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Screen/Society Screening Schedule

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"Spring 2009 At-A-Glance Schedule"

{last updated: 4-22-2009}

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Screen/Society's Spring 2009 program features several film series, including the Bloomsbury Film Series, Cine-East: East Asian Cinema, French Film Series: 'Love, Past & Present', FVD Showcase (a selection of outstanding recent films, hand-picked by the Film/Video/Digital Program), Full Frame Archive Documentary Series (featuring past winners from the nation's premier documentary film festival), Gotta Go: Ethics in Exile (film & discussion series about the experience of forced exile, whether by political, economic, or natural causes), New Eco-Feminism: The Politics of Food, Quebec Film Festival, and Special Events (combining film screenings with lectures, performances, or panel discussions).

Films will be screened in the Griffith Film Theater
in the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus,
the Nasher Museum Auditorium,
or the Richard White Lecture Hall on East Campus,
and are free and open to the general public.

All Screen/Society events are organized and coordinated by the
Film/Video/Digital Program

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January 2009

M Jan 26 Griffith ( 6pm-6:45pm) | Special Events -- prelude to the 7pm screening!
'Face to Face' -- A public dialogue about copyright, public domain, and filmmaking with public domain expert Jennifer Jenkins and independent filmmaker Nina Paley

Jennifer Jenkins is the director of Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, and Nina Paley is the director of the award winning film Sita Sings the Blues.
Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. This event is free and open to the public.

 

M Jan 26  Griffith ( 7pm ) | FVD Showcase (screening & discussion)
Sita Sings the Blues
 (Nina Paley, 2008, 82 min, USA , in English, Color, 35mm)
Director Nina Paley takes an innovative approach to the typical break-up story with this whimsically animated film. Based on RAMAYANA, SITA SINGS THE BLUES follows two broken relationships: Nina's.– followed by a discussion/Q&A with director Nina Paley + Prof. Srinivas Aravamudan (Dept. of English)!

Betty Boop meets bhangra in Nina Paley's celebrated first feature-length film, which updates the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana by weaving the settings of San Francisco's Potrero Hill and ancient India with the traditions of shadow puppetry, 1920s-era American torch-singing and Bollywood. Five years in the making and the winner of the Best Feature award at the prestigious Annecy Animated Film Festival, Sita Sings the Blues is a beautifully animated East-meets-West visual feast that earns its tagline as "The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told."

The film begins with "Nina" blissfully slumbering in San Francisco with boyfriend and cat: life is good. But, when said boyfriend takes a job in India, painful matters of the heart ensue. Composed of several narrative and musical threads, the film skips delightfully from era to era and style to style. The faceted aesthetic makes the film a true gem, as Paley turns her own breakup into fodder for a tongue-in-cheek update of the Ramayana—the story of the goddess Sita and her star-crossed relationship with Rama. The musical interludes are set to the 1920's jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, whose songs intelligently and nostalgically bring into relief what it means to be a modern, yet hopelessly romantic woman. Sita Sings the Blues succeeds with literal flying colors in showing how an ancient text can transcend societies and generations and be as relevant today as it was 3,000 years ago.

About Filmmmaker Nina Paley: Nina Paley is a longtime veteran of syndicated comic strips, creating "Fluff" (Universal Press Syndicate), "The Hots" (King Features), and her own alternative weekly "Nina's Adventures." In 1998 she began making independent animated festival films, including the controversial yet popular environmental short, "The Stork." In 2002 Nina followed her then-husband to Trivandrum, India, where she read her first Ramayana. This inspired her first feature, Sita Sings the Blues, which she animated and produced single-handedly over the course of 5 years on a home computer. Nina teaches at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan and is a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow.

About Prof. Srinivas Aravamudan: Srinivas Aravamudan received his PhD from Cornell University and has taught at the University of Utah, and at the University of Washington. He joined the Duke English Department in the Fall of 2000. He specializes in eighteenth century British and French literature and in postcolonial literature and theory, and is the director of Duke's John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. His study, Tropicopolitans: Colonialism and Agency, 1688-1804 (1999, Duke University Press) won the outstanding first book prize of the Modern Language Association in 2000. He has also edited Slavery, Abolition and Emancipation: Writings of the British Romantic Period: Volume VI Fiction (1999, Pickering and Chatto). His book, Guru English: South Asian Religion in A Cosmopolitan Language was published by Princeton University Press in January 2006, and republished by Penguin India in 2007. He is working on two book-length studies, one on the eighteenth-century French and British oriental tale, and the other on sovereignty and anachronism. His edition of William Earle's antislavery romance, entitled Obi: or, The History of Three-Fingered Jack appeared in 2005 with Broadview Press.

Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. Special thanks to the Mary Duke Biddle foundation for its support of the FVD Showcase film series.

 

Tu Jan 27  Griffith ( 7pm ) | Gotta Go: Ethics in Exile
The Visitor -- discussion to follow!
(Thomas McCarthy, 2008, 104 min, USA , in English, Color, 35mm)
-- Oscar nominee for Best Actor (Richard Jenkins) at the upcoming 2009 Academy Awards!

In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek, a Syrian man, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go.

In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument's exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter's faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles. As the friendship between the two men deepens, the differences in culture, age and temperament fall away. After being stopped by police in the subway, Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As his situation turns desperate, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost.
-- Followed by a discussion led by Kenan Institute for Ethics Director and immigration expert Noah Pickus, along with Institute Associate Director Suzanne Shanahan and Assistant Director Kim Abels!

Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Film/Video/Digital Program, and the Center for Documentary Studies.

 

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February 2009

M Feb 2 Griffith (8pm) | FVD Showcase—Youssef Chahine Retrospective

Honoring the contributions to World Cinema of the great
Egyptian director Youssef Chahine (1926-2008)

Cairo Station -- newly restored 35mm print!
(Youssef Chahine, 1962, 76 min, Egypt, in Arabic with English subtitles, B/W, 35mm)

In this beautiful classic film from legendary director Youssef Chahine, Cairo's main railroad station is used to represent all of Egyptian society. We see a community comprised of luggage carriers and soft-drink vendors living in abandoned train cars.  A crippled newspaper dealer, Kinawi (played by Chahine himself), falls in love with the beautiful but indifferent Hanuma (Hind Rostom), a lemonade seller who only has eyes for the handsome Abu Sri'.

Swept away by his obsessive desire, Kinawi kidnaps the object of his passion, with terrible consequences.

