MAR/APR/MAY 2015archive.bampfa.berkeley.edu/Images/Programguide/030115.PdfPROGRAM GUIDE UC BERKELEY...

TAREK ATOUI UC BERKELEY MFA YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA CAAMFEST THOMAS ALLEN HARRIS JEAN-LUC GODARD

NINO KIRTADZE DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA DOCUMENTARY VOICES MARIO MONICELLI GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS J. P. SNIADECKI

PROGRAM GUIDE

UC BERKELEY ART MUSEUM & PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE

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FILM TICKETS› bampfa.berkeley.edu

› (510) 642-5249

› In person at the PFA Theater box office beginning two hours before first screening

(Tickets are no longer sold at the BAM/PFA admissions desk. We apologize for any inconvenience.)

OFF-SITE Exhibitions in 2015Tarek Atoui / MATRIX 258 March and OctoberDavid Brower Center and Meyer Sound

Will Brown / MATRIX 259June 12–September 13Various locations

The 45th Annual University of California, Berkeley Master of Fine Arts Graduate ExhibitionMay 15–June 15Berkeley Art Center

BUILDING UPDATEWe are excited by the tremendous progress on the new BAM/PFA building in downtown Berkeley. One of the most noticeable changes is the removal of the tower crane from the jobsite. You also may have observed activity on the exterior, where workers are installing the stainless steel panel skin. On the interior of the administration building on Oxford Street, which will house staff offices, walls are being framed and work is being done on the elevator, stairs, and ceilings. For a time-lapse view of the construction, go to bampfa.berkeley.edu.

UPDATESSIGN UP to receive our monthly enewsletter, weekly film update, or exhibition announcements. bampfa.berkeley.edu/signupDOWNLOAD a pdf version of this and previous issues of the Program Guide. bampfa.berkeley.edu/programguide

OPENLower-Level Gallery Open M–F, 9–5

Museum Store Open M–F, 9–5

Babette Cafe open M–F, 8:30–4:30

Enter via the Durant Avenue entrance

STAY TUNEDa new website bampfa.org

What's openWhat's closed

What's off-siteHow to buy tickets

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CLOSEDThe BAM/PFA Galleries on Bancroft Way are closed in preparation for our move to downtown Berkeley.

The PFA Library and Film Study Center is closed in 2015 as we pack and move to our new home. Find links to other film research resources at bampfa.berkeley.edu/pfalibrary.

BAM/PFA BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Noel Nellis Board President

Lawrence Rinder Director, BAM/PFA

Steven Addis

Sabrina Buell

Jonathan Burgstone

Elizabeth Cantillon

Catherine M. Coates

Penelope M. Cooper

Carla Crane

Scott Crocker

Chancellor Nicholas B. Dirks

Professor Robert H. Edelstein

Professor Harrison Fraker, Jr.

Gary Freedman

Daniel Goldstine

Jane Green

Professor Shannon Jackson

Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Catherine P. Koshland

Wanda Kownacki

Toni Kraeva Berkeley Board Fellow

Eric X. Li

Professor Christina Maslach

Scott McDonald

Soheyl Modarressi

Associate Professor Nicholas de Monchaux

Richard J. Olsen

Ann Baxter Perrin

James B. Pick

Deborah Rappaport

Joan Roebuck

Chelsea Samuel Berkeley Board Fellow

Michael W. Sasso

Robert Harshorn Shimshak

BAM/PFA Student Committee Co-Chair Miyako Singer

Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Claude Steele

Roselyne C. Swig

BAM/PFA Student Committee Co-Chair Emily Szasz

Ned M. Topham

ASUC President Pavan Upadhyayula

Catherine Wagner

Paul L. Wattis III

Jack Wendler

Dean Jennifer Wolch

Tecoah Bruce Honorary Trustee

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ART MUSEUM & PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE, PROGRAM GUIDE

Volume XXXIX Number 2. Published five times a year by the University of California, Berkeley. Produced independently by the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which is solely responsible for its contents. BAM/PFA, 2625 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94720-2250, (510) 642-0808. Lawrence Rinder, Director. Nonprofit Organization: Periodical Postage Paid at Berkeley Post Office. USPS #003896. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Woo Hon Fai Hall, 2625 Durant Avenue #2250, Berkeley CA 94720-2250.

Copyright © 2015 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

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FROM THE DIRECTOR

As the BAM/PFA staff begins packing for the move downtown, we are looking ahead with excitement to the many opportunities that our new building will provide for collection access and engagement, including several state-of-the-art study centers. The Film Library and Study Center will feature BAM/PFA’s exceptional collection

of books, periodicals, clippings, and other ephemera related to the history of film and video, as well as opportunities for researchers and the general public to view films and videos from our extensive collection. The Asian Art Study Center will house our world-renowned collection of Chinese ink scrolls as well as Japanese prints, Indian miniatures, and other historical works on paper. In the Works on Paper Study Center, you will be able to examine our thousands of prints, drawings, and photographs. The Steven Leiber Conceptual Art Study Center will make accessible our unparalleled collection of Conceptual art, reference books, and related ephemera.

