| 1998 Festival Guide
Festival Highlights
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
The Festival offers the first U.S. retrospective of Haitian-born international filmmaker Raoul Peck. Born in Haiti in 1953, Peck was educated in Haiti, Zaire, and France, and received his film degree from the Berlin Academy of Film and Television in 1988. Though the majority of his works focus on Haiti, others address the universal issues of cultural displacement and the complexity of the human condition.
 |
|
Man By the Shore
|
Peck's work does not fit into the standard film categories of "documentary" and "dramatic" cinema; he has drawn inspiration from John Cassavetes, Charles Burnett, and Rainer Fassbinder, and these influences are evident in his feature works, in which drama and documentary infuse each other. Peck explores the horrors of the Duvalier dictatorship in the dramatic feature "Man By the Shore," the first Haitian entry into competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and in his documentary "Haiti -- Silence of the Dogs." In "Lumumba: Death of a Prophet" and "Chère Catherine...," a meditation about his final months as Haiti's Minister of Culture, Peck takes a personal approach to questions of history, in contrast to his more starkly political films.
In addition to presenting Peck's noted works, the Festival will feature the first public presentation of his student production "Merry Christmas Deutschland," and will unveil his recent feature "Corps Plongés," set in New York City.
Special Section: Haiti
In conjunction with the exhibition Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, on view at the Museum through January 3, 1999, the Festival will showcase a selection of outstanding films, ranging from the classic to the contemporary, that offer a counterpoint to the typically exoticized Hollywood images of Haiti and the practice of Vodou. This series includes a range of Haitian and non-Haitian filmmakers who provide a multi-dimensional view of Haitian religious, cultural, and political life.
The Festival will screen rarely seen footage by anthropologist Melville Herskovits, "Life in a Haitian Valley," as well as avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren's work realized as "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti." Other depictions of Vodou include an exploration of its African origins in "Voodoo Dance," and of its practice in the diasporic community of Brooklyn, New York, in "Legacy of the Spirits." Traditional approaches to healing and the politics of health are addressed in "Breaking Leaves" and "Put Your Feet in Water," while "Rezistans" presents a searing look at the U.S. government's involvement in Haitian politics.
"From Sand to Celluloid": Australian Indigenous Media
Australia's indigenous peoples have been the subject of thousands of films, yet only in the last decade have they begun to work as mediamakers themselves. This year marks the centenary of anthropologist Alfred Cort Haddon's expedition to the Torres Straits Islands, in northern Australia, where he produced what some regard as the first ethnographic films of the dances of Mer Islanders. Almost a century later, one of the Islanders' descendants, Eddie Mabo, used that footage as evidence in his landmark indigenous land-rights case, as seen in Terence Graham's "Mabo: Life of an Island Man." "Cracks in the Mask," "Milerum," and "Conversations with Dundiwuy Wanambi" assert cultural and political sovereignty, and document profound community change.
Night Patrol
|
"Night Patrol" and "Manyu Wana" were created by the Warlpiri Media Association, one of the first video production groups developed by remote, traditional communities. The Association's work inspired a government program that has become a lively source of support for indigenous media work in the outback; its story is told in "Look, Listen, Speak." "No Way to Forget," produced out of an initiative to give professional support to emerging Aboriginal filmmakers, is an impressionistic "film noir" dealing with an investigation of Aboriginal deaths in police custody. The "Dreaming Series" uses animation to represent the ancient "dreamtime" stories that are the backbone of Aboriginal cultures.
The works in this program represent the remarkable development of indigenous media in Australia over the last decade. They are as diverse as Aboriginal life in the past and present.
Relocating "Home": New Documentaries from Taiwan
Since martial law was lifted a decade ago, Taiwanese documentary makers have been overturning institutional and formal cinematic conventions to present alternative visions of Taiwan's past, present, and future. These efforts outside mainstream commercial media are recognized in this series of compelling, taboo-breaking works. The works, which range from ethnographic fieldwork to insiders' accounts, examine the individual psyches and communal identity of a multi-faceted society in the process of redefining itself, and expose the harmonies between Taiwan's conflicting impulses. The films variously document the inner worlds of a disappearing rural village ("Passing through My Mother-in-Law's Village"), a prisoner on death row ("Coming Home"), an albino community ("Moon Children"), a mother-son relationship expressed through their work in traditional and avant-garde theaters ("A Miscellaneous Life"), and shanty dwellers stranded in Taiwan after leaving mainland China forty years ago ("Chen Tsai-gen and His Neighbors"). Two titles about indigenous peoples, "As Life, As Pang-cah" and "Mother of the Tribe", represent a counterpoint to earlier, sinocentric views of Taiwan's native tribes. YiLing Mao is guest curator.
All programs are subject to change.
____________________________________
Please note: All non-English language works include English subtitles or voice over, unless otherwise indicated.
Back to Top
Friday, November 6
Auditorium
7:00 p.m. Program M4
Opening Night
Délits Flagrants (Caught in the Act) (France)
Raymond Depardon. 1994. 105 min. 35mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
In this hyper-real look at the interior of the French justice system, Depardon starkly captures the anxieties of the State, as we sit in the antechamber of the procurator-general and view the interactions between petty criminals and the Paris police.