 One of the decisive turning points in Chahine's long career, Cairo Station marked a new visual daring and embrace of ambitious and controversial subject matter, an attempt to rejuvenate formula-driven mainstream Egyptian cinema by judiciously adding formal and thematic elements from both neorealism and German expressionism.Chahine received international recognition when this masterpiece of sexuality, repression, madness and violence among society's marginalized played at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was nominated for a Golden Bear in 1958.
Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program, Center for International Studies (A.B. Duke Fund), Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC), Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, International Comparative Studies, and Muslim Life at Duke. Special thanks to the Mary Duke Biddle foundation for its support of the FVD Showcase film series.

 

Tu Feb 3 Griffith (8pm) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
(Mikio Naruse, 1963, 111 min, USA, in Japanese with English subtitles, B/W, 35mm)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs by Mikio Naruse is a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko (played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine), who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern postwar Ginza district, and entertains businessmen after work. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. When a Woman Ascends the Stairs shows the largely unsung yet widely beloved master Naruse at his most socially exacting and profoundly emotional.
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Made possible by the Japan Foundation (NY Office).

 

W Feb 4 Griffith ( 8pm ) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Shower -- introduced by Prof. Carlos Rojas (Asian & Middle Eastern Studies)!
(Zhang Yang, 1999, 92 min, China, in Mandarin with English subtitles, Color, DVD)

A beautifully crafted, almost perfectly sustained little drama that skillfully makes a subtle, bittersweet point. Shower is the story of Da Ming (Pu Cun Xin), a successful young Chinese businessman who returns to Beijing from his new home in Shenzhen, in booming south China , after receiving a cryptic postcard from his mentally challenged brother (Jiang Wu) indicating their elderly father (Zhu Xu) has died. It turns out to be a false alarm, and the rest of the movie deals with the way fate conspires to force this somewhat arrogant and emotionally controlled protagonist to come to terms with his family, his lower-class origins and the vital function his now-endangered, family-owned bathhouse served in the vanishing Beijing neighborhood.

Awards:

• International Critics' Award (FIPRESCI) at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival
• Best Film & Best Director at the 2000 Seattle International Film Festival
• Audience Award at the 2000 Rotterdam International Film Festival

Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

M Feb 9 Griffith (8pm) | FVD Showcase--Youssef Chahine Retrospective

Honoring the contributions to World Cinema of the great
Egyptian director Youssef Chahine (1926-2008)

The Sparrow
(Youssef Chahine, 1972, 105 min, Egypt, in Arabic with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

This story of divided loyalties and rampant corruption centers on a family torn by political differences as Egypt is swept into the 1967 Six Day War with Israel . A passionate, incisive social study, The Sparrow was banned for a time in Egypt but remains one of Chahine's most popular films in festivals and retrospectives. The adopted son of a high-ranking police official and brother to a soldier at the front faces a crisis of conscience as he searches for his real father, rumored to be a left-wing activist. Meanwhile his half-brother, stationed on the Sinai front, prepares for battle.

Eschewing traditional narrative in favor of an episodic ensemble piece, The Sparrow's heady combination of realist and expressionist elements is meant to disorient the viewer and evoke Chahine's vision of a country suddenly gone far astray.

Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program, Center for International Studies (A.B. Duke Fund), Duke Islamic Studies Center (DISC), Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, International Comparative Studies, and Muslim Life at Duke. Special thanks to the Mary Duke Biddle foundation for its support of the FVD Showcase film series.

 

Tu Feb 10 Griffith ( 8pm ) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present”
The Duchess of Langeais -- Introduced by Prof. Michele Longino (Romance Studies/French)!
(Jacques Rivette, 2008, 137 min, France, in French with English subtitles, B/W, 35mm)

Antoinette is the Duchess of Langeais, a married coquette who frequents the most extravagant balls in 1820's Paris during The Restoration, where hypocrisy and vanity reign. Upon the handsome general, Armand de Montriveau's first meeting with her, he realizes it is true love from that moment on. Flattered by his attentions, the alluring Antoinette orchestrates a calculating game of seduction, but she repeatedly refuses Montriveau. Despite his sincere romantic declarations, Montriveau's passion remains unfulfilled. When the humiliated Montriveau eventually seeks his revenge, Antoinette's love awakens and it is her turn to become obsessed. Letters, balls, scandal, a kidnapping, and an ultimatum bring her to the cloister and him to melancholy. Is it too late for the star-crossed lovers?
Sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

 

Su Feb 15 White (7pm ) | New Eco-Feminism: The Politics of Food
The Real Dirt on Farmer John
(Taggart Siegel, 2005, 82 min, USA, in English, Color & B/W, DVD)
-- preceded by choir performance, Q&A to follow with local farmers!

The Real Dirt on Farmer John is a personal documentary about John Peterson, a farmer, artist, and eccentric/innovative thinker based in rural Illinois . As the intricate weave of rural America unravels, vicious local rumors turn John into a scapegoat, condemning him as a Satan-worshipping drug-dealer. Threatened with murder, his home burned to the ground, John forsakes his farm and wanders through Mexico , where he is transformed by the soulfulness and pageantry of this ancient land. Mysteriously, his quest leads him back to his hostile homeland

Defying all odds, he gradually transforms his land into a revolutionary farming community, a cultural mecca, where people work and flourish providing fresh vegetables and herbs to thousands of people every week. The Peterson family farm has become Angelic Organics, one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in the United States , a beacon of today's booming organic farming movement. Out of the ruins of single-crop agriculture, John has creates an extended farm village where people and art can thrive alongside agriculture.
With Special Guests: The Common Woman Chorus and local farmers Ben Bergman and Noah Ranells of Fickle Creek Farm, and Portia McKnight of Chapel Hill Creamery!

Winner: Best Documentary Feature at the 2005 Nashville Film Festival, and Special Jury Award at the 2005 Newport International Film Festival!

Sponsored by the Program in Women's Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

M Feb 16  Griffith (8pm) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Age of Assassins
(Kihachi Okamoto, 1967, 99 min, Japan, in Japanese with English subtitles, B/W, 35mm)

A darkly comic spy movie spoof, complete with extraordinary gadgets, femme fatales (Reiko Dan) and supervillains. The film follows Shinji Kikyo (Tatsuya Nakadai), a humble criminal psychology teacher who has in his possession a large diamond originally stolen by the Nazis. Mizorogi (Eisei Amamoto), an ex-Nazi mad scientist who trains patients in his lunatic asylum as assassins, finds out about the diamond and sends his men to hunt down Shinji so he can have the diamond all for himself.

