Screen/Society in the News - The Independent Weekly February 7, 2007

Wiseman's "Near Death" photo
Indy srticle about Screen Society
Frederick Wiseman's Near Death will be shown at Duke's Screen/Society on
March 25.


Photo courtesy of Screen Society

Perhaps the most fascinating film event happening in the Triangle this spring is not taking place in a commercial theater or being regularly advertised in any newspaper. For all the new releases, perennial festivals, charitable events and IMAX eye-candy available for community consumption, the Screen/Society film series at Duke University is a hidden gem, a showcase for classic domestic and international cinema that doubles as a kind of free, seasonal film school for the general public, cinephiles and neophytes alike.

The Screen/Society brand dates back to the early 1990s, but its current incarnation began in 2001 under the auspices of Duke's Film/Video/Digital program. Hank Okazaki assumed the post of F/V/D's Exhibitions Programmer the next year and set out developing Screen/Society into its current semester-long, biannual format.

With Okazaki's evolving expertise and the program's increased on-campus profile has come a more diverse, dramatic array of films. "What is special about Screen/Society," says Okazaki, "is its freedom to collaborate with other university departments and centers and access their resources. Film/Video/Digital supplies logistics and they help provide ideas and funding."

Comprising approximately 40 films, this spring's Screen/Society began Jan. 16 and has already provided a number of highlights. A tribute to Oscar-winning cinematographer Sven Nykvist showcased a double feature of Louis Malle's Pretty Baby and Ingmar Bergman's Persona. The "WWII in French Cinema" series, co-sponsored by Duke's Center for French and Francophone Studies, launched with a screening of Rene Clement's Forbidden Games and a 35mm screening of Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows.

The Asian/Pacific Studies Institute is co-sponsoring the series "Cine-East 9: New East Asian Cinema," which after starting out with the anime hit Spirited Away and action thriller Full Time Killer will segue into a number of contemporary Asian documentaries and a 35mm screening of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Barren Illusion on Feb. 13.

Increased funding for the Film/Video/Digital department has also afforded Okazaki the ability to place a heavier emphasis on obtaining rare 35mm prints of most of the films screened by Screen/Society. "In the case of Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville, the film's rights-holder in the U.S. doesn't have a [35mm] print, so we had to arrange to get a copy through the French embassy in New York."

On Feb. 27, Screen/Society will team with the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival to present a double feature of short films addressing the topic of Surveillance: Documentary and the Hidden Camera, followed by a panel discussion moderated by David Paletz, political science professor at Duke and director of the Film/Video/Digital program. A series on International Science Fiction will bring Werner Herzog's Wild Blue Yonder on March 21 and a restored 35mm print of the classic Godzilla on April 25. And, a four-film retrospective on documentarian Fredrick Wiseman, who will be speaking at Duke on March 26, will begin March 19 with Law and Order, followed by Titicut Follies (March 21), Nasher (March 24) and the six-hour, rarely seen Near Death (March 25).

Those in search of more mainstream fare may prefer the Kenan Institute for Ethics' "Morality of Power" series, which begins on Feb. 21 with Stephen Gaghan's oil opera Syriana and will later show Steven Spielberg's Munich, the Oscar-winning Crash, and a 35mm print of the seminal Battle of Algiers (April 11). —Neil Morris