Raymond Depardon is one of Europe's leading photojournalists and filmmakers. Co-founder of the Gamma photo agency in 1966, he is also a member of the Magnum Photo Group.
Discussion with director.
Presented in cooperation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Cultural Services of the
French Embassy, NY; Pascale Dauman; Anne-Catherine Louvet, and Véronique Godard.
Back to Top
Saturday, November 7
Kaufmann Theater
12 noon Program M5
Animal Tales
The True Story of Warthog (Prawdziwa Historia Guzca) (Poland)
Krzysztof Wierzbicki, Tomasz Zygadlo. 1997. 23 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
To some it is the dove, to others it is the warthog that represents peace and freedom. Some of this story is true -- a warthog from the Warsaw Zoo was in fact promised to the San Diego Zoo. Upon its escape, however, it became a mythic character embodying different popular sentiments. This is a farcical, absurdist story about national symbols and the power of asserting "truth" through jargon.
Animalicious (U.S./U.K.)
Mark Lewis. 1998. 52 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Can a squirrel terrorize a community? Can a parakeet break a man's neck? Strange, seemingly impossible, but true. From the maker of "Canetoads" and "Rat" comes a tale of malicious animal encounters. Through the use of reenactment and real confessional interviews, the film plays with viewers' sense of credibility and challenges assumptions about "natural" human and animal behavior.
(Repeated Thursday, November 12, Orientation Center, Program M49 )
2:15 p.m. Program M6
The Body Beautiful
Children of Gaia (Gaias Børn) (Denmark)
Bente Milton. 1998. 50 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
A highly stylized documentary that interweaves a historical overview of Western responses to "deformity" with contemporary portraits of individuals who live with a range of disabilities. The film challenges conventional standards of physical normality and beauty, and questions the role of "scientific" technologies that eradicate human differences. Discussion.
Gracious Curves (Finland)
Kiti Luostarinen. 1997. 52 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
In Western society older women were once revered and respected. Now we worship youth, and women refashion themselves to stay forever young. This is a cinematic journey and provocative expository film about women, their bodies, and aging.
(Repeated Tuesday, November 10, Kaufmann Theater, Program M32)
5:00 p.m. Program M7
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Lumumba: Death of a Prophet (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Raoul Peck. 1991. 69 min. 16mm film. B&W;.
Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister elected after Congolese independence in 1960, was assassinated only ten months after taking office. One of the legendary figures of modern African history, he has been described both as a prophet and as the "Elvis Presley of African politics." Using archival films, interviews with Belgian journalists and Lumumba's family members, and his own home movies taken during his childhood in Zaire, Peck masterfully blends the personal and the political to question the process of documentary filmmaking and the relationship between private recollection and public history.
Discussion with director.
Co-presented with the African Film Festival.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Kaufmann Theater, Program M57)
7:00 p.m. Program M8
The Mohawk Series I
My Name is Kahentiiosta (Canada)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1995. 30 min. 16mm film.
With the simple statement "My name is Kahentiiosta" and the refusal to use an English name during her trial, Kahentiiosta became a symbol of Mohawk resistance to the Canadian government. This is an intimate look at the 1990 Kanehsatake stand-off and the politics of indigenous land and civil rights viewed through Kahentiiosta's part in the revolt and in the now infamous Oka Trial.
Discussion with director.
Spudwrench-Kahnawake Man
|
Spudwrench-Kahnawake Man (Canada)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1997.58 min. 16mm film.
The Mohawk "high steel" workers are legendary for their part in building New York City. This film celebrates these men and the loved ones they were forced to leave at home and looks at their ties to the reservation and how that bond was tested during the 1990 territorial dispute between the Mohawk community and the Canadian government.
Discussion with director.
(Repeated Tuesday, November 10, Kaufmann Theater, Program M31)
Back to Top
Saturday, November 7
Linder Theater
12 noon Program M9
Special Section: Haiti -- Healing & Health
Breaking Leaves (Haiti)
Karen Kramer. 1998. 30 min. Video. World Premiere.
A journey through the Haitian countryside with traditional healers provides insight into the country's long tradition of holistic medicine.
Discussion with director.
Put Your Feet in Water: Haitians, Health Care & AIDS (U.S.)
Paul Stern. 1991. 52 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
In 1982, the Centers for Disease Control declared that Haitians were carriers of the HIV virus. The Haitian community organized and collectively challenged this culturally insensitive policy, which for the first time labeled an ethnic group, rather than a behavior, as a risk factor in the spread of disease. This video offers a powerful look at the link between the politics of public health and the experience of Haitian patients at a health clinic in Boston, Massachusetts.
Discussion with producer/director Paul Stern and associate producer Patsy Baudoin.
2:45 p.m. Program M10
Money Talks
Our Friends at the Bank (Nos Amis de la Banque) (France)
Peter Chappell. 1997. 90 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Negotiations among representatives of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Ugandan government set the stage for this rare insider's look at how international lending organizations formulate the strategies and policies that determine financing for "developing countries."
Discussion.
5:00 p.m. Program M11
Relocating "Home": New Documentaries from Taiwan
Moon Children (Taiwan)
Wu Yii-Feng. 1990. 63 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Wu Kuo-Hwang was fired because he looked like a "ghost." In Taiwan, albinoism often means being ostracized from mainstream society. This keenly sensitive film breaks down commonplace prejudices about albinos and looks at the Taiwanese albino community's efforts to improve its rights and provide a much needed support network by founding the National Albino Association. This work stands as a social and cinematic landmark in Taiwan's communal media efforts.