Yet Shinji proves to be more than able to defend himself against these professional killers, leading Mizorogi to believe that Shinji is not just a humble teacher after all. Nakadai's nerdy, aloof, and deadpan teacher works brilliantly in contrast to all the bizarre assassination attempts he and his goofy friend Automo Bill (Hideo Sunazuka) find themselves in. Scenes such as their escape from an artillery target site during a shooting practice blend together clever parody and pure slapstick in ways that only Okamoto could achieve.
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Made possible by the Japan Foundation (NY Office).

  

Tu Feb 17 Griffith (8pm) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present”
Lady Chatterley
(Pascale Ferran, 2006, 168 min, France , in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

One of the most frankly sensual movies in memory, Pascale Ferran's intelligent, deeply moving, and exquisitely photographed Lady Chatterley brings D.H. Lawrence's most celebrated and notorious literary work to the screen in a way that feels bracingly fresh, vital and modern. Robbed of intimacy by her blueblood husband's war injuries, Constance Chatterley longs for the emotional fulfillment and physical passion that her marriage lacks. When she espies the gamekeeper Parkin unselfconsciously bathing, stripped to the waist amidst the beauty of nature, she experiences a sexual awakening unlike anything she has ever dared to desire. Though separated by the boundaries of social convention, rough-hewn Parkin and high-bred Lady Chatterley unite in a love that is simultaneously innocent and erotic, a spiritual connection that transcends personal inhibitions and class prejudices.
Sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

  

M Feb 23 Griffith (8pm) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Postman Blues
(Hiroyuki Tanaka, 1997, 110 min, Japan , in Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

An inspired parody of the gangster genre on the one hand and a virtuoso exercise in storytelling on the other, Postman Blues is a funny, inventive and winning charmer from start to finish. Sawaki is a postman who's less than thrilled with his humdrum existence. But all that changes when he delivers some mail to his old schoolmate Noguchi, who is now a member of the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) and has just finished cutting his little finger off. During their brief encounter Noguchi manages to smuggle a package full of drugs into Sawaki's bag, and his separated finger accidentally falls into the bag as well. Because Noguchi has been under police surveillance the whole time, Sawaki himself comes under suspicion. And when Sawaki befriends a fatally ill hit man, Joe, the police soon have him pegged as a perverse drug dealer, murderer and even Yakuza terrorist!
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Made possible by the Japan Foundation (NY Office).

 

Tu Feb 24 Griffith (7pm) | Gotta Go: Ethics in Exile
The Axe in the Attic – discussion to follow (with the filmmakers in person!)!
(Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, 2007, 110 min, USA, in English, Color, DVD)

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, drawn together by outrage, take a sixty-day road trip from New England to New Orleans . Along the way they meet evacuees and witness the loss, dignity, perseverance and humor of people who have become exiles in their own country. The breakdown of trust between a government and its citizens, the influence of race, class, and gender – as well as the ethics of documentary filmmaking itself – form the backdrop for this universal story of the search for home.  What does it mean to be exiled in your own country? Drawn together by outrage, documentary filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small embark on a sixty-day road trip from New England to Louisiana, and ultimately into the Katrina devastation zone to meet evacuees who have lost their homes. They make the uneasy choice of integrating themselves into the story, "because when you're two white northerners heading South, remaining behind the camera just doesn't feel like an option." When the film opens, it is six months since Katrina hit New Orleans and the levees breached causing the largest internal migration in American history. We first see the eerie beauty and horror of the shattered landscape, draped in heavy fog and emptied of its residents. The story of an American Diaspora unfolds – the displaced struggling with loss of home, family, and culture. Emotions range from deep pain to surprising humor, as filmmakers and subjects tackle questions of race, class, and our government's failure to protect its own.
-- Discussion to follow, led by filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small, along with Associate Director Suzanne Shanahan and Assistant Director Kim Abels from the Kenan Institute for Ethics!
Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Film/Video/Digital Program, and the Center for Documentary Studies.

 

W Feb 25 Griffith (8pm) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present”
Gilles' Wife
(Frédéric Fonteyne, 2004, 103 min, France, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

A woman struggles to hold on to the man she loves in this drama set in the 1930s from Belgian filmmaker Frédéric Fonteyne. Elisa (Emmanuelle Devos) is a housewife who is passionately devoted to her husband, Gilles (Clovis Cornillac), who works in a steel mill. Despite taking care of twin daughters and unfailingly seeing to the cooking and cleaning in their home, Elisa is as adoring of Gilles as she was on the day they met, and she eagerly tends to his ravenous sexual appetite. However, while most men would be thrilled to have a wife like Elisa, after years of marriage she begins to suspect that he might be having an affair with her sister Victorine (Laura Smet) while Elisa is pregnant with their third child. Elisa is too much in love with Gilles to leave him, but while she can accept her husband's faults, neither she nor her husband are certain if this is a casual fling or a love affair that will put an end to their relationship. La Femme de Gilles (aka Gilles' Wife) was adapted from a novel by Madeleine Bourdouxhe.

Certainly one of the most visually magnificent films of recent years, Gilles' Wife succeeds on every level: the story is unique, the direction is liquid and languorous, and the cast is superlative.
Sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

 

Th Feb 26 Love Auditorium/LSRC (7 pm) | Special Events
Adwa: An African Victory – followed by a Q&A with director Haile Gerima!
(Haile Gerima, 1989, 90 min, Ethiopia/USA, in English and Amharic with English subtitles, Color, DVD)
Haile Gerima's latest film, Adwa: An African Victory, recreates the failed Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1896. A professional invading army was defeated by villagers armed only with spears. By nightfall, according to one contemporary account, the Italian army "no longer existed". The war is celebrated amongst black historians and activists because it represents a setback in European colonial efforts known as the Scramble for Africa. The battle of Adwa became a rallying cry in the anti-colonial struggle and an inspirational event for the Pan-African Movement.

Mr. Gerima, who is also a Professor of Film in Washington DC, went to Ethiopia and tracked down elders, historians, priests, poets and singers, who knew of aspects of the war lost to the history books. 20 hours of filmed oral history were distilled into a 90-minute film.


