| Mosaic
of the Commonwealth
Wednesday,
March 17 - Saturday, March 20
For
two weeks in March, International House will celebrate the people
and traditions of the Commonwealth nations. Film, music and
dance presentations will lead up to
a final weekend of conferences, receptions and a gala dinner.
All 53 member nations of the Commonwealth recognize HM Queen
Elizabeth II as their head of state. International House is
honored that HRH The Duke of Gloucester will represent
The
Queen at the Celebration events.
Please
click here
for information about the Community Reception
and 45th Annual Global Gala.
Wednesday,
March 17 at 8:00
PM
Selections
from the National Film Board of Canada
 The
National Film Board of Canada was founded in 1939 by an act
of Parliament to initiate and promote the production and distribution
of films in the national interest, and in particular, to interpret
Canada
to Canadians and to other countries. To this day, the NFB is
generally recognized throughout the worldwide film community
as one of the most important centers for the production of documentary
and animated films.
Begone
Dull Care
dir.
Norman
McLaren and Evelyn Lambart, Canada,
1949, 16mm, 8 mins, color
One
of McLaren’s most famous animated works, this complex, eye catching,
interpretation of a dynamic music score is as improvisational
and melodious as
the
Oscar Peterson soundtrack it reflects.
Lonely
Boy
dir.
Roman Kroitor and Wolf Koening, Canada,
1961, 16mm, 27 mins, b/w
This
acclaimed cinema verite portrait of Ottawa-born singer
Paul Anka captures
the
pop star at the onset of his fame singing in Atlantic City to
hysterical crowds
of
teenagers who hound him for autographs.
Very
Nice, Very Nice
dir.Arthur
Lipsett,
Canada,
1961, 16mm, 7 mins, b/w
Arthur
Lipsett’s first film is a satirical and biting study on contemporary
Western culture employing sound fragments from stock footage,
magazine advertisements and news photos. A surrealist monument
to human folly.
Les
Raquetteurs
dir.
Gilles Groulx and Michel Brault, Canada, 1958, 15 mins, b/w
Michel
Brault, who was an early pioneer of sync-sound experiments and
cinema verite style, made this short with Gilles Groulx about
the International Snowshoe Congress held in Sherbrooke,
Quebec
in 1958. The result is a film detailing some extraordinary moments
of natural social satire.
Blinkity
Blank
dir.
Norman McLaren, Canada,
1961, 16mm, 5 mins, color
Perhaps
McLaren’s greatest technical achievement, the story of Blinkity
Blank involves a bird escaping from a cage and his flight
of freedom— a parable that
is
told not so much by the drawings but implied by the blank spaces
between drawings.
The
Street
dir.
Caroline Leaf, Canada,
1976, 16mm, 11 mins, color
The
Street is an imaginative
and direct statement about aging and death told in
an
unusual technique involving soft light and simple washes of
water color and ink painted on the glass stage of the animation
camera.
How
to Build an Igloo
dir.
Douglas Wilkinson, Canada,
1950, 16mm, 11 mins, color
Two
Eskimos in Canada’s
Far North give a step by step demonstration of igloo construction
in this heroic illustration of man’s ability to use the material
at hand
to
satisfy his basic need for shelter.
Pas
de deux
dir.
Norman McLaren,
Canada,
1967, 16mm, 14 mins, b/w
Pas
de deux uses dancers
from Les Grands Ballets Canadiens to evoke a visual poem of
form and movement in a choreography of dance, cinema and music.
Thursday,
March 18 at 8:00
PM
Walkabout
dir.
Nicholas Roeg, UK/Australia, 1971, 35mm, 100 mins, color
A
meditation on the corruption of civilization and the terrifying
purity of wildness, Nicolas Roeg’s second film concerns two
English children, a teenage girl and her
six-year-old
brother, abandoned in the Australian outback after their father
commits suicide. In the course of their wanderings through the
desert, the brother and sister encounter an aboriginal teenager
who is on his "walkabout"— an initiation ritual involving
months of solo survival. With no common language, the threesome
begins a trek that slowly breaks down their cultural barriers.
Employing a minimum of dialogue, Roeg exhibits his remarkable
skills as both director and cameraman to create an aesthetically
dazzling, near-mystical modern fable.
Friday,
March 19 at 8:00
PM
Commonwealth
Cultural Celebration
Music,
Dance & Cuisine
 First,
taste the flavors of India, Pakistan and Malaysia with food
donated by local restaurants. A cash bar will be provided by
Cafe Habana.
The music
and dance of India will kick off our performances with
NavRang
, featuring two pieces - one will demonstrate two classical
dance styles of India: Bharatnatyam (South Indian style) and
Kathak (North Indian style). The second will be Indian Ballet,
blendng the essence of Indian classical dances Bharatnatyam,
Kathak, Kathakali with Indian semi-classical movements and Western
Ballet. Next, enjoy scenes from The Philadelphia Shakespeare
Festival production of The Taming of the Shrew, followed
by African dance and drumming performed by Moorish , a local
troupe known for their talent of combining traditional pieces
with improvisational components. Finally, we end the evening
with a different style of Indian dance from Sruti .
Tickets are $10.00 for
general admission, $7.00 for International House members, students
and seniors. Available one hour in advance at the International
House box office.
Saturday,
March 20 at 8:00
PM
The
Bed Sitting Room
dir.
Richard Lester, UK,
1969, 35mm, 90 mins, color
 This
black comedy is set in the ruins of England three years after
World War III, and follows a handful of stunned survivors as
they try to push through the post-nuclear rubble as if nothing
has happened. They are hampered by their own occasional mutations
into strange objects (parrots, cupboards and bed-sitting rooms
with grimy windows) and their encounter with a woman who claims
to be 17 months pregnant. This film reunited Spike Milligan
with Harry Secombe, two of the triumvirate (the third was Peter
Sellers) from England 's popular Goon Show.
Film
tickets are $6.00 general admission, $5.00 I House members,
students and seniors. Available one hour in advance at
the International House box office.
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