An exhilarating chronicle of the creation of an artwork from conception to realization, Running Fence follows the efforts of two artists working with a skeptical community to achieve their vision: a 24-mile fabric fence int eh California hills. The creative vision of French conceptual artists Christo and his wife and partner, Jean-Claude—more recently known for their project to wrap the German Reichstag in Berlin, in 1995—bumps up against an arduous process that includes eighteen public hearings, three sessions in the Superior Courts of California, the drafting of a 450-page Environmental Impact Report, and agreements for temporary use of fifty-nine separate parcels of privately owned ranch land. The artists persevere, and the completed work has become an acknowleged masterpiece.

Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, this film explores the life and work of Arshile Gorky, who fled his native Armenia during hte Turkish persecution in 1920 and whose poetic, deeply personal work anticipated Abstract Expressionist painting and became a key influence on fellow artists who formed the New York School. Gorky's life and art are examined through archival footage and photographs, supplemented with readings from his letters and interviews with family and associates (including gallerist Sidney Janis and Elaine and Willem de Kooning).