All screenings start at 6pm in WOU’s ITC (Instructional Technology Center) Room 211.
All films will be shown with English subtitles.
Coming Up:
Thursday, November 15th
Faces, Places
2017
Dirctor: Agnés Varda and JR
With Faces, Places, 89-year-old powerhouse Agnès Varda teams with world-famous young street artist JR to make a film as wide-ranging as it is personal, as fanciful as it is pointed. Setting off on French country roads to find subjects for JR’s mural-size portrait photographs, the two artists focus on people generally outside of the spotlight: retired miners, factors workers, wives of dockers, and farmers. Each encounter fills in another piece in an portrait of modern-day France, as well as the evolving relationship between open-hearted Agnès Varda and mysterious JR. Nominated for an Academy Award for the Best Documentary of 2017. Click for a more detailed description and trailer.
DETAILS
Genre: Documentary
Language: French
Run Time: 113 min.
Production: France, 2017
Previously Shown:
Thursday, October 11th
BPM (Beats per Minute)
2017
Director: Robin Campillo
A fictionalized account of the history of Act Up-Paris, the triumphant true story of the men and women who fought for the recognition and improved treatment of HIV and AIDS patients at a time when a diagnosis was a death sentence. Anything but a dry history lesson, this remarkable elegy achieves a rare blend of celebration and outrage, remaining true to the activists’ determination, humor, and youthful vibrancy. Above all, BPM is a remarkable testament to the power of regular citizens to effect change by banding together to demand justice. Click for a more detailed description and trailer. **Note: contains mature themes and content, not suitable for most children.**
DETAILS
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Run Time: 143 min.
Production: France, 2017
Thursday, October 18th
Girlhood
2014
Director: Céline Sciamma
Girlhood’s subject is female adolescence, the stage when bodies and identities are still in flux. Set in the impoverished banlieue neighborhoods that ring Paris, the film focuses on Marieme, a sixteen-year-old who cares for her two younger sisters while their mother works the night shift. Rejecting the indignities of her daily life, she falls in with a trio of tough girls, learning the pleasures of raising hell and impromptu dance-offs on the Métro. “You have to do what you want,” her new friend tells her; Girlhood follows Marieme as she tries to put this mantra into practice, even as she is repeatedly reminded of her severely limited options. Click for a more detailed description and trailer.
DETAILS
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Run Time: 112 min.
Production: France, 2014
Thursday, October 25th
The Pearl Button
2015
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Paris-based Chilean Guzmán is a master of documentary and essay films. Starting with the heartbreaking tale of the extermination of Patagonia’s indigenous water nomads, this film traces Chile’s history of violence through a pearl button paid by an English expedition in 1830 to buy Patagonian native Jemmy Button and bring him back to England. The film meditates on human nature beyond national and even global boundaries, turning to the water vapor stored in quasars for hope of a fresh start for humanity far from this scorched earth. A film of unusual, cruel beauty, as accessible as it is mind-boggling. Click for a more detailed description and trailer. ** NOTE: Includes some images of a graphic nature; may not be suitable for all audiences. **
DETAILS
Genre: Documentary
Language: French, Kawésqar
Run Time: 105 min.
Production: France, Chile, Spain, 2014
Thursday, November 1st
As I Open My Eyes
2015
Director: Leyla Bouzid
Eighteen-year-old Farah is butting heads with her mother over her all-night, beer-fueled outings with a new boyfriend and her refusal to enroll at medical school so she can pursue her dream of singing in a band. Set in Tunisia in the last months before the 2010 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, the film is not only a striking portrait of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, but a deeply insightful look at life under a repressive political regime, with its compromises, commitments, and corrosive effects on personal relationships. Beginner Baya Medhaffar as Farah performs her own vocals in several riveting concert sequences. Click for a more detailed description and trailer.
DETAILS
Genre: Drama, Musical
Language: Arabic
Run Time: 102 min.
Production: Belgium, France, Tunisia, 2015
Thursday, November 8th
I, a Negro
1959
Director: Jean Rouch
An influential classic of experimental documentary filmmaking. As an ethnographic film, Moi, un Noir was revolutionary in its attempt to address the problem of the ethnographer (nearly always a white man) filming subjects (nearly always people of color) objectified and stripped of agency by the filmmaking process. Rouch filmed his friend Oumarou Ganda (later a pioneer of African cinema) and two other young men seeking their fortunes in the city of Abidjan, inviting them to improvise scenes and add commentary on their experiences. The documentary becomes a shared project. Click for a more detailed description and trailer.
DETAILS
Genre: Documentary, “ethnofiction”
Language: French
Run Time: 74 min.
Production: France, Côte d’Ivoire, 1959
