Saturday,
February 5 ~ Thursday, February 24
Experiments
with Truth
In
recent years, artists’ experimentation with modes of filmmaking
has blurred distinctions between narrative, avant-garde and
documentary film practice. They have also altered traditional
ways that viewers experience film and video
in
the cinema and in galleries. Curated by London based writer
and film theorist Mark Nash, Experiments with Truth
explores the integration and connection between separate yet
overlapping modes of filmmaking as directors present
their
work in gallery spaces, and visual artists experiment with film
traditions.
Throughout
the month of February, International House is pleased to partner
with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Scribe Video Center, The
University
of
the Arts Media Arts Department and Cinema Studies at the University
of Pennsylvania in presenting an extraordinary selection of
films on the vanguard
of
contemporary documentary.
For
more information on the Experiments with Truth
exhibition please visit
The
Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Saturday,
February 5 at 7:00pm
The
Fast Runner (Atanarjuat)
dir.
Zacharias Kunuck, Canada, 2001, 35mm, 172 mins, color, Iinuktitit
w/
English subtitles
Adapted
from an Inuit legend, The Fast Runner centers on Atanarjuat,
a charismatic young hunter struggling for the affections of
Atuat, who has already been promised to Oki, the son of the
camp's leader. This story, as passionate and primal as any film
noir, is framed by the daily lives of the Inuit--a struggle
for survival that is both simple and vivid, foreign yet immediately
understandable.
Sunday,
February 6 at 1:00pm
El
Umbracle
dir.
Pere Portabella, Spain, 1970, 35mm, 105 mins, color, Spanish
w/ English subtitles
Horror
film legend Christopher Lee features in this Godard-like meditation
on repression and violence in Franco’s Spain. Umbracle
combines cinematic icons, old film clips and heavy doses of
Freudian and Marxian theory with beautifully photographed images
of Lee wandering through the streets of Barcelona.
Tuesday,
February 8 at 7:00pm
Director
Isaac Julien in Person
Frantz
Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask
dir.
Isaac Julien, UK, 1996, 35mm, 73 mins, color
Interviews,
reconstructions and archive footage tell the story of the life
and work of the highly influential anti-colonialist writer Frantz
Fanon, a psychiatrist in Algeria during its war of independence
with France and author of Black Skin, White Mask and
The Wretched of the Earth. Initially conceived as a
reflection on the revival of interest in Fanon's ideas about
black visual and performance arts, the film's mandate became
broader to include other aspects of Fanon's influence and legacy.
Presented
in collaboration with Scribe Video Center’s Producers’ Forum
and Cinema Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
Thursday,
February 10 at 7:00pm
Oh,
Man (Oh, Uomo)
dir.
Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi, Italy, 2004, 35mm,
72 mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
Yervant
Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi's third part in the trilogy
on the Great War reworks footage from archives of the Italian
History Museum of War of Roverto and the Trento History Museum
and to create a new poetic narrative
on
the horrors of war.
Sunday,
February 13 at 1:00pm
Two
Films by Amar Kanwar -
Director
Amar Kanwar in person
A
Season Outside
dir.
Amar Kanwar, India, 1998, Beta SP, 30 mins, color
An
urgent, poetic treatise on the deep divisions between India
and Pakistan,
A
Season Outside is Amar Kanwar’s
personal and philosophical journey through the shadows of past
generations, conflicting positions, borders and time zones.
Combining lyrical imagery
and the timely words of Mahatma
Gandhi, the film is a poignant meditation on the source of violence
in the region.
followed
by
A
Night Prophecy
dir.
Amar Kanwar, India, 2002, Beta SP, 77 mins, color, w/ English
subtitles
Filmed
in several diverse territories of India (Maharashtra, Andhra
Pradesh, Nagaland, Kashmir), A Night Prophecy features
the music and poetry of tragedy and protest performed by regional
artists. The sources of anger and sorrow vary from inescapable,
caste-bound poverty to the loss of loved ones as a result of
tribal and religious fighting. The footage is a stunning glimpse
of India’s diverse ethnic groups and topography from the rural
mountains to its crowded urban centers.
Tuesday,
February 22 at 7:00pm
What’s
the Time in Vyborg ?
dir.
Liisa Roberts, USA/Finland, 2004, Beta SP, 100 mins, color,
Finnish
w/
English subtitles
What’s
the Time in Vyborg? unfolds
in a wide spectrum of disciplines ranging from architecture
to education, and engages the complex history and identity
of
Vyborg, a city founded under Swedish rule and has alternated
between Finnish and Russian control. The film’s central focus
is the municipal library, designed by the Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto in the late 1920's. In 2001, the library's auditorium
served as the setting for the creative writing workshop open
to teenagers with the goal of preparing a script based on their
own experiences in Vyborg.
Thursday,
February 24 at 7:00pm
Informe
General
dir.
Pere Portabella, Spain, 1977, 35mm, 158 mins, b/w and color,
Spanish
w/
English subtitles
With
Informe General, Pere Portabella addresses questions
of politics and militancy after the death of Spanish dictator
General Francisco Franco. In the film, returned exiles speak
frankly about the fate of Spain’s democracy after a long dictatorship.
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