Director and UNCSA professor Molly Bernstein is scheduled to attend an in-person Q&A following the film

Finding unexpected beauty in the discarded and decayed, photographer Rosamond Purcell has developed an oeuvre of work that has garnered international acclaim, graced the pages of National Geographic and over 20 published books, and has enlisted admirers such as Jonathan Safran Foer, Errol Morris and Stephen Jay Gould. AN ART THAT NATURE MAKES details Purcell’s fascination with the natural world—from a mastodon tooth to a hydrocephalic skull—offering insight into her unique way of re-contextualizing objects both ordinary and strange into sometimes disturbing but always breathtaking imagery.

Free Screening!

   Molly Bernstein is an independent filmmaker who has worked extensively in documentary and dramatic films. She is Director, Producer, and Editor of four feature documentaries: Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse (2024); The Show’s The Thing: The Legendary Promoters of Rock (2018); An Art That Nature Makes: The Work of Rosamond Purcell(2015); and Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (2012). Her work has been broadcast on PBS American Masters and showcased in film festivals including The New York Film Festival, DOC NYC (Metropolis Competition Grand Jury Prize winner), Dublin FF, Glasgow FF, SXSW London, Night Visions Helsinki, Calgary Underground, Boulder, Cleveland, Doclands, Doc’n Roll Film Festival London, Asbury Park Music & Film Festival, and the DC Environmental Film Festival, as well as at The Folger Shakespeare Library, MASS Moca and at The Natural History Museum of Denmark. Three of her films have premiered at Film Forum in NYC and been distributed in theaters in the US and the UK. She has produced, directed and edited many commissioned films on contemporary international artists, art collectors, environmental issues, and climate activists. She has an MFA from Columbia University and is on the faculty of University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

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