Discussion with director.
(Repeated Wednesday, November 11, Orientation Center, Program M42)
7:00 p.m. Program M12
Portrait
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (U.S.)
Don McGlynn. 1997.78 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Jazz composer and musician Charles Mingus drew inspiration from Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and "the way the waiter spoke to me at dinner." Weaving together recently discovered photographs and performance footage from the 60s and 70s with present-day musings from band mates and wives, this video presents Mingus in all his shapes and guises.
Discussion with Sue Mingus.
(Repeated Monday, November 9, Kaufmann Theater, Program M25)
Back to Top
Saturday, November 7
People Center
1:00 p.m. Program M13
It's the "Principal"...
Heart of the Country
|
Heart of the Country (Japan)
Leonard Kamerling. 1997. 90 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
While Shinichi Yasumoto is the principal of the local school in Kanayama, a rural town in central Hokkaido, Japan, his charisma, passion for learning, and commitment extend far beyond the classroom. This extraordinary observational work explores the relationship between this man and his community. The film was made in collaboration with the residents of Kanayama.
Discussion with director.
(Repeated Sunday, November 8, Linder Theater, Program M19)
3:30 p.m. Program M14
Only the Lonely
So It Doesn't Hurt (Poland)
Marcel Lozinski. 1998. 46 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
In rural Poland in the 1960s a journalist, photographer, and film crew visited the community outcast -- a young, single, woman farmer with a penchant for literature. Twenty-three years later, another journalist and the same film crew make a return visit. The film also critiques the documentary and journalistic endeavor itself.
Discussion with director.
Skin's Sorrow (Peaux de Chagrin) (Belgium)
Richard Olivier. 1997. 57 min. 16mm film. U.S. Premiere.
Taxidermy has often been associated with traditional museum display; it is also a means to immortalize a beloved pet. This offbeat and poignant film is an exploration of loneliness, loss, and love.
(Repeated Wednesday, November 11, Auditorium, Program M37)
6:00 p.m. Program M15
Relocating "Home": New Documentary from Taiwan
Chen Tsai-gen and His Neighbors (Taiwan)
Wu Yii-feng. 1998. 85min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
A community of elderly men from mainland China live out their years in Taiwan, in temporary shacks on top of a mass burial plot dating from the period of Japanese occupation. A new friend steadily unearths their sweet and painful memories and forgotten and leftover dreams.
Discussion with director.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, People Center, Program M61)
Back to Top
Sunday, November 8
Kaufmann Theater
2:00 p.m. Program M16
Un-orthodox
Treyf (U.S.)
Alisa Lebow, Cynthia Madansky. 1998. 54 min. 16mm film.
Treyf -- Yiddish for "not kosher," or "unorthodox." This is the story of two Jewish lesbians who meet and fall in love at a Passover seder. Through clever, comic editing, the filmmakers explore a range of issues, from family to homophobia to progressive politics to Zionism.
Discussion with directors.
4:00 p.m. Program M17
Special Section: Haiti -- Representations of Vodou I
Life in a Haitian Valley Film Study (Haiti)
Melville Herskovits. 1934. Excerpts. 20 min. 16mm film. B&W;. Silent.
This is some of the earliest known footage of Haiti, shot by the American anthropologist noted for his seminal book Myth of the Negro Past. Documenting life in Mirebelais Valley, these film fragments examine daily life and ritual, and are part of Herskovits's larger effort to collect data about the continuity of African cultural elements in the African diaspora.
Discussion with John Homiak, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Divine Horsemen (Haiti)
Footage by Maya Deren, edited by Teiri and Cherel Ito. 1977. 54 min. 16mm film. B&W;.
From 1947 to 1951, avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, an initiate into Vodou, journeyed to Haiti with her camera to film Vodou practices. This final version was produced by Deren's collaborators, Teiri and Cherel Ito, using Deren's footage.
Discussion with John Homiak, Human Studies Film Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Back to Top
Sunday, November 8
Linder Theater
1:00 p.m. Program M18
Relocating "Home": New Documentary from Taiwan
Passing Through My Mother-in-Law's Village (Taiwan)
Hu Tai-Li. 1997. 87 min. 16mm film. U.S. Premiere.
The filmmaker revisits the rural village of her in-laws -- also the site of her fieldwork as an anthropologist in the 1970s -- before it is razed for the construction of a major highway. This cinematic journey through time and place is guided by the charismatic personalities of the villagers. This was first documentary in Taiwan to achieve commercial success.
Discussion with director.
(Repeated Monday, November 9, Linder Theater, Program M26)
3:30 p.m. Program M19
It's the "Principal"...
Heart of the Country (Japan)
Leonard Kamerling. 1997. 90 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
(See Saturday, November 7, Program M13)
Back to Top
Sunday, November 8
People Center
1:00 p.m. Program M20
Border Crossings
Pepino Mango Nance (U.S.)
Gillian Goslinga, Bann Roy. 1997. 10 min. 16mm film. B&W;. N.Y. Premiere.
It's the music of the streets!; it's the music of filmmaking! In this exuberant short a young Chicano composer is inspired by the hawker calls of Central American street vendors in Los Angeles to create a composition for string quartet.