You will also be able to enjoy our library of contemporary poetry and experi-mental fiction in the Reading Room, visit the Art Lab for drop-in art making, watch films on our outdoor LED screen, and gather in a variety of delightful spaces. We hope that everyone will feel welcome at BAM/PFA and will find their own ways to discover the art and film of the world.

LAWRENCE RINDER

MAKE THE JAMES CAHILL ASIAN ART STUDY CENTER A REALITY WITH A GIFT TO BAM/PFA

We have begun a campaign to raise $1 million to name the Asian Art Study Center at the new BAM/PFA in honor of UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus James Cahill (1926–2014) and the invaluable contributions he made to both the University and BAM/PFA. Professor Cahill taught Chinese art history at UC Berkeley for twenty-nine years, often using the BAM/PFA collection. Help us honor Professor Cahill’s legacy by supporting this study center, which will engage broad audiences with the works of art he loved!

Make your gift online at bampfa.berkeley.edu/cahill or call Louise Gregory at (510) 643-2194. Contributions of $1,000 and up will be recognized on the donor wall of BAM/PFA’s new building.

BEHIND THE SCENES: BAM/PFA’s Move to Downtown Berkeley

Our move to the new building will be a massive undertaking! We have started to inventory, pack, and transport our collection of over 19,000 works of art and hundreds of thousands of film-related books, magazines, and clippings. (Our films and videos are stored off-site.)

We’ve bought 144 rolls of brown plastic packing tape to help us pack everything up. Six miles of tape . . . enough to circle the UC Berkeley campus almost three times! We’ll use five hundred sheets of cardboard totaling 4,000 linear feet, about the distance between the two towers on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Moving Sam Francis’s painting Berkeley will pose a particular challenge. At 101/2 by 13 /2 feet, it is the biggest painting in our collection and will require our largest and tallest big-rig truck to move!

KELLY BENNETT, Chief Preparator

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MARCH & OCTOBER

NEW EXHIBITION

Off-site at David Brower Center and Meyer Sound

MATRIX 258 features the work of artist and elec-troacoustic composer Tarek Atoui (b. 1980). Born in Lebanon and based in Paris, Atoui initiates and curates multidisciplinary interventions, concerts, performances, and workshops. His work often radiates around large-scale, collaborative per-formances that develop from extensive research into the history of music and instrumentation, while also exploring new methods for production. Using custom-built electronic instruments and computers, Atoui references social and political realities in his work and presents music and new technologies as powerful tools of expression and identity.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

MONDAY / 3.9.15 / 7:30

TAREK ATOUI: DEAFSPACE AND MAKING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS P. 6

FRIDAY / 3.20.15 / 7:00

TAREK ATOUI IN CONCERT P. 6

in a series of Bay Area concerts in the fall. During his March residency, Atoui will lecture on his inter-est in creating instrumentation for the hearing impaired and the DeafSpace Project developed by Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, as part of the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium at the David Brower Center on March 9. Atoui will also present a concert of his own music at Meyer Sound on March 20.

Tarek Atoui / MATRIX 258 is copresented with the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC). Additional support is provided by Meyer Sound. The MATRIX Program is made possible by a generous endowment gift from Phyllis C. Wattis and the support of the BAM/PFA Trustees.

MATRIX 258

Tarek Atoui

Education and social connection are integral aspects of Atoui’s practice. For example, for the 2013 Sharjah Biennial 11 Atoui produced WITHIN, a sound program based on research into the ways in which deaf people experience and perceive sound. For his MATRIX project, Atoui will build on WITHIN, designing and fabricating instruments for deaf audiences. At the core of his work is an ongoing reflection on the instrument and the act of performance as a complex, open, and dynamic process.

For the first part of his MATRIX project, in March, Atoui will be in residence at UC Berkeley, coteaching an undergraduate seminar with Greg Niemeyer, who teaches in the Department of Art Practice and is director of the Berkeley Center for New Media. As part of the course, Atoui will collaborate with the students to build instruments using 3D printing and other technologies that will be played

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BAM / PFA 5GALLERIES ALWAYS FREE FOR BAM/PFA MEMBERS

MAY 15–JUNE 15

NEW EXHIBITION

Off-site at Berkeley Art Center

Each year, BAM/PFA teams up with the UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice to exhibit the work of their graduates. This year, while the BAM/PFA Galleries are closed, the exhibition is presented at the Berkeley Art Center. The 2015 MFA graduates are: Leslie Dreyer, Tanja Geis, Lee Lavy, Michelle Ott, Sofie Ramos, and Matt Smith Chavez. Be among the first to encounter the work of these six exceptional artists as they embark on their careers.

Berkeley Art Center is located at 1257 Walnut Street, Berkeley. Hours are Wed–Sun, 11–5, and admission is free.

