Tuesday,
February 26 at 7pm
One
Film
One
Film’s mission is to promote film
literacy and critical viewing by encouraging Philadelphians
to watch, study and discuss the same film. One Film aims to
make free film education available to all of Philadelphia’s
diverse communities and strives to encourage a sense of civic
togetherness through critical dialogue and film analysis. While
several US cities, including Philadelphia, host annual citywide
literacy programs, One Film is the first city-wide film education
initiative in the nation.
One
Film is in partnership with One Book, One Philadelphia,
a project of the Office of the Mayor and the Free Library of
Philadelphia.
From
February 21 to March 6, a single film will be screened and discussed
at schools, libraries, community centers and film venues across
Philadelphia.
Empire
of the Sun
dir.
Steven Spielberg, US, 1987, 35mm, 154 mins, color
 A
beautiful and compelling film directed by Steven Spielberg,
Empire of the Sun presents a vision of war though
the eyes of a child. Jim Graham, a young British expatriate,
is separated from his affluent family during the Japanese invasion
of Shanghai. He eventually finds himself in a Japanese internment
camp, where his experiences are colored by his dream of becoming
a pilot — a dream so intense that he even longs to be inside
the planes of his captors as they fly overhead. Jim’s spirit
and resourcefulness help him develop unlikely friendships with
his fellow prisoners. Through these relationships, Jim begins
to understand issues of class, national identity and death.
Empire of the Sun’s cinematography is spectacularly
rendered, presenting arresting images that encompass both the
brutality and the beauty of wartime China. The contrasts between
these alluring images and their grave subjects mirror the inner
conflicts inside Jim; the result is an intimate coming-of-age
tale with the proportions of a war epic.
Empire
of the Sun was adapted by acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard
from the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by JG
Ballard. Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Christian
Bale, John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson, Empire of the
Sun was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1988 — including
Best Cinematography — and in 1989 received British Academy for
Film and Television (BAFTA) Awards for Best Cinematography,
Best Score and Best Sound.
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