ADIEU LACAN (2022)
Starring David Patrick Kelly & Ismenia Mendes
A young woman Seriema, who is trying to understand why her path to motherhood has reached an unbearable impasse, travels to Paris to do psychoanalysis with the maverick French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.
A Hole in One (2004)
Starring Michelle Williams, Meat Loaf, & The Wire’s Wendell Pierce
1953, a woman living in an abusive relationship in a small town with a local gangster decides that a lobotomy will solve her problems.
The Caller (2008)
Starring Elliott Gould, Frank Langella
An energy business exec is assisted by a private investigator in his effort to expose his corporation's corrupt practices.
Fred Won’t Move Out (2012)
Starring Elliott Gould, Fred Melamed
With levity and sadness, two grown children and their aging parents struggle with the decision whether the older generation should stay in the house where they have lived for fifty years.
Foreclosure (2014)
Starring Michael Imperioli, Wendell Pierce, Bill Raymond
The story of a family striving to stay together while a curse and the ghosts of a haunted house try to tear them apart.
The Dark Side (2015)
Starring Ali Ahn, Edoardo Ballerini, Chris Bamburry
Half romantic comedy, half documentary, a unique take on Hurricane Sandy with exclusive footage by a first responder shot as his own neighborhood goes up in flames.
No Human is Illegal (2018)
A personal encounter with the world of the refugees currently detained on the Greek island of Lesvos.
“The most beautiful thing on the black earth...is what you love.”
Latest Blog Posts by Richard C. Ledes
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About American Film Director Richard C. Ledes
Producer, director and writer Richard C.Ledes has built a unique body of work that frequently draws on his interest for psychoanalysis and madness–both individual and group. Ledes’ film THE CALLER, starring Frank Langella, Elliott Gould and Laura Harring, won Best NY Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition to Langella, Gould and Harring, his films frequently have starred among the biggest names in independent cinema, including Michelle Williams, Michael Imperioli, Wendell Pierce and David Patrick Kelly.
His background directing experimental plays in Paris led to writing on performance art for Artforum. His first feature film A HOLE IN ONE, set in 1953, starring Michelle Williams, about a woman who wants a lobotomy, originated in a piece of performance art. Ledes based the performance on the psychiatric records of his mother’s brother, a WW2 veteran who suffered a psychotic break upon his return to civilian life.
Ledes holds a doctorate in comparative literature from NYU, where he wrote a dissertation on the rise of mental healthcare in the U.S. after WWII. The rise was premised on the needs of returning veterans. This in turn transformed the place of mental healthcare in popular American literature and culture of the period. During his research he volunteered at an outpatient center for the severely mentally ill and became the assistant-director of their theater program. This combination of a personal connection to a film’s theme with research into its broader social significance remains an important dimension of his work.
Psychoanalysis, particularly the work of Jacques Lacan, first entered his work at this time and has remained a significant influence. His most recent film, ADIEU LACAN, tells the story of an analysis conducted by Jacques Lacan in the 1970s. He is currently at work on V13, a film about Vienna just before WW1 whose principal characters include Adolf Hitler and Sigmund Freud. In addition to his feature films Ledes continues to make short and essay films as well as continuing to write.
At a major cultural institution in New York City, I once served on a committee that had been tasked with making recommendations as to what kind of seating should be installed in new screening rooms they were planning to build.