Buon compleanno Michelangelo! It’s the iconic artist’s 550th birthday this year and to celebrate the life of this great mind of the Renaissance, Exhibition on Screen’s Michelangelo – Love and Death is being released in cinemas nationwide from 20th May 2025. Get ready to see Michelangelo like you’ve never seen him before in this intimate yet sweeping account of his extraordinary life.
The spectacular sculptures and paintings of Michelangelo seem so familiar to us but what do we really know about this Renaissance giant? Michelangelo’s genius is evident in everything he touched. Beautiful and diverse works such as the towering statue of David, the moving Pietà in the Papal Basilica of St. Peter and his tour-de-force, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, still leave us breathless today.
Director David Bickerstaff’s Michelangelo – Love and Death spans the charismatic and enigmatic artist’s 88 years and takes viewers on a cinematic journey through the print and drawing rooms of Europe through the great chapels and museums of Florence, Rome and the Vatican to seek out a fresh understanding of this legendary figure’s tempestuous life, his relationship with his contemporaries and his incredible legacy.
Through expert commentary, stunning visuals and Michelangelo’s own words, this film takes a new look at a master artist whose life and genius are celebrated in every mark he made.
The film invites audiences to intimately examine Michelangelo’s art and artistic process from the Carrara marble quarries to the new technology being used to attribute his works. Discover why Michelangelo is, without a doubt, one of the greatest artists of all time.
Beautiful filming locations include Casa Buonarroti in Florence, the Carrara marble mines, the Medici Chapel and the Vatican. Key contributors to the film include world renowned art historians Martin Gayford and Jonathan Jones, Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums Professor Arnold Nesselrath and contemporary artist Tania Kovats.
Michelangelo – Love and Death comes to the big screen in May 2025 to celebrate the 550th anniversary of this renowned artist’s birth.
Notes to Editors: The film is directed by David Bickerstaff and produced by Phil Grabsky as part of the pioneering international series EXHIBITION ON SCREEN. Working with top international museums and galleries, their films offer a cinematic immersion into the world’s best loved art combined with detailed artist biographies.
Michelangelo – Love and Death has a runtime of 91 mins. Watch the TRAILER!
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Exhibition on Screen
2022 represented a milestone for Exhibition on Screen as the award-winning company celebrated a decade of bringing art films to cinemas across the world. It was then in 2023 that it broke box office records with Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition, which became the highest grossing art documentary in UK history. Since its launch, Exhibition on Screen has released over 35 films and sold more than six million cinema seats across the globe – from London to Los Angeles, Berlin to Brisbane.
Exhibition on Screen creates cinematic journeys into the personal and creative lives of history’s best-loved artists and their work. Amongst the roster to date are deep dives into the life and careers of Vermeer, Frida Kahlo, Edward Hopper, Rembrandt, Matisse, Munch and Monet, to name just a few.
David Bickerstaff (Director)
David Bickerstaff is an artist and award-winning filmmaker who founded Atomictv in 1997 as an umbrella organisation for developing digital art projects and collaborations. His documentary work and video installations such as The Lukhang, Hygieia, Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl and Making War Horse have been broadcast in Britain and shown in many international festivals and exhibitions.
David has been collaborating with producer Phil Grabsky at Exhibition on Screen, for a number of years, directing, filming and co-writing feature-length art documentaries including Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition.
He is also the Creative Director at NewAngle Productions, a design practice that produces video installations and interactives for visitor attractions.
Phil Grabsky (Producer)
Phil Grabsky is a BAFTA-winning British documentary filmmaker who has received multiple awards for his directing, writing, producing and cinematography. He and his company Seventh Art Productions are behind My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan, which won more than a dozen awards including Best Single Documentary at the 2022 Television BAFTAs and was also BAFTA nominated for its cinematography. He has made over 250 films which have played in cinemas and on TV and digital platforms worldwide.
In 2009, Phil and his colleagues began work on a new arts genre for the cinema: Exhibition on Screen. This brings major art exhibitions – and the intimate biographies of the artists – to cinema, mainstream television and home entertainment platforms worldwide.
The Guardian newspaper said of Exhibition on Screen: ‘Just occasionally something will crop up that restores your faith in humanity’s future. Exhibition on Screen is a global phenomenon’. Exhibition on Screen now plays in 1500 cinemas and 60+ countries worldwide and has produced 36 films on artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Hockney, Frida Kahlo, Raphael and many more. 2023’s VERMEER – THE GREATEST EXHIBITION is the UK’s most successful documentary film on an artist ever released and is in the top 20 UK documentaries of any genre.