The annual MFA exhibition is made possible by the Wiltsek Endowment for the Master of Fine Arts Exhibition.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

FRIDAY / 5.15.15 / 6:00

OPENING CELEBRATION P. 28

SUNDAY / 5.17.15 / 3:00

ARTISTS’ TALKS P. 6

THE 45TH ANNUAL

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY MASTER OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE EXHIBITION

LESLIE DREYER

TANJA GEIS

LEE LAVY

MICHELLE OTT

SOFIE RAMOS

MATT SMITH CHAVEZ

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45TH ANNUAL MFA EXHIBITION

Artists’ TalksSUNDAY / 5.17.15 / 3:00

Berkeley Art Center, 1245 Walnut Street, Berkeley

Presented in collaboration with Berkeley Art Center

Meet the 2015 graduates of UC Berkeley’s Master of Fine Arts program as they talk about their work at the outset of their professional careers. This year’s gradu-ates are Leslie Dreyer, Tanja Geis, Lee Lavy, Michelle Ott, Sofie Ramos, and Matt Smith Chavez.

Admission free

IN PERSON / PFA THEATER

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DOCUMENTARY VOICES P. 23

Canadian filmmaker Caroline Martel (The Phantom of the Operator) is fascinated by archives, invis-ible histories, and audiovisual technologies. She brings these interests together in her latest film, Wavemakers, which traces the history of the ondes Martenot, the rare electronic instrument invented by Maurice Martenot in the 1920s. Martel joins us to present her film as part of our ongoing Documentary Voices series.

A LETTER TO NELSON MANDELA P. 9

South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane visits BAM/PFA with his latest film, A Letter to Nelson Mandela. Writer-director Matabane is known for his award-winning features Conversations on a Sunday Afternoon (2005) and State of Violence (2010), as well as numerous documentaries and TV series. UC Berkeley professor Gillian Hart introduces. Presented in conjunction with Cal Performance’s concert 20 Years of Freedom and the symposium South Africa After Mandela.

FILM & VIDEO MAKERS @ CAL P. 27

Find out how the newest generation of aspiring filmmakers approaches cinema and the world we live in. UC Berkeley student filmmakers present their films at this annual screening of works nominated for the Eisner Prize, as well as the winning films.

IN PERSON / OFF-SITE

A WORLD IN FLUX: LAWRENCE RINDER & MALCOLM MARGOLIN IN CONVERSATION

WEDNESDAY / 3.4.15 / 7:00

David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, BerkeleyDoors open at 6:30

BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder and noted publisher Malcolm Margolin engage in a wide-ranging dialogue about art and culture. They will discuss the role of imagination in social change, and the past, present, and future of the arts in California. Margolin is the founder and executive director of Heyday Books, an independent nonprofit publisher and cultural institu-tion in Berkeley, and author/editor of eight books, including The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay Area.

Presented in partnership with the David Brower Center and in conjunction with their exhibition The Speed of Light: Lisa K. Blatt and Christina Seely, on view through May 14.

Admission $5 in advance at browercenter.org, $7 at door

1 Malcolm Margolin

2 Tarek Atoui

3 Caroline Martel Photo Nathanaël Corre

4 Khalo Matabane © Oscar Gutierrez

5 Gillian Hart

6 J. P. Sniadecki

7 Max Goldberg

8 Jurij Meden

9 Pavle Levi

10 Thomas Allen Harris

11 Mark Webber Photo Gerard Malanga

12 Harsha Ram

13 Judith Rosenberg

14 Nino Kirtadze

15 Kal Penn

16 Michael Guillen Photo Lisa Andreini

TAREK ATOUI / MATRIX 258

Tarek Atoui: DeafSpace and Making Musical InstrumentsMONDAY / 3.9.15 / 7:30

David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley

Cosponsored by the Berkeley Center for New Media and Arts Research Center

In conjunction with MATRIX 258 and his residency at UC Berkeley, Paris-based artist Tarek Atoui talks about creating instrumentation for the hearing impaired and the DeafSpace Project developed by Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Atoui’s presentation is part of the Art, Technology, and Culture Colloquium, atc.berkeley.edu.

Admission free

Tarek Atoui in Concert FRIDAY / 3.20.15 / 7:00

Meyer Sound, 2832 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley

Atoui presents a concert of his own compositions.

Admission free, but advance tickets required. Space is very limited. Reserve tickets at bampfa.berkeley.edu/tickets.

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IN PERSON / PFA THEATER

AFTERIMAGE: J. P. SNIADECKI P. 24

Filmmaker/anthropologist J.P. Sniadecki, who is associated with Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, is known for observational documentaries informed by the years he spent living in China and by his childhood in Indiana’s rustbelt. He visits BAM/PFA to present Demolition (2008) and Foreign Parts (2010, with Véréna Paravel) and talk about his work with local critic Max Goldberg, who writes on film for Cinema Scope and Brooklyn Rail, among others.

YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA, 1950S–1980S: EX-FILM FROM AN EX-LAND P. 10

Discover the experimental cinema of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia in this important series drawn from archives of the countries of the former Yugoslavia. Jurij Meden, curator of film exhibition at George Eastman House, introduces a program of 8mm Slovenian films by Karpo Godina and Davorin Marc. Stanford professor Pavle Levi, author of Disintegration in Frames: Aesthetics and Ideology in the Yugoslav and Post-Yugoslav Cinema, introduces an evening of 1960s Croatian cinema.

COMMITTED CINEMA: THOMAS ALLEN HARRIS P. 22

Thomas Allen Harris (E Minha Cara/That’s My Face, VINTAGE: Families of Value) situates stories of his own family within larger contexts to open possibilities of political action and social change. Harris visits BAM/PFA to present two of his visually striking and insightful essay films and discuss his groundbreaking documentary on African American photographers with UC Berkeley professor Leigh Raiford.

SECONDS OF ETERNITY: THE FILMS OF GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS P. 25

We present two programs of the work of the late visionary filmmaker Gregory J. Markopoulos to coincide with the launch of Film as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos. The book’s editor, London-based film curator Mark Webber, introduces and signs books at each screening.

DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 14

UC Berkeley professor Harsha Ram, an expert in the cultural and political history of Russia, the Caucasus, and Eurasia, introduces three films by the Georgian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov: The Color of Pomegranates (1969), The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985), and Ashik Kerib (1988). Judith Rosenberg will again provide piano accompaniment for the silent films in the spring portion of our series.

AFTERIMAGE: NINO KIRTADZE P. 18

Born in Tbilisi and based in France for many years, filmmaker Nino Kirtadze is known for documentaries that explore contemporary Georgia, Russia, or the relationship between the two. She joins us for our Afterimage series to discuss her films and the issues they raise with film critic Michael Guillen.

CAAMFEST 2015 P. 12

In mid-March, the Center for Asian American Media offers us the opportunity to not only experience new films from Asia and the Asian diaspora but to meet the people behind the scenes. Director Ham Tran and actress Suboi will be at a screen-ing of their horror film from Vietnam, Hollow. Director Caryn Waechter, writer Marilyn Fu, and actors Willa Cuthrell and Kal Penn present their modern-day version of the Salem witch trials, The Sisterhood of Night. Dean Yamada joins us to present Cicada, a gentle comedy about a schoolteacher in Japan. Argentinean director Juán Martin Hsu presents his debut feature, La Salada, which follows the intertwined narratives of immigrants at a Buenos Aires street market. Director Minh Nguyen-Vo (Buffalo Boy) and cinematographer Bao Nguyen join us for 2030, a futuristic tale of a Vietnam submerged by rising sea levels. Filmmaker John Pirozzi marks the fortieth anniversary of Cambodia’s fall to the Khmer Rouge with a vibrant film account of the pre-1975 Cambodian music scene; screening accompanied by a short set by pop singer Bochan, who draws on both hip-hop and musical traditions of Southeast Asia.

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SUNDAY / 3.1.15

5:00GODARD SHORTSJEAN-LUC GODARD (FRANCE/SWITZERLAND, 1979–2002)

A diverse array of shorts made by Godard over a twenty-five-year period. The video essay Scénario de Sauve qui peut (la vie) anticipates Godard’s second “first” film. In Meetin’ WA, Godard meets Woody Allen, the encounter of a philosopher and a fool. Liberté et patrie is an exquisite film in which Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville portray the painter Aimé Pache. In Changer d’image, Godard contemplates his place in film history. Drawing on Edgar Allan Poe, Puissance de la parole features a conversation between two angels. Hommage à Eric Rohmer is Godard’s moving goodbye to a fellow New Wave director.

SCENARIO DE SAUVE QUI PEUT (LA VIE) France/Switzer-land, 1979, 20 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital video, From Film Desk

MEETIN’ WA France, 1986, 26 mins, In English, Digital

LIBERTÉ ET PATRIE France, 2002, 21 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

CHANGER D’IMAGE France, 1982, 9 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

PUISSANCE DE LA PAROLE (POWER OF THE WORD) France, 1988, 25 mins, In French with English subti-tles, Digital

HOMMAGE À ERIC ROHMER France, 2010, 2 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

Total running time: c. 110 mins

SUNDAY / 3.8.15

5:00GODARD’S TELEVISION COMMERCIALSJEAN-LUC GODARD (FRANCE, 1971–96)

This selection of Godard’s highly unconventional television advertisements ranges from Schick After Shave, featuring Juliet Berto as one half of a couple arguing over a report on Palestine but agreeing that Schick makes you feel better in your skin, to a com-mission for the anniversary of Figaro magazine for which Godard excavated the final words of a series of fictitious French celebrities. Le rapport Darty is a daring deconstruction of consumerist behavior featuring Miss Clio Darty, with a voiceover by Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville; this philosophical “report,” like so many of Godard’s commissions, was rejected by its funders.