Discussion with directors.
Baraka (Senegal)
Jean-Paul Colleyn, Victoria Ebin. 1998. 54 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
With the devastating drought in the Senegalese countryside, members of the Murid Brotherhood, an Islamic sect, have had to abandon herding to work in street markets and small businesses in Africa, Western Europe, and the U.S. Despite living in exile, they maintain their connection to their tight-knit community through their continued devotion to ascetic Cheikh Amadou Bamba and through the Internet.
Discussion with directors.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Linder Theater, Program M59)
3:30 p.m. Program M21
Silence & Taboo Taboo
Dear Dr. Spencer: Abortion in a Small Town (U.S.)
Danielle Renfrew, Beth Seltzer. 1997. 25 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
At a time when abortion was illegal, women from all over the country sought the services of Dr. Spencer, a small-town doctor in Ashland, PA. Dr. Spencer performed safe and inexpensive abortions for women in need; it is estimated that he performed nearly 40,000 between 1923 and his death in 1969. Remarkably, the community "looked the other way," and didn't interfere despite his defiance of the law.
Discussion with directors.
Under Wraps: A Film about Going with the Flow (Canada/U.S.)
Teresa MacInnes, Penny Wheelwright. 1996. 56 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere
In an era when nothing seems off limits, the topic of menstruation remains taboo. This uncompromising look at Western attitudes towards menstruation includes a challenging critique of the marketing of toxic products, commentary from visual and literary artists who address menstruation in their work, and a visit to the novel Museum of Menstruation.
Discussion with directors.
(Repeated Monday, November 9, Orientation Center, Program M28, and Wednesday, November 11, Kaufmann Theater, Program M39)
Back to Top
Monday, November 9
Auditorium
6:30 p.m. Program M22
"From Sand to Celluloid": Australian Indigenous Media
Mabo -- Life of an Island Man (Torres Strait Islands)
Trevor Graham. 1997. 87 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
The highly dramatic and complex story of activist Eddie Koiki Mabo, an Aborigine from Murray Island, one of the Torres Strait Islands. Mabo led the precedent-setting court case in 1992 against the Queensland government that upheld the land claims of the Murray Islanders. Through the voices of his family, his community, and the Australian government, this intricate portrayal reveals the contradictions and passionate commitment of this controversial public figure.
Discussion.
8:45 p.m. Program M23
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Hatian Corner
|
Haitian Corner (U.S.)
Raoul Peck. 1987. 98 min. 35mm film. Drama.
For his dramatic-film debut, Peck invokes documentary realism in a pyschological thriller set against the Duvalier dictatorship. A man who spent seven years in a Haitian prison enduring physical and psychological torture resettles in New York, where he encounters his torturers on the streets of Brooklyn. Unable to escape the nightmare of his imprisonment, he becomes obsessed with seeking revenge.
Discussion with director.
Back to Top
Monday, November 9
Kaufmann Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M24
Special Section: Haiti -- Representations of Vodou II
Voodoo Dance (La Ronde Voudou) (Haiti)
Elsie Haas. 1989. 52 min. Video.
Western clerics declared Vodou a "superstition" in 1935. In this video, practitioners and scholars argue that despite the exploitation, romanticization, and vilification of Vodou, it remains an authentic and stabilizing cultural element of everyday Haitian society.
Discussion.
Legacy of the Spirits (U.S.)
Karen Kramer. 1985. 52 min. 16mm film.
Dispelling the exotica of urban Vodou, this film examines the critical role the religion serves in maintaining cultural identity for New York City's Haitian community.
Discussion with director.
9:15 p.m. Program M25
Portrait
Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog (U.S.)
Don McGlynn. 1997. 78 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with Sue Mingus.
(See Saturday, November 7, Linder Theater, Program M12)
Back to Top
Monday, November 9
Linder Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M26
Relocating "Home": New Documentary from Taiwan
Passing Through My Mother-in-Law's Village (Taiwan)
Hu Tai-Li. 1997. 87 min. 16mm film. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
(See Sunday, November 8, Linder Theater, Program M18)
8:45 p.m. Program M27
The Mohawk Series: II
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (Canada)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1993. 119 min. 16mm film.
The planned construction of a housing development and golf course on Mohawk land results in a heated, seventy-eight-day standoff between the Mohawk nation and the Canadian government. The confrontation is captured in this remarkable direct-cinema chronicle.
Discussion with director.
Back to Top
Monday, November 9
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center
7:30 p.m. Program M28
Silence & Taboo
Dear Dr. Spencer: Abortion in a Small Town (U.S.)
Danielle Renfrew, Beth Seltzer. 1997. 25 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere
Discussion with directors.
Under Wraps: A Film about Going with the Flow (Canada/U.S.)
Teresa MacInnes. 1996. 56 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion.
(See Sunday, November 8, People Center, Program M21)
(Repeated Wednesday, November 11, Kaufmann Theater, Program M39)
Back to Top
Tuesday, November 10
Auditorium
6:30 p.m. Program M29
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Man By the Shore (L'Homme sur les Quais) (Haiti/New York)
Raoul Peck. 1993. 105 min. 35 mm film. Drama.