        [See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/africa/543822.stm ]


Sponsored by the Duke Ethiopian Student Transnational Association (DESTA), the Department of History, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Th–Fri, Feb 26-27 Griffith (7pm/9:30pm) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present”
I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)
{Chronicle review by Charlie McSpadden}
– 2 screenings each night, at 7pm and 9:30pm!
** Free for Duke students, $1 for Duke employees, $2 for general admission **
(Philippe Claudel, 2008, 115 min, France, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Sensitive, intelligent drama about the tentative reestablishment of a relationship between two sisters who have been estranged for fifteen years. This powerful story of familial struggles and redemption follows a shell-shocked Juliette (Kristin Scott-Thomas), who returns to live with he young sister Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) after being banished from the family for 15 years. An enormous critical and box office success in France , Scott-Thomas's phenomenal performance has already been singled out by critics for end-of-year award consideration. 
-- Presented by Freewater Films!
Sponsored by the Center French and Francophone Studies, Freewater Presentations (DUU) and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

 

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March 2009

M March 2 Griffith (8pm) | Full Frame Archive Documentaries

In April 2007 the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival partnered with the Duke University Libraries to acquire, archive, and preserve copies of the festival’s award-winning films. As a unique record reflecting the social, cultural, political, and economic realities of our global landscape, these films are valuable resources that benefit both the University and broader scholarly community. The Full Frame Archive at Duke University protects these vivid depictions of our changing world by providing each award-winning documentary film with a safe and permanent home.

The Education of Shelby Knox
(Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, 2005, 76 min, USA, in English, Color, DVD)

Lubbock, Texas has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. The town's solution? A strict abstinence-only education curriculum in the public schools and a fire-and-brimstone preacher who urges kids to pledge abstinence-until-marriage, telling them that True Love Waits…or else. Shelby is a pledger, a politically conservative, deeply religious, fifteen-year old Southern Baptist who joins the Lubbock Youth Commission, a group of high school students representing a youth voice in city government, because she loves politics. But when the teens confront Lubbock 's sexual health crisis and campaign for comprehensive, fact-based sex education, a new world opens up for Shelby . She throws herself into the fight with missionary fervor, struggling to reconcile her newfound political beliefs with her conservative religious views. When the fight widens to include a group of LBGT students who are trying to start a gay-straight alliance, Shelby must make a choice: Stand by and let others be hurt, or go against her parents, her pastor, and even the other teens on the commission, to help the gay kids in their fight?
Sponsored by the Duke University Libraries' Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

W March 4 Griffith (8pm) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present"
A Tout de Suite
(Benoit Jacquot, 2004, 95 min, France, in French with English subtitles, B/W, 35mm)

A stylish, erotically charged thriller, À Tout de Suite is the highly anticipated new film from acclaimed French director Benoit Jacquot (Sade, A Single Girl). Based on actual events, it tells the story of sexy, free-spirited Lili, a Parisian art student who falls for a charismatic bank robber and joins him on the run, a dizzying cross-continent escape through Spain , Morocco and Greece , when a sudden betrayal leaves her stranded in the middle of nowhere. Visually stunning, À Tout de Suite is a mesmerizing account of one woman's breathtaking journey of self-discovery.
Sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

 

Thu March 5 Nasher ( 7pm ) | Bloomsbury Film Series
Mrs. Dalloway
(Marleen Gorris, 1997, 97 min, UK, in English, Color, DVD)

This adaptation of the novel by Virginia Woolf stars Vanessa Redgrave as Clarissa Dalloway, a woman in her mid-'50s living in London five years after the end of WWI. As Mrs. Dalloway prepares an elaborate dinner party at the home she shares with her husband, a prominent politician, she finds herself looking back on her life 30 years before, when as a young woman (played by (Natascha McElhone), she was in love with two different men -- the solid and safe Richard Dalloway (John Standing) and the exciting, free-spirited Peter Walsh (Michael Kitchen).

Clarissa also recalls her close friendship with Sally (Lena Headey) as she wonders if she made the right choice in marrying Richard -- especially when Peter makes an unexpected appearance at her party. Mrs. Dalloway also finds herself moved in a way she never anticipated by the plight of Septimus Smith (Rupert Graves), a young man severely injured during the war whom she has never met.
Sponsored by the Nasher Museum of Art and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

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SPRING BREAK

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M March 16 Griffith (8pm) | French Films--"Love, Past & Present"
Intimate Strangers (Confidences trop intimes)
Patrice Leconte, 2004, 104 min, France, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Anna has an appointment to meet with Dr. Monnier, a psychiatrist, for the first time. She accidentally knocks on the wrong door and ends up instead confessing her marriage problems to William Faber, a tax accountant. Surprised by her mistake, unsettled by her distress and somewhat excited by this unexpected situation, William does not have the courage to tell her that he is not an analyst. As the two begin to meet on a regular basis, a strange ritual develops between them. Anna is comforted by these regular visits and by William's keen ability to listen to her. William is deeply moved by her confessions and fascinated by the secrets that no man has ever heard. At the same time, they exercise ambiguous power over each other. Anna is vulnerable to William's deception, yet she becomes empowered by her confessions. William is morally reproachable and one is never quite sure whether he is a romantic man or a creepy voyeur. Incapable of telling Anna the truth, he is compelled to consult Dr. Monnier, as Anna and William become attracted to each other. Their ambiguous relationship seems seems to hold the promise of turning into a love story, when the two of them meet again years later in the south of France.. .
Sponsored by the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Presented as part of the Tournées Festival, with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC).

 

Tu March 17 Griffith (8pm) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Mind Game
(Masaaki Yuasa, 2004, 103 min, Japan, in Japanese with English subtitles, Color & B/W, 35mm)

This award-winning film is a journey of self-discovery based on Japan 's cult underground comic "Mind Game" by Robin Nishi. The story follows Nishi himself through the life experiences that directly inspired the semi-autobiographical "Mind Game" comic. As a college-age loser addicted to porn and aspiring to write seedy adult comics, Nishi aspires to overcome his addiction to perversion in a tale that is lighthearted yet painful and touching.

What starts off as an innocent meeting between old friends quickly turns into a psychedelic extravaganza, filled with violence, sex, love, redemption, and the infinite possibilities of the human mind. Director Masaaki Yuasa rejoices in experimental animation techniques, filling the screen with virtuoso wackiness, mixing in rough lines and storyboards, then inserting photographic touches.
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the Duke Anime Club, and the Film/Video/Digital Program. Made possible by the Japan Foundation (NY Office).

