Lisa Cholodenko

High Art

High Art

In a revelatory performance, Ally Sheedy stars in writer-director Lisa Cholodenko’s debut feature, a wry and incisive look at the politics of the New York art scene wrapped in the guise of an emotionally spiky queer romance. When Lucy Berliner (Sheedy), a once prominent photographer who has retreated into a life of heroin abuse with her faded-actress lover (Patricia Clarkson), is rediscovered by Syd (Radha Mitchell), an up-and-coming editor at a photography magazine, professional ambition and personal attraction become dangerously entwined. Stripping away art-world glamour to tell a seductive yet troubling story of complicated human connection, High Art stands as an essential work of both queer and 1990s independent cinema.

High Art was restored by the Academy Film Archive and the UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with the Sundance Institute. Funding provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Frameline, the Sundance Institute, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1998
  • 102 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.85:1
  • English
  • Spine #1314

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Lisa Cholodenko, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Cholodenko
  • New conversation between Cholodenko and filmmaker Karyn Kusama
  • New interviews with actors Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell and photographer JoJo Whilden
  • Dinner Party (1997), a short film by Cholodenko
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic B. Ruby Rich

    New cover by Anthony Gerace featuring photography by JoJo Whilden

Purchase Options

Coming soon, available Jun 16, 2026

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, supervised and approved by director Lisa Cholodenko, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
  • Audio commentary from 2004 featuring Cholodenko
  • New conversation between Cholodenko and filmmaker Karyn Kusama
  • New interviews with actors Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell and photographer JoJo Whilden
  • Dinner Party (1997), a short film by Cholodenko
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by critic B. Ruby Rich

    New cover by Anthony Gerace featuring photography by JoJo Whilden
High Art
Cast
Ally Sheedy
Lucy Berliner
Radha Mitchell
Syd
Gabriel Mann
James
Patricia Clarkson
Greta
Bill Sage
Arnie
Anh Duong
Dominique
David Thornton
Harry
Tammy Grimes
Vera
Credits
Director
Lisa Cholodenko
Written by
Lisa Cholodenko
Produced by
Dolly Hall
Produced by
Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte
Produced by
Susan A. Stover
Associate producer
Lori E. Seid
Director of photography
Tami Reiker
Production designer
Bernhard Blythe
Editor
Amy E. Duddleston
Casting
Billy Hopkins
Casting
Suzanne Smith
Casting
Kerry Barden
Music supervision
Tracy McKnight
Music
Shudder to Think