Set in the Haiti of the 1960s, during the dictatorship of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, this highly symbolic tale of Haiti's hopes and desires follows a woman hauntedby nightmares of a man who put an end to her childhood.
Discussion with director.
9:00 p.m. Program M30
"From Sand to Cel luloid": Australian Indigenous Media -- Repatriation
Cracks in the Mask (Torres Strait Islands)
Frances Calvert. 1997. 47 min. 35mm film. U.S. Premiere.
What is the role of ethnographic museums at the end of the twentieth century? What rights do indigenous communities have to reclaim their material culture? These questions are soberly explored as a community leader from the Torres Strait Islands embarks on a journey to European museums to encounter the ceremonial and everyday objects that were once part of his heritage.
Discussion.
(Repeated Friday, November 13, Linder Theater, Program M52)
Back to Top
Tuesday, November 10
Kaufmann Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M31
The Mohawk Series I
My Name is Kahentiiosta (Canada)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1995. 30 min. 16mm film.
Spudwrench-Kahnawake Man (Canada)
Alanis Obomsawin. 1997. 58 min. 16mm film.
Discussion with director.
(See Saturday, November 7, Kaufmann Theater, Program M8)
8:45 p.m. Program M32
The Body Beautiful
Children of Gaia (Gaias Børn) (Denmark)
Bente Milton. 1998. 50 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion.
Gracious Curves (Finland)
Kiti Luostarinen. 1997. 52 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
(See Saturday, November 7, Kaufmann Theater, Program M6)
Back to Top
Tuesday, November 10
Linder Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M33
Special Section: Haiti -- Contemporary Politics
Rezistans (Haiti)
Katharine Kean. 1997. 156 min. 16mm film.
A complex chronicle of the political events surrounding the 1991 military coup d'état in Haiti and the dictatorship that followed. The film counters mainstream coverage, tracing the popular resistance movement against the coup and its leaders, and is an indictment not only of the United States government's role in the political turmoil, but also that of the powerful Haitian bourgeoisie.
Discussion with director.
Co-presented with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.
Back to Top
Tuesday, November 10
Orientation Center
6:30 p.m. Program M34
Image-Making in Ghana: Insider/Outsider
passing girl; riverside: An Essay On Camera Work (Ghana)
Kwame Braun. 1998. 30 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
The video camera is a powerful tool, capable of turning even the most casual gesture into a curio. This work by an American raised in Ghana is a creative look at the shifting power relations between mediamakers and their subjects, and the complexities and politics of using video as a means of cross-cultural research and representation.
Discussion with director and collaborator, Catherine Cole.
Future Remembrance: Photography and Image Arts in Ghana (Ghana)
Tobias Wendl, Nancy du Plessis. 1998. 53 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
In Shama, a fishing village in Ghana, photography both testifies to tradition, by recording rites of passage, and serves as an expression of contemporary desires -- by celebrating consumer fantasies in photographs of clients in front of painted backdrops of a refrigerator, TV, airplane.
Discussion with directors.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, People Center, Program M62)
9:15 p.m. Program M35
To be announced.
Back to Top
Wednesday, November 11
Auditorium
Tabloid Tango
6:30 p.m. Program M36
Blood Ink (Tinta Roja) (Argentina)
Carmen Guarini, Marcelo Cespedes. 1997. 75 min. 35mm film. U.S. Premiere.
Armed with pen and paper, journalists from Crónica, an Argentine tabloid, chronicle the world of bizarre accidents and murders in Buenos Aires. This is a dark-humored exposé of the universal fascination with crime, set against the particular world of Argentine politics.
8:30 p.m. Program M37
Only the Lonely
So It Doesn't Hurt (Poland)
Marcel Lozinski. 1998. 46 min. 35mm film. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
Skin's Sorrow (Peaux de Chagrin) (Belgium)
Richard Olivier. 1997. 57 min. 16mm film. U.S. Premiere.
(See Saturday, November 7, People Center, Program M14)
Back to Top
Wednesday, November 11
Kaufmann Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M38
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
*Simultaneous translation into English will be available for these titles via headset.
Merry Christmas Deutschland (Germany)*
Raoul Peck. 1984. 20 min. 16mm film. B&W; and color. U.S. Premiere. In German.
The society of consumption is critiqued through a lyrical collage of voice, music and imagery.
Discussion with director.
Désounen: Dialogue with Death (Haiti)
Raoul Peck. 1994. 50 min. 16mm film. U.S. Premiere.
Raoul Peck was one of four directors commissioned by the BBC for a four-part series on population, immigration, and environmental education. The result is an evocative journey through Haiti, guided by a fictional narrator who provides a running commentary on the plight of the Haitians he encounters. Intimate interviews coupled with a diverse musical score reveal the human face of displacement.
Discussion with director.
Chère Catherine...(Haiti/Germany)*
Raoul Peck. 1997. 19 min. Video. U.S. Premiere. In French.
As international filmmaker Raoul Peck ponders his final months as Haiti's Minister of Culture, he expresses the trials and tribulations of voluntary exile in the form of an email letter to his friend in Berlin.
Discussion with director.
9:15 p.m. Program M39
Silence &Taboo;
Dear Dr. Spencer: Abortion in a Small Town (U.S.)
Danielle Renfew, Beth Seltzer. 1997. 25 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with directors.
Under Wraps: A Film about Going with the Flow (Canada/U.S.)
