Gerry Fox is one of the most decorated filmmakers working in the UK today.  His film portraits of artists, including Gilbert & George, Claes Oldenburg, Bill Viola, Gerhard Richter and Robert Frank, have been broadcast on television internationally and in major festivals across the world, at venues such as the Venice Biennale.  It is with great pleasure that Eleven, one of Belgravia’s most respected fine art galleries, present an exhibition of work by the internationally renowned artist.

Nudes Moving is a technologists dream.  Filmed in the most pristine high definition, these pieces take as their point of departure works by artists including Egon Schiele and Auguste Rodin.  Recreating these works with contemporary models, these moving images take on a life of their own; the viewer comes to realise that they are watching mesmerisingly slow-moving portraits.

Some of these works have been digitally manipulated to echo the soft and deliberate brush strokes of the original pieces.  Clothing conceals and reveals in equal measure, narratives unfold and our subjects become knowingly exposed.  The result is delightfully sensuous, and an exhibition of work that you are unlikely to have seen previously, or likely to see soon again.

Gerry Fox: Nudes Moving is at Eleven until 10 November

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Caesar Must Die is a stylish Italian blend of theatre and cinema, fed through a lens of lush, rich and creamy black and white.  It is a surprising film in many ways.  The controversial winner of this year’s Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, this is the latest film by the Taviani brothers, Paolo and Vittorio, winners of the Palme D’Or at Cannes for their 1977 film Padre padrone.

This film is a surprisingly intense affair.  Set in a high security prison, the premise revolves around the annual play performed by the prisoners to a public audience.  Visiting director Fabio Cavalli selects Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, a tale of honour and deceit among politicians.  Having chosen their cast, the inmates begin assiduously rehearsing their characters, taking their respective ancient Romans back into their cells and deeper within their lives and psyches.

The great surprise of Caesar Must Die is that it was filmed entirely almost as a stylised documentary.  These are real prisoners performing a real play for a real audience, behind bars for crimes that involve everything from murder to Mafiosi connections.  This is explained toward the beginning of the film, but only becomes explicit at the very end.  This is surprising because Caesar Must Die is a thrilling drama, with excellent comedy moments, which is due in large part to both the confident directing and the phenomenal cast.  Undoubtedly one of the most unexpectedly moving films of the year, it shows tonight as part of the BFI London Film Festival.

Caesar Must Die screens tonight at Vue West End, and tomorrow, Friday 19 October, at BFI Southbank.

Families put under artificial strain seems to be becoming the leitmotif of French-Swiss film director Ursula Meier (not to be confused with renowned Austrian film artist Ursula Mayer).  Maier (not Mayer)’s debut, Home, took an ordinary and lovely French family led by Isabelle Huppert and placed a motorway beside their house.  Her latest film, L’enfant d’en haut (Sister), which screens today as part of this year’s BFI London Film Festival, is a far more complex affair set in the snowy hills of Verbier.

Simon is twelve years old.  He lives in a tower block at the foothills of the French mountains with his sister Louise and supports them both by stealing from the wealthy visitors to the local ski resort.  Soon, Simon is caught by seasonal worker Mike and befriends the holidaying Kristin and her two young sons.  Louise’s latest on-off boyfriend becomes a friend and confidante of the small family. Unfortunately, none of this can be maintained because, ultimately, there is a thin veneer of deception upon which is built the ‘reality’ of what Simon and Louise present to the world.

Maier’s sophomore feature is a difficult film, both for audiences and presumably also for the director to have made.  She is wonderfully supported by a dedicated cast who turn in equally strong performances.  Considering this is a film that is carried by a fourteen year old (in only his third film) it is a revelation.  Léa Seydoux, playing Louise, is our reluctantly illusory antagonist, and there are surprise turns from British actors Martin Compston and Gillian Anderson as two of the town’s seasonal visitors.  L’enfant d’en haut has been receiving rave reviews and is Switzerland’s submission to the 2012 Oscars.  You heard it here first.

L’enfant d’en haut (Sister) screens tonight at Vue West End as part of the 2012 BFI London Film Festival.