Deeply moving and powerful documentary about artist Jon Imbers heroic battle with ALS

CARMEL, CA, USA, October 16, 2014 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Carmel, CA— The World Premiere of Imber’s Left Hand, a new documentary about the artist Jon Imber’s heroic battle with ALS, will take place Friday, October 17, 2014 at 6pm at the Carmel International Film Festival, screening at the Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, 4th Ave and Guadalupe St, Carmel.




Directed by Richard Kane, Imber’s Left Hand (2014, 75 min) is a “deeply moving story” (Maine Sunday Telegram) of two artists faced with one’s death and how art and love give them the reasons to live. According to Kane: “I was given the extraordinary privilege of witnessing two lovers grappling with how to squeeze the most out of each moment of life. What a gift Jon Imber and Jill Hoy have left us with.”




In a front page review in the Boston Globe, art critic Sebastian Smee wrote, “this beautiful film … takes the wind out of you. (it's) about more than the legacy of a painter. ... in the end … this was a film ... about love.” Art critic Edgar Allen Beem called it “A Great Triumph!”

The film’s Exective Producer, John D. Eraklis, CEO of Exodus Film Group, is representing the film and will participate in a Q&A following the premiere. “Richard has created an incredibly powerful and moving documentary and I couldn’t be more excited to premiere it at Carmel,” said Eraklis. Also participating in the premiere’s Q&A will be Kay Thomas who has been living with ALS for over 13 years. The ALS Association Golden West Chapter is supporting this world premiere by bringing Kay and her husband Phil Thomas to Carmel audiences. The Thomas’ are retired military veterans, and trying to enjoy life the best they can. Their example of how one couple survives with ALS is an inspiring complement to the story of Jon Imber and his surviving spouse Jill Hoy. “Just because your loved one has ALS, do not fall victim to it,” said Phil Thomas, who served in the medical corps in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield. “Don’t dwell on what you can’t change or the inevitable. Each day is a gift, a chance to be together, to share with friends and family.”




In the summer of 2012, painter Jon Imber was diagnosed with ALS. Imber’s Left Hand tells the story of this artist’s courageous and darkly humorous response to such a sentence. The film traces his adaptations, switching from painting with his right hand to his left, and then to both hands as the condition worsens. Adversity only makes him more determined to paint -- more than 100 portraits in a three-month span. In the film we first encounter Imber in his Somerville, Massachusetts studio. He and his partner, painter Jill Hoy, analyze a self-portrait and talk about the anxiety and terror to come. The painting becomes an unsettling metaphor of Imber’s psychological journey living into his dying through his art.



The way in which Imber carries on against the greatest of odds is at the heart of this portrait. Especially moving is how members of his community rally to his support, dropping by to give his atrophied hands a massage or to bring a dish, as he invites them to have their portrait painted. A spry 93 year old is told by Imber that he will paint him "au naturel". "Does that mean I have to take everything off?" he replies. The session becomes an exercise in Borscht Belt humor as Imber tells him he will do something radical -- paint a portrait series of naked 90 year olds! In the end, Imber’s Left Hand is a testament to the life-giving force that is art and the ability of two people and their community to face an uncertain future with passion and resolve. "A masterpiece of intimacy in the face of tragedy, Imber’s Left Hand is an extraordinary accomplishment in film. It is the eulogizing of the creative force and artistic life of one of America’s leading painters – in his own vibrant voice,” Daniel Kany, Maine Sunday Telegram. Jon Imber passed away on April 17, 2014. See the trailer: https://vimeo.com/91172268



Advanced tickets recommended https://www.eventbrite.com/e/carmel-international-film-festival-tickets-10650226113 Individual tickets available only at the door.

Richard Kane
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Maine Masters