Teresa MacInnes. 1996. 56 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion.
(See Sunday, November 8, People Center, Program M21)
(Also shown Monday, November 9, Orientation Center, Program M28)
Back to Top
Wednesday, November 11
Linder Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M40
"From Sand To Celluloid": Australian Indigenous Media
The Yirrkala Film Project: Conversations with Dundiwuy Wanambi (Australia)
Ian Dunlop. 1995. 50 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Since 1970, filmmaker Ian Dunlop has been collaborating with the Australian community of the Yolngu of Yirrkala in Northern Arnhem. This compilation tape serves as a nearly-twenty-year overview of community elders Dundiwuy's life, documenting striking shifts in the community and its struggle to maintain its identity in the face of change.
Discussion.
Look, Listen, Speak (Australia)
Keith Lethbridge. 1997. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
A community elder says, "if you know something, you must pass it on." Here knowledge is transmitted through low-power alternative radio and television. This is the story of BRACS, Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Community Scheme, which enables Aboriginal communities to counter the dominant media through the production and presentation of their own television programs.
Discussion.
9:00 p.m. Program M41
With These Hands
Take This Hammer (U.S.)
Cheryl Furjanic. 1998. 9 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
Pete Seeger, champion of American folk music traditions, and Rande Harris reflect on the nature of work and song as seen in the music of African American prisoners in the early twentieth century.
Discussion with director and participant Rande Harris.
Portraits (France)
Alain Cavalier.1988–1992. 90 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
A mattress maker, an artificial-flower maker, a restroom attendant, a cobbler . . . These remarkable shorts present elderly women engaged in livelihoods that are a passing way of life at the end of this century.
(Repeated Thursday, November 12, Linder Theater, Program M47)
Back to Top
Wednesday, November 11
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center
6:30 p.m. Program M42
Relocating "Home": New Documentary From Taiwan
Mother of the Tribe (Taiwan)
Chen Jung-Hsien. 1998. 25 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
In 1995, Chi Ah Niang became the first female chieftain to be elected by the Ah-mei people. She faces the daunting task of convincing the conservative elders that the hurricane that destroyed last year's annual harvest had nothing to do with her being a woman.
Discussion with director.
As Life, As Pang-cah (Taiwan)
Mayaw Biho. 1998. 28 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
A tranquil, steady, oral history is the result of this intimate dialogue between a ninety-three-year old Ah-mei tribal chieftan and an indigenous filmmaker. Through word and song, the elder recounts the ways of the Ah-mei and his frustrated attempts to defend traditional culture against Taiwan's encroaching modernity.
Discussion with director.
Moon Children (Taiwan)
Wu Yii-Feng. 1990. 63 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
(see Saturday, November 7, Linder Theater, Program M11)
Back to Top
Thursday, November 12
Auditorium
6:30 p.m. Program M43
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Corps Plongés (New York)
Raoul Peck. 1997. 96 min. 35mm film. U.S. Premiere. Drama.
A young, successful New York pathologist finds peace only amongst the dead. Frustrated by politics and corruption, dissatisfied with her lover, and inundated with flashbacks of her childhood in Haiti, she embarks on an existential search that recalls exile, and violence.
Discussion with director.
9:00 p.m. Program M44
Senior Salsa
Black Tears (Lágrimas Negras) (Cuba)
Sonia Herman Dolz. 1998. 75 min. 35mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
A musical portrait of the octogenarian Cuban quintet "La Vieja Trova Santiaguera" ("The Old Troubadours"). While on a six-month tour in Western Europe they perform to adoring crowds and reminisce about what has inspired them for nearly a century -- song, dance, and love.
Co-presented with the World Music Institute.
Back to Top
Thursday, November 12
Kaufmann Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M45
"From Sand to Celluloid":Australian Indigenous Media
No Way to Forget (Australia)
Richard Frankland. 1996. 10 min. Video. U.S. Premiere. Drama.
Blending voice-over narrative with flashbacks, this powerful fictional short is based on the director's experience as a field officer during the Royal Commission's 1988 investigation into Aboriginal deaths in custody. His travels between cities for hearings become a metaphor for his own spiritual and emotional journey.
Discussion with director.
Night Patrol (Munga Watingki Patu) (Australia)
Pat Fiske, Valerie Napaljarri Martin. 1997. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
"We don't want to be crying all the time." When alcohol abuse, gasoline sniffing, and domestic violence reach crisis proportions in the Yuendemu community in Australia'sNorthern Territory, a group of daring Aboriginal women take control and found th eir own policing program.
Discussion with co-director Pat Fiske.
Bush Mechanics (Australia)
David Batty, Francis Kelly. 1998. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
This video tells the larger-than-life legend of outback indigenous ingenuity; car mechanics without a trade certificate who can't move mountains, but can move strange collections of nuts and bolts. After land, what's more important to a desert man than his car?
Discussion.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Linder Theater, Program M60)
8:30 p.m. Program M46
Relocating "Home": New Documentary from Taiwan
Coming Home (Taiwan)
Wu Hsiu-ching. 1997. 57 min. 16 mm film. U.S. Premiere.
