Gates: [DVD] [2008] [NTSC] [UK Import]

The Gates chronicles the evolution and controversy of one of the largest public installations in history. In 1979, environmental artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, proposed to install a golden river of 7,503 fabric-panelled gates in Central Park. Released for the first time in the UK, Antonia Ferrera and Albert Maysles film follows the artists twenty-six year commitment to transform the winter darkness of the iconic park into a garden of light and colour. Originally rejected, the project generated huge controversy, ensuring battles waged both amongst the people of New York and a media hungry for sensation. After decades of wrangling Christo and Jeanne-Claude s twenty-three miles of saffron-coloured vinyl gates was approved in 2003, at a cost of 21 million dollars, opened in February 2005. The Gates attracted over 4 million people from around the world before the installation closed just two weeks later. The Gates is a landmark film weaving together behind-the-scenes footage of the artists early meetings and public hearings to promote the project, in addition to archive material and stunning shots of Central Park to show the installation s journey. The artists became iconic after wrapping the Reichstag in Germany, and since the death of Jeanne-Claude in 2009, there has been a renewed appreciation of their visually impressive and often controversial art.