|
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
CineMental TURNS ONE! Come celebrate our One Year Anniversary with several screenings!
At The Museum of Fine Arts:
465 Huntington Avenue
5:00 pm Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman (1996, 65 min.).
6:30 pm Je Tu Il Elle by Chantal Akerman (1974, 90 min.).
(discounted tickets for people seeing both Akerman offerings, available.)
8:15 pm XXY by Lucia Puenzo (2007, 91 min.).
blurbs below.
At Brattle Theater:
40 Brattle Street Harvard Sq. Cambridge
advanced tickets available here
9.30 pm Derek Jarman's Carravagio
Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman (France, 2001, 64 min.).
"One of the finest filmmakers working anywhere...an excellent introduction to her work...a must-see" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).
Chantal Akerman finally turns the camera on herself in this two-part film. Part one opens with Akerman in her apartment, reading from
a text directly to the camera, describing the problems she encountered making this film. What emerges from this mise-en-sceneis a funny,
personal, and thoughtful confession from this extremely perceptive filmmaker. Part two lets Akerman's films speak for her, using clips
from her extensive filmography and linking them anonymously until they form a new film. Scenes include clips from Jeanne Dielman,
her best- known film, as well several lesser-known works-forays into experimental film, comedic shorts, musicals, and narrative
features-including an early short film starring the very young filmmaker.
Je tu il elle by Chantal Akerman (France, 1974, 90 min.).
A film that slowly and quietly observes one woman in three parts, film critic B. Ruby Rich describes Je tu il elleas a "cinematic Rosetta
Stone of female sexuality." We first encounter the woman alone in an empty room as she discusses moving the furniture, eats sugar from a
brown paper bag, and writes long letters that are strewn on the floor. We then accompany the woman on a spontaneous and erotic ride with
a trucker, and finally, the woman, who is now hungry, asks a woman she is visiting for a sandwich before making love to her. The film
beautifully challenges conventions of both cinema and autobiography, and includes "...one of the most stirring and erotic lovemaking
scenes in the history of cinema...I left the theater walking on air" (Bo Smith).
(truth serum newsflash: straight man gets off on lesbian love scene. big surprize. i'm not saying it's not hot, but does it need this kind of validation?)
XXY by Lucia Puenzo (Argentina, 2007, 91 min.). Spanish with English subtitles.
Alex is a strong-willed fifteen-year-old intersex girl facing adolescent angst, her body, and the huge decision of whether to continue
life as a girl or a boy amidst outside pressure from family and their small town's closed mindedness. Alvaro is the sixteen-year-old son
of the surgeon brought to town for consult who is secretly struggling with his sexuality. An attraction builds between the two awkward
outsiders. Filmmaker Lucia Puenzo, "The film is really about desire, and if you connect with desire you are saved. Any person that
connects with what brings them pleasure and makes them alive will be fine."
Based on a novel by her husband, 31 year old Lucia Puenzo (daughter of famed Argentinean filmmaker Luis Puenzo) tackles the already
difficult prospect of reinventing a story created by someone else (let alone someone close!) while making her first feature length film.
XXY has won fifteen international prizes including ones from Cannes, Athens, Bangkok, Cartagena, Edinburgh and the Goya.
here's an decent interview with XXY filmmaker
and here's a print interview
Caravaggio by Derek Jarman (Britain, 1986)
The film is a fictionalized re-telling of the life of Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Jarman's film revolves
around the love triangle of Caravaggio (Nigel Terry), Lena (Tilda Swinton) and Ranuccio (Sean Bean) and dwells upon Caravaggio's
use of street people, drunks and prostitutes as models for his intense, usually religious paintings. Like Caravaggio's use of contemporary
clothing and items in his bibical paintings, Jarman gave his characters contemporary clothes and props.
Caravaggio was the first time that Jarman worked with Tilda Swinton and was her first film role.
James Nadeau and Aliza Shapiro, who have been involved with programming for the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film/Video Festival and
other independent film/video presentations, have created a series that explores the fringes of queer film, video and groundbreaking
performative work with a decidedly alternative perspective. CineMental showcases the best of independent queer media in a way never
before seen in Boston. CineMental is the convergence of film, video, performance and music. It will change the way you think about
what is queer, what is art and what is queer art! In a world where "The Gay" is becoming mainstream, we celebrate the radical.
CineMental is sponsored by The Video Underground in JP
|