The first inside look at Taiwan's top-secret state prisons, by two female prison volunteer workers, who directed and produced this film. The film chronicles a soul-searching tale of forgiveness. A strong emotional bond develops between a criminal on death row and the sister of one of his victims, on the eve of his execution. This provocative work orchestrates harmonies between darkness and light, between iron-clad bodies and liberated souls, and between a Han Chinese man and a woman of indigenous descent.
Discussion with director and producer Antonia Chu.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Linder Theater, Program M58)
Back to Top
Thursday, November 12 Linder Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M47
With These Hands
Take This Hammer (U.S.)
Cheryl Furjanic. 1998. 9 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
Pete Seeger, champion of American folk music traditions, and Rande Harris reflect on the nature of work and song as seen in the music of African American prisoners in the early twentieth century.
Discussion with director and participant Rande Harris.
Portraits (France)
Alain Cavalier. 1988– 92. 90 min.Video. N.Y. Premiere.
(See Wednesday, November 11, Linder Theater, Program M41)
8:30 p.m. Program M48
By and About Farocki
The Interview (Die Bewerbung) (Germany)
Harun Farocki. 1996–97. 60 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
A fascinating look at the protocol and politics of the job interview as "professionals" help clients perfect their presentation of self and learn how to "play the game."
What Farocki Taught (U.S.)
Jill Godmilow. 1998. 30 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
A shot- for- shot reproduction of Harun Farocki's 1968 film "Inextinguishable Fire." Farocki's film was a complex account of Dow Chemical's production of Napalm B during the Vietnam War, the abuses of human labor, and the process of documentary filmmaking. The original film was never released in the United States; Godmilow's replica provides a contemporary context in which to question documentary's re-presentation of information and "real" experience.
Discussion with director.
(See Saturday, November 14, Kaufmann Theater, Program M55)
Back to Top
Thursday, November 12
Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Orientation Center
6:30 p.m. Program M49
Animal Tales
The True Story of Warthog (Prawdziwa Historia Guzca) (Poland)
Krzysztof Wierzbicki, Tomasz Zygadlo. 1997. 23 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Animalicious (U.S./U.K.)
Mark Lewis. 1998. 52 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
(See Saturday, November 7, Kaufmann Theater, Program M5)
8:30 p.m. Program M50
Tradition Meets Technology
Totem Talk (Canada)
Annie Frazier Henry. 1997. 22 min. Video. Animation.
Computer animation offers a new way for young and old to appreciate Northwest Coast symbols and traditions. Atwo-part video includes a short animated tale and an interview with celebrated Northwest Coast Native artist Bradly Hunt, featuring his work.
Dreaming Series (Australia)
Shane Russell. 1996. 39 min. Video. U.S. Premiere. Animation.
These selections are from a thirteen-part series about Australian Aboriginal artists who collaborate with the "owners" of traditional dreaming stories and render these tales into animation. The selections include: "The Process of Animation" (10 min.), an introduction to a government supported initiative that offers animation courses to young, urban Aboriginal artists, providing an entertaining approach to teaching cultural awareness to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities; "Djet" (14 min.), a traditional story from Arnhem Land warning of the consequences of greed and impatience, depicted through the cross-hatch painting technique and told by Shirley Gunumunga; and "The Two Wise Men and the Seven Sisters" (15 min.), a creation story from the Western Desert, told by Josie Boyle.
Discussion.
Manyu Wana (Just for Fun) (Australia)
David Batty and Francis Kelly. 1990. 25 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
"Children learn a lot from TV. If they learn about these things in English first they might think and talk about it in English only. They might forget about Warlpiri." -- Frances Jupurrurla Kelly, Warlpiri Media Association
These humorous and visually witty programs were made for Aboriginal children of the Warlpiri community of Yuendemu, a remote desert settlement in Australia's Northern Territory. Inspired by Sesame Street, but concerned by their children's attraction to Australian television, Warlpiri elders and school teachers worked together with children and a local filmmaker to produce their own educational videos using traditional Warlpiri stories.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Kaufmann Theater, Program M54)
Back to Top
Friday, November 13
Kaufmann Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M51
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Simultaneous translation into English will be available for the following title via headset.
Haiti -- Silence of the Dogs (Haiti -- Le Silence des Chiens) (Haiti)
Raoul Peck. 1994. 52 min. 16mm film. In French.
Haiti 1994. It has been three years since the first democratic elections in 200 years; the country is still under the shadow of dictatorship. Streets are controlled by violence, fear, and death. The elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is in exile. The newly assigned prime minister, Robert Malval, is a powerless compromise, and military generals fill the political void with blood and terror. Nothing has changed. This highly political film portrays a cynical and somber Haiti.
Discussion with director.
Back to Top
Friday, November 13
Linder Theater
6:30 p.m. Program M52
"From Sand to Celluloid": Australian Aboriginal Media- Repatriation
Milerum: Whose Story? (Australia)
Robert Crompton. 1997. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
In the 1930s, Australian anthropologist/linguist Norman Tindale conducted extensive research with Aboriginal community leader Milerum. The collections yielded by the project are now housed in the South Australian Museum. Milerum's great-grandson interviews family members and asks who has the right to these materials, many of which are sacred and not to be seen by "whitefellas," women, or the uninitiated.
Discussion.