SCHICK AFTER SHAVE France, 1971, 1 min, In French with English subtitles, Digital

ON S’EST TOUS DÉFILÉ France, 1988, 13 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

PARISIENNE PEOPLE CIGARETTES France, 1992, 1 min, In French with English subtitles, Digital

METAMORPHOJEAN PLUS CLOSED 1 AND 2 France, 1987–90, 10 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

PLUS OH! France, 1996, 4 mins, In French, Digital

FAUT PAS RÊVER France, 1977, 4 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

LE DERNIER MOT (THE LAST WORD) France, 1988, 13 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

L’ENFANCE DE L’ART France, 1990, 8 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

UNE BONNE À TOUT FAIRE France, 1981, 8 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

LE RAPPORT DARTY France, 1989, 50 mins, In French with English subtitles, Digital

Total running time: c. 120 minsAll Six fois deux/Sur et sous la communication 4.12, 16, & 19

“Visually astounding and intellectually fertile.” COLIN MCCABE

Our extended tribute to the great filmmaker Jean-

Luc Godard ends with a return to his brilliant work

for television: we present his six-part Six fois deux/

Sur et sous la communication as well as a program

of unconventional advertisements, many of which

were rejected by their funders. We also showcase his

wide-ranging short films, including a meeting with

Woody Allen and his goodbye to Eric Rohmer. While

our series draws to a conclusion, Godard himself

continues to eloquently experiment; his recent Adieu

au langage may be a goodbye to the word, but we

expect (and hope) not to cinema.

Kathy Geritz, Film Curator

We are indebted to Kent Jones, Jacob Perlin, and Isa Cucinotta at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, where a Godard retrospective took place at the 51st New York Film Festival, and to James Quandt and Anne-Sophie Chollot at TIFF Cinematheque, which hosted a Godard retrospective last year. We also thank Ted Fendt for his valuable assistance; the French Cultural Services, New York; and the French Consulate San Francisco. Organized at BAM/PFA by Film Curator Kathy Geritz. Unless otherwise indicated, notes adapted from TIFF Cinematheque.

JEAN-LUC GODARD EXPECT EVERYTHING FROM CINEMA

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We present A Letter to Nelson Mandela

in conjunction with the concert 20

Years of Freedom by Hugh Masekela

and Vusi Mahlasela at Zellerbach

Hall on March 11, presented by Cal

Performances, and the symposium

South Africa After Mandela at the

Townsend Center for the Humanities

on March 13. These programs explore

through film, music, journalism, and

scholarship the difficult questions sur-

rounding South Africa after Mandela.

Of related interest, Twelve Disciples

of Nelson Mandela by Thomas Allen

Harris screens at BAM/PFA on April

14 (see p. 22).

T h e s e p ro g ra m s a re m a d e p o s s i b l e by cosponsorship from the Office of the Chancellor, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, and the Center for African Studies. For more information, go to townsendcenter.berkeley.edu.

SUNDAY / 4.12.15

2:00SIX FOIS DEUX/SUR ET SOUS LA COMMUNICATION: PARTS I–IIJEAN-LUC GODARD, ANNE-MARIE MIÉVILLE (FRANCE, 1976)

“Visually astounding and intellectually fertile, it is as though one is seeing television for the first time.” COLIN

MACCABE

(Six Times Two/On and Below Communication). Godard and Miéville’s concern throughout this television series is to explore the production and consumption of images in modern society, so that we the audience can better understand the construction of images of ourselves. As the title suggests, Six fois deux is composed of six programs, each consisting of two fifty-minute segments. The first segment of each program presents a video essay on some aspect of contemporary life (work, images, photography, television, childhood, love), which is followed by a prolonged interview with one or more individuals—a structure that serves to relate the theoretical concerns of the first half to the experiences of a person. Although each two-part program stands on its own, the experience of viewing the entire series is a rich and rewarding one, as the programs relate to and comment on one another (with the last program functioning as something of a retrospective of the series). KATHY GERITZ

Please note: This series is screened in French at a low volume with English voiceover.

(200 mins, In French with English voiceover, Color/B&W, Digital video, From Electronic Arts Intermix, permission INA)

THURSDAY / 4.16.15

7:00SIX FOIS DEUX/SUR ET SOUS LA COMMUNICATION: PARTS III–IVJEAN-LUC GODARD, ANNE-MARIE MIÉVILLE (FRANCE, 1976)

SUNDAY / 4.19.15

2:00SIX FOIS DEUX/SUR ET SOUS LA COMMUNICATION: PARTS V–VIJEAN-LUC GODARD, ANNE-MARIE MIÉVILLE (FRANCE, 1976)

THURSDAY / 3.12.15

7:00A LETTER TO NELSON MANDELAKHALO MATABANE (SOUTH AFRICA/GERMANY, 2013)