 

W March 18 Griffith (8pm) | Full Frame Archive Documentaries
The Trials of Darryl Hunt
(Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, 2006, 106 min, USA, in English, Color, DVD)
-- Nominated for 2 Emmy Awards in 2008!
-- Winner of the Full Frame Audience Award in 2006!

The Trials of Darryl Hunt is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system.

This documentary is the culmination of ten years of research and filming. In 1993, inspired by claims of injustice and police conspiracy, the filmmakers began to shoot in North Carolina . Barry Scheck from The Innocence Project, who worked on Hunt's case for ten years, and Gary Wells, professor and eyewitness expert, offer concrete examples where errors occurred in Hunt's saga and offer future remedies and effective ideas to prevent future "Darryl Hunts." Hunt himself addresses the need for systemic reforms to prevent wrongful convictions, underscoring the haunting reality that Hunt could have been sentenced to death and we would never have known this story.
Sponsored by the Duke University Libraries' Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Thu March 19 Nasher ( 7pm) | Bloomsbury Film Series
Howard's End
(James Ivory, 1992, 140 min, UK, in English and German with English subtitles, Color, DVD)

One of the best Ismail Merchant/James Ivory films, this adaptation of E. M. Forster's classic 1910 novel shows in careful detail the injuriously rigid British class consciousness of the early 20th century. The film's catalyst is "poor relation" Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson), who inherits part of the estate of Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave), an upper-class woman whom she had befriended. The film's principal characters are divided by caste: aristocratic industrial Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins); middle-echelon Margaret and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter); and working-class clerk Leonard Bast (Sam West) and his wife (Nicola Duffett). The personal and social conflicts among these characters ultimately result in tragedy or disgrace for some, but the film's wider theme remains the need - in the words of the novel's famous epigram - to "only connect" with other people, despite boundaries of gender, class, or petty grievance.

Though filmed on a modest budget, Howards End offers sets, spectacles, and costumes as lavish as in any historical epic. Nominated for 9 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, the film took home awards for Thompson as Best Actress, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's adapted screenplay, and Luciana Arrighi's art direction.
Sponsored by the Nasher Museum of Art and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Su March 22 White (7pm) | New Eco-Feminism: The Politics of Food
Invisible
(Roz Mortimer, 2006, 63 min, UK, in English, Color, DVD)

We think of the Arctic as a pristine wilderness, and when scientists went to collect breast milk from Inuit mothers, they were expecting to find the purest milk anywhere on earth. But the levels went off the scale. The milk of the Inuit mothers was loaded with chemicals migrating from the south. Invisible tells the story of how man-made chemicals are building up in our bodies and being passed from mother to child. Scientists think that these hormone-disrupting substances are causing havoc with the reproductive systems and neurological health of animals and humans across the planet. And they cannot find a single woman anywhere in the world who does not have these chemicals in her breast milk.

In this beautiful and thought-provoking film, artist and film maker Roz Mortimer leads us on a hypnotic journey to the High Arctic. Using historical texts and contemporary first person accounts, Mortimer explores the traditional relationship Inuit have to the earth and gently challenges our Western relationship to science and knowledge. This poetic and visually stunning film weaves epic scenes of contemporary Inuit life with startling throatsinging performances and staged tableaux vivants set within the frozen Arctic landscape.  

Invisible is driven by a unique musical score including free-yoik from Sami musician Wimme Saari, live and operatic throatsinging from Inuit artist Tanya Tagaq and an exquisite theremin composition from Michael Kosmides. Filmed entirely on Baffin Island, Nunavut, in the communities of Iqaluit and Qikiqtarjuaq.

Featuring the award winning environmental scientist Theo Colborn; the chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference Sheila Watt-Cloutier; and Inuit mothers who offer emotionally charged testimonies; this provocative film resists the conventions of science documentaries and questions how we live in the world today.
Sponsored by the Program in Women's Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

M March 23 Griffith (7pm) | Quebec Film Festival
Familia
(Louise Archambault, 2005, 102 min, Canada, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival, this generational saga explores the age-old question of whether women are destined to be like their mothers. Michele, a divorced aerobics instructor with a gambling addiction, loses her job and seeks refuge with a childhood friend, Janine, who lives in a seemingly comfortable middle-class suburban neighborhood. Michele's rebellious teenage daughter, Marguerite, and Janine's shy and reserved daughter, Gabrielle, become friends, leading to unforeseen tensions that force both generations to reassess their values.

Winner of the 2006 Claude Jutra Award (for best feature film by a first-time film director) at Canada's Genie Awards.
Sponsored by the Center for Canadian Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Tu March 24 Griffith (7pm) | Gotta Go: Ethics in Exile
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
-- Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary at the 2009 Academy Awards!
(Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath, 2008, 95 min, USA, in English and Lao with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)
-- Discussion to follow (with filmmaker Ellen Kuras in person)!

The directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), The Betrayal is a lyrical film that fluidly incorporates archival footage, cinema vérité, revealing personal interviews and visually poetic montages. During the Vietnam War, more bombs were dropped on Laos than were deployed during World War I and World War II combined. Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath have collaborated to create what is at once an epic story of a people brutally vanquished by a dirty war and also an intimate portrait of Phrasavath's own family's struggle to confront the psychic wounds of exile. Beautifully filmed over the course of twenty-three years, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) offers a stirring portrait of life in exile, the far-reaching consequences of war, and the unbreakable bonds of family, as it traces one family's extraordinary journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York .

Director / Co-Writer / Cinematographer /
Producer Ellen Kuras

-- Followed by a discussion, led by filmmaker Ellen Kuras along with the Kenan Institute for Ethics's Associate Director Suzanne Shanahan and Assistant Director Kim Abels!
Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Film/Video/Digital Program, and the Center for Documentary Studies.

 

W March 25 Griffith (7pm) | Quebec Film Festival
Maman est chez le coiffeur
(Léa Pool, 2008, 97 min, Canada, in French with English subtitles, Color, DVD)

Set in the mid-sixties, Léa Pool's vibrant and beautifully crafted Maman est chez le coiffeur focuses on teenaged Élise, who is about to realize that the adult world is not exactly what she thought or hoped it would be. Her principal instructors are her father, the local doctor, and her mother, a frustrated career woman and part-time journalist. A rift between mother and daughter has been growing for a long time, and when a frustrated Élise is disciplined, she begins meddling, sparking her mother's abrupt and angry departure. While the impact of this absence is disastrous for them all, it is especially devastating for Élise, who is now forced to care for her father and brothers.
Sponsored by the Center for Canadian Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Thu March 26 Nasher ( 7pm) | Bloomsbury Film Series
To the Lighthouse
(Colin Gregg, 1983, 115 min, UK, in English, Color, DVD)

Fans of Virginia Woolf will enjoy this adaptation of one of her most celebrated novels. It is a study of a family on their annual holiday. Transition is afoot as one observes the time-held tradition of that holiday against the world on the edge of World War I. Michael Gough performs brilliantly as the autocratic father and husband who imposes his will on his household at a time in early 20th century England when society convulses with changes challenging male domination and class traditions.