Cracks in the Mask (Torres Strait Islands)
Frances Calvert. 1997. 47 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
(See Tuesday, November 10, Auditorium, Program M30)
Back to Top
Friday, November 13
People Center
6:30 p.m. Program M53
Pentimenti
The Bathhouse (Pirtis) (Lithuania)
Rimantas Gruodis. 1997. 10 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
On alternate days of the week, elderly men and women take refuge in the oldest and last active public bathhouse in Vilnius. In its timeless space, the visitors' musings about the hardships of daily life and an uncertain future are tempered with birch branches and the ritual bath.
Discussion with director.
Bread Day (Russia)
Sergei Dvortsevoy. 1998. 55 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Long takes and stunning cinematography strike a fragile balance between melancholy and humor. Outside St. Petersburg, Russia, in a forgotten, almost abandoned settlement, a dwindling community of pensioners barely manages to eke out an existence. From the director of "Chastie" a Mead Festival favorite.
(Repeated Saturday, November 14, Kaufmann Theater, Program M56)
Back to Top
Saturday, November 14
Kaufmann Theater
12:30 p.m. Program M54
Tradition Meets Technology
Totem Talk (Canada)
Annie Frazier Henry. 1997. 22 min. Video. Animation.
Dreaming Series (Australia)
Shane Russell. 1996. 39 min. Video. U.S. Premiere. Animation.
Manyu Wana (Just for Fun) (Australia)
David Batty. 1990. 25 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
(See Thursday, November 12, Orientation Center, Program M50)
3:00 p.m. Program M55
Replica of the Original
While the two films in this program differ in content, both are reproductions of works originally made in the 1960s but repressed for political or personal reasons. By bringing these films into the 1990s, their re-creators have added layers of meaning and significance, raising questions of originality, and how the last three decades have changed the way we view the films.
What Farocki Taught (U.S.)
Jill Godmilow. 1998. 30 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
(See Thursday, November 12, Linder Theater, Program M48)
Shulie (U.S.)
Elisabeth Subrin. 1997. 37 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Considered one of the best videos of 1997 by Filmmaker magazine, this is a shot-by-shot, line by-line re-creation of a portrait of Shulamith Firestone originally produced in 1967. Then a Chicago art student, Firestone later published the groundbreaking, best-selling feminist text The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. This re-creation bends time and space, and emerges as a provocative commentary on depicting history and living public personas.
Discussion with director.
5:00 p.m. Program M56
Pentimenti
The Bathhouse (Pirtis) (Lithuania)
Rimantas Gruodis. 1997. 10 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
Bread Day (Russia)
Sergei Dvortsevoy. 1998. 55 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
(See Friday, November 13, People Center, Program M53)
7:00 p.m. Program M57
Retrospective: Raoul Peck
Lumumba--Death of a Prophet (Congo)
Raoul Peck. 1992. 68 min. 16mm film. B&W;.
Discussion with director.
(See Saturday, November 7, Kaufmann Theater, Program M7 )
Co-presented with the African Film Festival.
Back to Top
Saturday, November 14
Linder Theater
1:00 p.m. Program M58
Relocating "Home": New Documentary from Taiwan
A Miscellaneous Life (Taiwan)
Tsao Wen-Chieh. 1998. 25 min. Video. World Premiere.
A whimsical and passionate account of a mother-son relationship as expressed across theatrical divides: The mother is a fading Taiwanese opera actress (in the male role) and the son is an up-and coming actor in avant-garde theatre.
Coming Home (Taiwan)
Wu Hsiu-Ching. 1997. 57 min. 16 mm film. U.S. Premiere.
(See Thursday, November 12, Kaufmann Theater, Program M46)
4:00 p.m. Program M59
Border Crossings
Pepino Mango Nance (U.S.)
Gillian Goslinga, Bann Roy. 1997. 10 min. 16mm film. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with directors.
Baraka (Senegal)
Jean-Paul Colleyn, Victoria Ebin. 1998. 55 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with directors.
(See Sunday, November 8, People Center, Program M20)
6:30 p.m. Program M60
"From Sand to Celluloid": Australian Indigenous Media
No Way to Forget (Australia)
Richard Frankland. 1996. 10 min. Video. U.S. Premiere. Drama.
Discussion with director.
Night Patrol (Munga Watingki Patu) (Australia)
Pat Fiske, Valerie Napaljarri Martin. 1997. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with co-director Pat Fiske.
Bush Mechanics (Australia)
David Batty, Francis Kelly. 1998. 30 min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion.
(See Thursday, November 12, Kaufmann Theater, Program M45)
Back to Top
Saturday, November 14
People Center
1:00 p.m. Program M61
Relocating "Home": New Documentary From Taiwan
Chen Tsai-gen and His Neighbors (Taiwan)
Wu Yii-Feng. 1998. 85min. Video. U.S. Premiere.
Discussion with director.
(See Saturday, November 7, People Center, Program M15)
3:30 p.m. Program M62
Image-Making in Ghana: Insider/Outsider
passing girl; riverside: An Essay on Camera Work (Ghana)
Kwame Braun. 1998. 30 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with director and collaborator, Catherine Cole.
Future Remembrance: Photography and Image Arts in Ghana (Ghana)
Tobias Wendl, Nancy du Plessis. 1998. 53 min. Video. N.Y. Premiere.
Discussion with directors.
(See Tuesday, November 10, Orientation Center, Program M34)
6:30 p.m. Program M63
To Be announced
|