IN PERSON Khalo MatabaneINTRODUCTION Gillian Hart

Gillian Hart is professor of geography and co-chair of development studies at UC Berkeley; her most recent book is Rethinking the South African Crisis: National-ism, Populism, Hegemony

Nelson Mandela’s message of freedom, forgiveness, and reconciliation still inspires people worldwide. Yet for South African filmmaker Khalo Matabane, Mandela’s legacy is far more ambivalent. As someone who came to adulthood after independence, Matabane sees a contemporary South Africa that is still profoundly divided and unequal. Using the conceit of an imaginary letter to Mandela, this deeply personal work ques-tions the price of Mandela’s brokered reconciliation. Matabane’s cinematic diary includes interviews with the Dalai Lama, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Pumla Gqola, Albie Sachs, and Ariel Dorfman, as the filmmaker asks: How should we interpret Mandela’s legacy today? CATHERINE COLE, GILLIAN HART

Photographed by Giulo Biccari, Mike Downie, Nicolaas Hofmeyr. (85 mins, Color, DCP, From Born Free Media)

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A Letter to Nelson Mandela


Yugoslav Avant-Garde Cinema, 1950s–1980s Ex-Film from an Ex-Land

A critically important realm of avant-garde cinema has been

largely neglected in the US over the years—the wave of films that

emerged in the countries of former Yugoslavia. While a handful

of filmmakers have penetrated the consciousness of American

scholars and cineastes—Dušan Makavejev above all, though Karpo

Godina and Želimir Žilnik have begun to make ripples as well—

these artists are merely the tip of the iceberg, representing an

experimental film movement of extraordinary richness, inventive-

ness, and uncompromising political engagement.

To begin to redress the invisibility of these films here in the US, as

well as to call attention to some of the important institutions and

organizations that are heroically working (in the face of daunting

obstacles) to preserve the avant-garde cinema of ex-Yugoslavia,

we’ve invited the Slovenian Cinematheque, the Croatian Film

Association, and the Academic Film Center, Belgrade, to curate

programs showcasing films from their collections. Although even

these four programs represent only the most selective of sur-

veys of the Slovenian, Croatian, and Serbian avant-garde move-

ments, the films included here are guaranteed to transform your

conception of twentieth-century experimental cinema.

Jed Rapfogel, Film Programmer, Anthology Film Archives, New York

Jed Rapfogel organized this series, which tours from Anthology Film Archives to BAM/PFA and Cinémathèque Québécoise. A very special thanks to Jurij Meden, Slovenian Cinematheque and George Eastman House; Diana Nenadić, Croatian Film Association; and Miodrag Miša Milošević, Academic Film Center, Student City Cultural Center, Belgrade. At BAM/PFA, we also extend our thanks to Jed Rapfogel and to Marco de Blois, Cinémathèque Québécoise.

WEDNESDAY / 3.11.15

7:30 SLOVENIAN 8MM EXPERIMENTS: KARPO GODINA AND DAVORIN MARCINTRODUCTION Jurij Meden

Jurij Meden is the former curator of film exhibitions at Slovenian Cinema-theque and is currently curator of film exhibitions at George Eastman House

Karpo Godina launched his career in the mid-sixties with a succession of 8mm experimental shorts, predominantly designed to question everything he was being taught at the state film academy. In retrospect it seems as if Godina had to go through this romantic, frantic phase in order to arrive at what he became famous for: extracting as much (political) action and dynamics as possible from meticulously framed, perfectly still images. Emerging a decade after Godina, the post-punk Davorin Marc remains a subject for further research. Notoriously reclusive and with over 150 super-8mm and 16mm films under his belt, he modestly describes his work as “small films.” JURIJ MEDEN

GAME (DIVJAD) Karpo Godina, Jure Pervanje, Yugoslavia, 1965, 6 mins @ 18 fps, Silent with separate sound on CD, B&W, 8mm transferred to 35mm

DOG (PES) Karpo Godina, Mario Uršić, Yugoslavia, 1965, 8 mins @ 18 fps, Silent with separate sound on CD, B&W, 8mm transferred to 35mm

ANNO PASSATO (A.P.) Karpo Godina, Yugoslavia, 1966, 5 mins @ 18 fps, Silent with separate sound on CD, B&W, 8mm transferred to 35mm

THE GRATINATED BRAINS OF PUPILIJA FERKEVERK (GRATINIRANI MOZAK PUPILIJE FERKEVERK) Karpo Godina, Yugoslavia, 1970, 15 mins, Color, 35mm

BITE ME. ONCE ALREADY (UGRIZNI ME. ŽE ENKRAT) Davorin Marc, Yugoslavia, 1978/80, 1:35 mins, Silent, Color, Super 8mm

SLAUGHTER AHOY (EJ KLANJE) Davorin Marc, Yugoslavia, 1981, 16 mins @ 18 fps, Silent with separate sound on CD, Color, Super 8mm

FEAR IN THE CITY (1181 DAYS LATER OR SMELL OF RATS) (PAURA IN CITTA (1181 DNI POZNEJE ALI VONJ PO PODGANAH)) Davorin Marc, Yugoslavia, 1984, 21 mins, Color, Super 8mm transferred to 35mm

25 SECONDS PER FRAME (PIKNIK) Davorin Marc, Yugoslavia, 2013/14, 10:50 mins, Silent, Color, Super 8mm transferred to Digital video

All films preserved or restored by the Slovenian Cinematheque, Ljubljana, and selected by Jurij Meden.