Rosemary Harris is affecting as the wife and mother who works hard to keep the family together, earn everyone's love, and find meaning in life. In a pivotal role as Lily Briscoe, who chooses spinsterhood in order to pursue painting, Suzanne Bertish is reserved and understated, but as full of resolve as a quiet volcano. As Mr. Ramsay's guest, atheist graduate student Charles Tansley, Kenneth Branaugh aptly represents the arrogant, assertive male of the times.
Sponsored by the Nasher Museum of Art and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Su March 29 Griffith (8pm) | Full Frame Archive Documentaries
The Monastery
(Pernille Rose Grønkjær, 2007, 84 min, Denmark, Danish with English subtitles, Color, DVD)
-- Winner of the Grand Jury Award & Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival!

A lovvable, eighty-two year old virgin living alone in a dilapidated Danish castle enlists the aid of an ambitious and headstrong Russian Orthodox nun in realizing his lifelong dream of transforming his vast abode into a Russian Orthodox monastery in filmmaker Pernille Rose Gronkjær's heartwarming, and often humorous, documentary. Mr. Vig is an amiable eccentric who finally finds his dream coming to fruition as controlling nun Sister Ambrosija agrees to send a group of nuns and priests to evaluate and develop the site. An unapologetically overbearing woman who has a very precise vision of how the monastery should be run, Sister Ambrosija commences to making a seemingly-endless list of repair demands and the put-upon Mr. Vig implores the filmmaker for advice on dealing with the slightly-boorish bride of Christ.

Despite their initial differences and occasional misgivings, however, Mr. Vig and Sister Ambrosija soon form a unique and exceptional bond as they work together for the good of a common cause.
Sponsored by the Duke University Libraries' Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

M March 30 Griffith (7pm) | Quebec Film Festival
Congorama
(Philippe Falardeau, 2006, 105 min, Canada, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Blood diamonds, world expos, electric cars, long-lost fathers and emus. Such is the stuff of the unlikely world of surefire crowd-pleaser Congorama. Michel, the Belgian son of a paralyzed writer, husband of a Congolese refugee, and father of a future tennis champion, is an erratic inventor misunderstood by his employer. At age 41, he learns that he was born secretly in a barn in Québec, in the town of Sainte-Cécile , and given up for adoption shortly afterward. In the summer of 2000, Michel goes there and finds a sleepy village that soon makes him want to run back home. There, he meets a man who drives a car with a technologically advanced hybrid engine. On their way back to Montréal, an accident changes their lives forever, and what is uncovered will challenge the very future of the automotive industry. Welcome to "Congorama."

Director Philippe Falardeau's second feature playfully interweaves the implausible with the poignant to produce a uniquely satisfying wry comedy. Shown at Film Festivals in Cannes, San Francisco, Seattle, Palm Springs, Toronto, etc. Winner of 5 Jutra Awards and a Canadian Genie Award.
Sponsored by the Center for Canadian Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Tu March 31 White (8pm) | FVD Showcase--'Why Democracy?'
PROGRAM ONE (documentary double feature):
Egypt We are Watching you + Iron Ladies of Liberia

Why Democracy? is a documentary project using film
to start a global conversation about democracy.

Egypt We are Watching you
(Jehane Noujaim and Sherief Elkatsha, 2007, 53 min, USA, in Arabic with English subtitles and English, Color, DVD)

In his 2005 State of the Union address President Bush cited Egypt as the country that would pave the way for democracy in the Middle East . Three women, unable to sit by while their country is on the brink of drastic change, start a grassroots movement to educate and empower the public by raising awareness on the meaning of democracy. They name their campaign Shayfeen.com - “we are watching you.” This film follows the highs and lows of the first year of their movement in Egypt . Insisting that only the people can make change happen, their goal is to educate the Egyptian public on what it takes to build the most basic pillars of democracy: basic human rights, freedom of speech and the establishment of an independent judiciary. Egypt : We are Watching You highlights the importance of ordinary citizens participating in shaping and securing their democracy.         

Iron Ladies of Liberia
(Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson, 2007, 53 min, USA , in English, Color, DVD

After fourteen years of civil war, Liberia is a nation ready for change. On January 16, 2006 , Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was inaugurated President, following a hotly contested election which she won with the overwhelming support of women across Liberia . She is the first elected female head of state in Africa . Since taking office she has appointed other extraordinary women to leadership positions in all areas of government, including the Police Chief and the ministers of Justice, Commerce and Finance. Can the first female Liberian president, backed by other powerful women, bring sustainable democracy and peace to such a devastated country? Iron Ladies of Liberia gives behind-the-scenes access to President Sirleaf's first year in government, providing a unique insight into the workings of a newly elected African cabinet.
Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the Duke University Libraries' Lilly Library.

 

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April 2009

W April 1 Griffith (7pm) | Quebec Film Festival
C'est pas moi, je le jure! (It's Not Me, I Swear!)
– Followed by a Q&A with director Philippe Falardeau!
(Philippe Falardeau, 2008, 105min, Canada, in French with English subtitles, Color, 35mm)

Léon is ten years old, has lots of problems and an overly fertile imagination. Of course, there is Mom and Dad who are always fighting, and those annoying neighbors who get to spend the summer at the beach. And then, there's Léa, the exasperating girl who's always right about everything. In the summer of '68, when Mom decides to leave everything behind to start a new life in Greece , Léon is prepared to do anything to kill the pain. Destroy the neighbors' house, become a professional liar and even, why not, fall in love with Léa. Together, they will overcome the pain of growing up when you feel abandoned.

• Winner of a Crystal Bear for "Generation Kplus--Best Feature Film" at the Berlin International Film Festival!
• Nominated for 7 Jutra Awards (Canada's academy awards), including Best Film, Actress, Screenplay, and Cinematography!

