unique magic—intimate spaces where meaningful connections happen. We are very proud that in our very first edition, every film will be represented by someone involved in its making, including four directors, an editor, and a historian. In doing so, we will carry forward the Dora Maar Cultural Center’s proud tradition of bringing artists and their work to the Luberon [region] and fostering rich public engagement.”
The Maison Dora Maar, home of the Dora Maar Cultural Center
Dora Maar Cultural Centeer
Gwen Strauss, director of the Dora Maar Cultural Center, noted, “This new film festival is a continuation of the Dora Maar Cultural Center’s central aim: connecting people with artists, and with the stories they bring into the world.”
Among the festival’s spectacular venues is the Hôtel de Tingry. “Special events such as the afternoon talks (rencontres) will take place in Tingry’s beautiful library, art filled salon and formal dining room,” the festival says. “The house also features an elegant courtyard garden, orangery and private pool with stunning views over the Luberon valley.”
Le Domaine du Fortin in Ménerbes, Provence
Dora Maar Film Festival
Le Domaine du Fortin, a Provençal bastide, will host the evening film programs. “With a magnificent view over Ménerbes and the Luberon mountains, the screenings will take place outdoors, in the heart of the olive grove, just steps away from the Maison Dora Maar.”
Future editions of the Dora Maar Film Festival will explore a specific artistic discipline each year, the festival comments, “delving into the worlds of music, fine art, performance art, fashion, literature, architecture, poetry, dance, design, and the art of food and wine.”
2025 Dora Maar Film Festival, curated by festival co-founder and filmmaker Lucy Darwin:
WAR PAINT – WOMEN AT WAR
“We are honored to be holding the French Premiere of Margy Kinmonth’s feature documentary at the Dora Maar Film Festival,” said Darwin. “This beautiful film shines a light on the trailblazing role of women war artists, on the front lines around the world.”
CAPTURING LEE MILLER
Filmmaker Teresa Griffiths documents the extraordinary life of the model and photographer – perhaps best known for her self-portrait in Hitler’s bath who was a contemporary of Dora Maar.
SABINE WEISS: ONE CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY, directed by Camille Ménager and made in close collaboration with Sabine Weiss, shows that Weiss worked up until her death in 2021, at the age of 97, and never considered herself more than a craftswoman and technician. She modestly said, “I am not an artist, I am an artisan,” and yet her work unquestionably rivals her contemporaries Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Doisneau.
DORA MAAR: BETWEEN LIGHT & SHADE, directed by Marie-Eve de Grave, focuses on the artist’s unique body of work and her unconventional life, including her relationship with Pablo Picasso.
Dora Maar, Sabine Weiss and Lee Miller were early pioneers of photography affording these exceptional women independent careers. They explored, experimented with the latest techniques and expanded the medium, going beyond their paid studio work to capture life on the street and make some of the first surreal photographic art.
I AM MARTIN PARR
Luberon resident photographer and filmmaker Lee Shulman has captured the fiercely brilliant, beguiling and tragi-comic work of Magnum photographer, Martin Parr.
ERNEST COLE: LOST & FOUND
Raoul Peck’s stunning documentary reveals the lost archive of Ernest Cole who documented South Africa’s apartheid before being exiled to the USA. Peck’s film won the best documentary prize at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
AFTERNOON TALKS
Afternoon talks will be held at the elegant Hôtel de Tingry, while films will be screened under the stars at the magnificent Le Domaine du Fortin, a traditional Provençal mansion. A number of filmmakers, art historians, curators, and critics will participate in conversations and events throughout the weekend — names to be announced.