Total running time: 83 mins

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

1 The Forenoon of a Faun, 3.19.15

2 Anno passato, 3.11.15

3 Journey, 3.29.15

4 25 Seconds per Frame, 3.11.15

5 Afternoon (The Gun), 3.19.15

6 Encounter, 3.19.15

6

BAM / PFA 11

THURSDAY / 3.19.15

7:30CROATIAN AVANT-GARDE FILMMAKERS OF THE 1960SINTRODUCTION Pavle Levi

Pavle Levi is a professor of film and media studies at Stanford University and the author most recently of Cinema by Other Means

The filmmakers represented in this program are among the most prominent members of the enormously vibrant Croatian experimental scene of the 1960s. All of them were members of the amateur cine-clubs that formed in all the major cities of Yugoslavia at the time, as well as participants in the Genre Film Festival, a unique festival of experimental film in Zagreb that was the most important gathering point for “film researchers” and other independent filmmakers from Yugoslavia. Their approach to cinematic experiments differed greatly, from a prototype of the so-called anti-film to works that anticipated the structural film movement, to poetic-meditative orientations. DIANA NENADIĆ

ENCOUNTER (SRETANJE) Vladimir Petek, Yugoslavia, 1963, 5 mins, B&W, 35mm

THE FORENOON OF A FAUN (PRIJE PODNE JEDNOG FAU-NA) Tomislav Gotovac, Yugoslavia, 1963, 8 mins, B&W, 16mm

STRAIGHT LINE (STEVENS-DUKE) (PRAVAC (STEVENS-DUKE)) Tomislav Gotovac, Yugoslavia, 1964, 10 mins, B&W, 16mm

CIRCLE (JUTKEVICH-COUNT) (KRUŽNICA (JUTKEVIČ-COUNT)) Tomislav Gotovac, Yugoslavia, 1964, 12 min, B&W, 16mm

I’M MAD Ivan Martinac, Yugoslavia, 1967, 5 mins, Super 8mm transferred to 16mm

FOCUS Ivan Martinac, Yugoslavia, 1967, 7 mins, B&W, 35mm

PEOPLE (IN PASSING) II (LJUDI (U PROLAZU) II) Lordan Zafranović, Yugoslavia, 1967, 11 mins, B&W, 35mm

AFTERNOON (THE GUN) (POSLIJE PODNE (PUŠKA)) Lordan Zafranović, Yugoslavia, 1968, 15 mins, B&W, 35mm

All films preserved or restored by the Croatian Film Association and Croatian Film Archives (Croatian State Archives), and selected by Diana Nenadić, Croatian Film Association. Presented in cooperation with the Tomislav Gotovac Institute in Zagreb.


SUNDAY / 3.22.15

5:00THE EXPERIMENTAL FILM MOVEMENT IN SERBIA: FORMATIVE YEARS (1950S–60S)With the establishment of cine-clubs in Yugoslavia after World War II, the filmmakers at the front ranks of experimental (and, later, professional) cinema in Serbia in the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s—including Dušan Makavejev, Živojin Pavlović, Vojislav Kokan Rakonjac, and Želimir Žilnik—created a number of films that used narrative experimentation to pose questions related to the essence of the socialist social system. Their professional films, made during the 1960s, displayed a deep social and political engagement that strongly shook the existing socialist society, and won the movement the name “Black Wave” (Cinema Noir) in Yugoslavia. MIODRAG MIŠA MILOŠEVIĆ

ANTONIO’S BROKEN MIRROR (ANTONIJEVO RAZBIJENO OGLEDALO) Dušan Makavejev, Yugoslavia, 1957, 11 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

TRIPTYCH ON MATTER AND DEATH (TRIPTIH O MATERIJI I SMRTI) Živojin Pavlović, Yugoslavia, 1960, 9 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

THE WALL (ZID) Vojislav Kokan Rakonjac, Yugoslavia, 1960, 8 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

SMOKE AND WATER (DIM I VODA) Dragoslav Lazić, Yugo-slavia, 1962, 12 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

ARMS IN THE PURPLE DISTANCE (RUKE LJUBIČASTIH DALJINA) Sava Trifković, Yugoslavia, 1962, 11 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

ECSTASY (EKSTAZA) Petar Arandjelović, Yugoslavia, 1963, 5:30 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

BLUE RIDER (GODARD-ART) (PLAVI JAHAČ (GODARD-ART)), Tomislav Gotovac, Yugoslavia, 1964, 14 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

All films preserved or restored by the Academic Film Center, Student City Cultural Center, Belgrade, and selected by Miodrag Miša Milošević. The films are shown digitally due to the fragility and uniqueness of the original 16mm prints.