Sponsored by the Center for Canadian Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

M April 6 White ( 8pm ) | Why Democracy
PROGRAM TWO (documentary double feature):
For God, Tsar & Fatherland + Looking for the Revolution

Why Democracy? is a documentary project using film
to start a global conversation about democracy.

For God, Tsar & Fatherland
(Nino Kirtadze, 2007, 52 min, Russia, in English and Russian with English subtitles, Color, DVD)

In an age of multinational corporations and billionaires that control global markets, our traditional understanding of the state as a central figure in world politics has drastically changed. Globalization, in its current form, has rearranged the way global commerce functions. With many countries economically susceptible to the fluctuations of capitalist markets, our understanding of who rules the world has to consider the tremendous influence multinational corporations have. God, Tsar and Fatherland, is set in Russia and provides the perfect setting to witness the achievements and disastrous flaws of capitalism. Emulating his idol, Vladimir Putin, the central figure of the movie Mikhail Morozov owns a village where he attempts to instill Russian patriotism through a hierarchical system of authority

Looking for the Revolution
(Kim Finn, 2007, 60 min, Bolivia , in English, Color, DVD)

Che Guevara died in Southern Bolivia while trying to ignite the sparks of revolution throughout South America . His death at the hands of Bolivian Rangers trained and financed by the US Government, marked the beginning of the cocaine era in Bolivia . Forty years later and under pressure from the masses who gave him a clear mandate, the first indigenous President Evo Morales (an ex-coca leaf farmer) is promising to continue the revolution. He has nationalised the oil industry and passed laws on Agrarian reform. Despite the revolutionary-sounding election speeches and campaign iconography that accompanied his landslide victory, on closer inspection it emerges that the old system is pretty much alive inside the new one. Corruption, nepotism and old-fashioned populism are at the core of this movement. The more Morales does to create employment, the more the landowners conspire against him and paralyse Bolivia 's economy. As a result, no jobs are created and the pressure from the poor increases. The cycle of tension threatens to crush both the country and the indigenous revolution. Looking for the Revolution is about the dynamics of that tension as witnessed by the characters of the film - the struggle for power between landowners and the indigenous movement, and the continuation of a revolution Morales-style, started so long ago.
Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the Duke University Libraries' Lilly Library.

 

Tu April 7 Griffith ( 8pm ) | FVD Showcase -- CANCELLED!
NIGHTWATCHING (Peter Greenaway, 2007, 134 min, UK , in English, Color, 35mm)
This film may get rescheduled for next semester - check our web site in the Fall!

 

M April 13 Griffith ( 7pm ) | Special Events
Bigger, Stronger, Faster* -- documentary screening with discussion to follow
(Chris Bell, 2008, 105 min, USA , in English, Color, 35mm)

Documentarian Chris Bell and his two brothers grew up idolizing Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hulk Hogan, and Sylvester Stallone, and later all three brothers took up body-building. In this film, Bell examines the steroid use of his brothers, and also features professional athletes, medical experts, fitness center members, and US Congressman talking about the issue of anabolic steroids. Beyond the basic issue of anabolic steroid use, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* examines the lack of consistency in how America views drugs, cheating, and the lengths people go to achieve success. This includes looking beyond the steroid issue to such topics as Tiger Woods's laser eye correction to 20/15 vision, professional musicians' use of anxiety reducing drugs, athletes' dependence on cortisone shots (a legal steroid), porn stars' use of Viagra, and even amphetamines for fighter pilots in the Air Force.

''There's a clash in America ,'' says Bell , ''between doing the right thing and being the best.'' Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a portrait of a culture that claims to hate steroids but may, by now, be too pumped to do much about it.
Sponsored by the Women's Center and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Tu April 14 Griffith ( 7pm ) | Gotta Go: Ethics in Exile
Primo Levi's Journey -- Discussion to follow!
(Davide Ferrario, 2006, 92 min, Italy, in English, Italian, German, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Moldavian, Romanian, and Hungarian with optional English subtitles, B/W & Color, 35mm)

Primo Levi's harrowing memoir If This Is a Man appeared in the U.S. in 1959 as Survival in Auschwitz; historians now regard it as the most critically important written conveyance of the horrors within the Nazi concentration camps. But the account in that text only represents half of Levi's story. The other half began after his release from Auschwitz . Instead of simply returning to his native Turin , Levi and 600 others were forcibly shipped east -- thousands of miles away from their homes. Thus began a grueling, trans-national journey that Levi undertook, across war-ravaged Europe and back to Turin -- a journey that took all of 12 months to complete, and that filled him, alternately, with incredulity, anger, wonder, and astonishment -- as he reflected on the meaning of his own survival in the camps. Levi died in 1987; as a tribute to the belletrist and historian, acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davide Ferrario (Far from Rome, Borderline) retraces Levi's route with his cameras in Primo Levi's Journey.

Ferrario travels through Ukraine , Belarus , Moldavia , Romania , Hungary , Germany , and south to his native country, evaluating, at each stop, the sociological climate and the various ways in which Eastern Europe has alternately evolved and remained static over the prior 60 years. Ferrario touches on numerous issues relevant to the contemporary sociopolitical landscape of Eastern Europe , as the Russian satellite countries struggle to develop national identities, and concurrently reflects on the experiences of Levi's original trip. Celebrated Polish filmmaker Andrezj Wajda appears early on and serves as a "tour guide" for one of the first legs of the voyage. -- Followed by a discussion, led by Kenan Institute for Ethics Associate Director Suzanne Shanahan and Assistant Director Kim Abels!
Sponsored by the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Film/Video/Digital Program, and the Center for Documentary Studies.

 

W April 15 White (8pm) | FVD Showcase--‘Why Democracy?'
PROGRAM THREE: Short Films 13 Short Films on Democracy

Why Democracy? is a documentary project using film
to start a global conversation about democracy.

"Short Films 13 Short Films on Democracy"

1. Interferenze (ITALY, Zoe D'Amaro, 12 min)
2. My Body My Weapon (INDIA, Kavita Joshi, 9 min)
3. On The Square (CROATIA, Vanja Juranic, 4 min)
4. Coming of Age (KENYA, Judy Kibinge, 9 min)
5. Famous Last Words (UNITED KINGDOM, Avril Evans, 7 min)
6. Kinshasa 2.0 (DRC, Teboho Edkins, 11 min)
7. You Cannot Hide From Allah (PAKISTAN, Petr Lom, 12 min)
8. Old Peter (RUSSIA, Ivan Golovnev, 8 min)
9. Maria and Osmey (CUBA, Diego Arredondo, 8 min)
10. Feminine, Masculine (IRAN, Sadaf Foroughi, 9 min)
11. Don't Shoot (SOUTH AFRICA, Lucilla Blankenberg, 11 min)
12. Three Blind Men (INDIA, Kanu Behl, 7 min)
13. Miss Democracy (SPAIN, Virginia Romero, 9 min)

For film descriptions, see: http://www.whydemocracy.net/films/2

Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program and the Duke University Libraries' Lilly Library.

 

Su April 19 White (7pm) | New Eco-Feminism: The Politics of Food
The Gleaners and I
(Agnès Varda, 2000, 82 min, France, in French with English subtitles, Color, DVD)

Agnès Varda's warm, funny, inventive documentary is both a diary and a kind of extended essay on poverty, thrift and the curious place of scavenging in French history and culture. The aesthetic, political and moral point of departure for Varda is gleaners, those individuals who pick at already-reaped fields for the odd potato, the leftover turnip. Her investigation leads us from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris . Varda's gleaners retain a resilient, generous humanity, which is clearly brought to the surface by her own tough, open spirit. The film is studded with found metaphors and serendipitous insights.
Winner for Best Documentary at the 2000 European Film Awards and the 2002 National Society of Film Critics Awards (USA)!
Sponsored by the Program in Women's Studies and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

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2 Special Screenings with Korean director Yim Sunrye (April 20 & 21)!

Yim Sunrye earned a Masters in Film Studies at the University Paris 8 in France. Her short Promenade in the Rain (1994), won prizes at Seoul, Clermont Ferrand, and Fribourg film festivals. Her first feature Three Friends (1996) won the award for best Asian film at the first Pusan Film Festival, and played at many festivals including Berlin, New Directors/New Films, Vancouver, Seattle, Melbourne and Karlovy Vary. Yim’s second feature film, Waikiki Brothers (2001), also played at major film festivals around the world, and her latest film, Forever the Moment (2008) was awarded the prize for Best Picture at South Korea's Blue Dragon Film Awards!

Yim's work signals the emergence of a new sensibility in contemporary Korean cinema, characterized by its own aesthetic world emphasizing 'individuality' and 'the everyday'.

 

 

 

 

M April 20 Griffith ( 7pm ) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Waikiki Brothers -- Followed by a discussion with director Yim Sunrye and Prof. Nayoung Aimee Kwon (Asian & Middle Eastern Studies)!
(Yim Sunrye, 2001, 109 min, S. Korea , in Korean with English Subtitles, Color, 35mm)

An intelligent, funny yet ultimately tragic film about chasing after an unattainable dream. In the days before karaoke, the members of a band which started out playing high-school hops have parlayed those beginnings into a career of sorts touring the rock-cabaret circuit. Now the band, down to a trio, is reaching the end of the line.

They find themselves with a residency at the Waikiki Club in the town where it all began (Suanbo, a once fashionable hot-spring resort) and where Sung-Woo, the only founding-member left, faces constant reminders of the idealistic kid he used to be.
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

Tu April 21 Griffith (7pm) | Cine-East: East Asian Cinema
Forever the Moment (Yim Sunrye, 2008, 124 min, S. Korea, in Korean with English Subtitles, Color, 35mm)
-- Followed by a conversation with Yim Sunrye and Professors Nayoung Aimee Kwon and Guo-Juin Hong of AMES and Professor Maria Pramaggiore of NCSU!

Forever the Moment is a fictionalized account of the real-life Korean women's national handball team which against all odds reached the finals at the 2004 Athens Olympics Game. The world witnessed a true miracle as these fierce underdogs strode past the nonbelievers and proudly battled it out against the powerhouse Denmark team in a decisive game. Director Yim Sunrye (Waikiki Brothers) presents an inspirational saga that travels beyond the typical sports film, weaving a touching humanistic tale about ordinary women and their remarkable journeys.

Kim Hye-kyeong stars as a retired handball player who has been successfuly coaching in the Japan Handball League. When the coach of South Korea's women's national team suddenly quits, she is asked to fill in, but is faced with an undisciplined squad of players. Hye-kyeong tries to improve the team by recruiting some of her old teammates, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Han Mi-sook. However, Hye-kyeong's aggressiveness causes friction amongst the players, and she is replaced by former men's handball star Ahn Seung-pil, though she decides to stay with the team as a player. Seung-pil introduces modern European training methods which brings him into conflict with the older players, and things get worse when they lose a game against a high school boy's team. 
-- Winner for Best Picture at South Korea's Blue Dragon Film Awards!
Sponsored by the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

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New Date & Time: Wed April 22 Griffith ( 7:30pm ) | Special Events
Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina
– followed by a Q&A with Executive Producer Steven Channing, director Lue Simopoulos, and writer Leonard Rogoff!
(Lue Simopoulos, 2008 , 83 min, USA , in English, Color, DVD)

This new documentary, Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, provides a unique view of Jewish emigration to, and life in North Carolina. The film illustrates how the Jewish search for opportunity and religious freedom played out in a region that, while deeply rural and impoverished, was also ready for growth and change. Jews, an immigrant people, were welcomed to communities that were overwhelmingly conservative and Christian. They maintained a multicultural identity as local citizens and neighbors and as members of a global Jewish community.

For more than three centuries Jews have helped transform the culture and economy of North Carolina , while the state's rich southern culture has resonated strongly with these immigrants to Dixie.
-- Note the time change: this event will now start at *7:30pm*!
Sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies, the Jewish Heritage Foundation of NC, and the Film/Video/Digital Program.

 

F April 24 Griffith (5pm-12am) | Special Events
Student Film Showcase
"The best of the current crop of student films produced at Duke this semester."
Sponsored by the Film/Video/Digital Program, the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the Center for Documentary Studies, and Freewater Productions (DUU).

 

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Related Event: 2 day conference (with screening)
From the Reel to the Virtual: The Past & Future of the Moving Image
{Download PDF poster with more details}

Th April 30 Nasher (5pm)
Special Screening: Films of Malcolm Le Grice (on 3 screens)
-- discussion with the filmmaker and reception to follow!

 

F May 1 0012 Westbrook (9:30am-5:30pm)
Symposium - 2 hours sessions at 9:30am, 1pm, and 3:30pm

Sponsored by the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image (FVD), Information Science + information Studies (ISIS), and the Visual Studies Initiative.

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Have questions about our schedule? Contact Hank Okazaki at hokazak@duke.edu