SUNDAY / 3.29.15

5:00THE EXPERIMENTAL FILM MOVEMENT IN SERBIA: YEARS OF STRUCTURE (1960S–80S)Film as a medium of expression and film in which the structure plays the dominant role were the most widespread in the 1960s and 1970s in Belgrade. The films of Zoran Popović, Slobodan Šijan, and Ljubomir Šimunić explored diverse visual structures. Vjekoslav Nakić, Nikola Djurić, and Radoslav Vladić created films with pure structures and atmospheres. Ivan Obrenov and Bojan Jovanović, through the predominant postmodernist style of their works, again began to pose questions related to the topics of unfinished revolutions and neocolonialism. And at the beginning of the 1980s, Miroslav Bata Petrović would deal with the results of the materialist approach to film. MIODRAG MIŠA MILOŠEVIĆ

HEAD-CIRCLE (GLAVA-KRUG) Zoran Popović, Yugoslavia, 1968–69, 5 mins, Color, 8mm transferred to Digital video

COMPOSITION (KOMPOZICIJA) Vjekoslav Nakić, Yugoslavia, 1970, 6 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

THE GARDEN OF FORKING PATHS (VRT SA STAZAMA ŠTO SE RAČVAJU) Slobodan Šijan, Yugoslavia, 1971, 4 mins, 8mm trans-ferred to Digital video

JOURNEY (PUTOVANJE) Bojana Vujanović, Yugoslavia, 1972, 2 mins, B&W/Color, 16mm transferred to Digital video

FROM ME TO YOU (OD MENE DO TEBE) Mirko Avramović, Miodrag Tarana, Yugoslavia, 1972, 4 mins, B&W, 8mm transferred to Digital video

VOWELS (SAMOGLASNICI) Nikola Đurić, Yugoslavia, 1973, 8 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

GERDY, THE WICKED WITCH (GERDY, ZLOČESTA VJEŠTICA) Ljubomir Šimunić, Yugoslavia, 1973–76, 9:30 mins, Color, 8mm transferred to Digital video

EXPIRATION (IZDAH) Ivan Obrenov, Yugoslavia, 1976, 12 mins, B&W/Color, 16mm transferred to Digital video

HOUSE (KUĆA) Radoslav Vladić, Yugoslavia, 1977, 8 mins, Color, 16mm transferred to Digital video

HOLIDAY (PRAZNIK) Bojan Jovanović, Yugoslavia, 1983, 11 mins, Color, 16mm transferred to Digital video

PURE FILM: MEMENTO OF GEFF (ČISTI FILM: SEĆANJE NA GEFF) Miroslav Bata Petrović, Yugoslavia, 1984, 5 mins, B&W, 16mm transferred to Digital video

All films preserved or restored by the Academic Film Center, Student City Cultural Center, Belgrade, and selected by Miodrag Miša Milošević. The films are shown digitally due to the fragility and uniqueness of the original prints.


FILM

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FILM

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1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

FRIDAY / 3.13.15

7:00 TALES RAKHSHAN BANI-ETEMAD (IRAN, 2014)

(Ghesse-ha). After an eight-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Rakhshan Bani-Etemad returns with this intimate portrait of the interwoven lives of its working-class characters. A taxi driver runs into a long-lost family friend; his mother appeals to this friend for funds to release her other son from prison. The mother rides in a van of workers protesting the loss of their jobs, and one man’s illiteracy leads him to make a rash assumption about his wife. In this circle of interconnected souls stands a filmmaker, whose difficulty in gaining clearance to document these lives may well parallel Bani-Etemad’s long journey to finishing the film. DIANA LI

Written by Bani-Etemad, Farid Mostafavi. Photographed by Koohyar Kalari. With Habib Rezaei, Mohammad Reza Forutan, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Golab Adineh. (88 mins, In Farsi with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

8:50 HOLLOWHAM TRAN (VIETNAM, 2014)

IN PERSON Ham Tran and Suboi

(Doat Hon). From the director of How To Fight in Six Inch Heels, the chilling Hollow is the story of a family terrorized by their dead daughter, Ai, who has come back to life possessed by a vengeful spirit. Ai’s father seeks help from a shaman and discovers that she is actually possessed by a living soul, someone who must be related to Ai by blood. Then Ai’s older sister travels to the village where Ai’s body was found, unearthing secrets of human trafficking and child prostitution. Hollow reminds you to keep your morals in check—or they may come back to haunt you. DIANA LI

Written by Tran. Photographed by Nate Fu. With Suboi, Bao Son Tran, Nguyen Ngoc Hiep, Hong An. (95 mins, In Vietnamese with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

SATURDAY / 3.14.15

5:45 THE SISTERHOOD OF NIGHT CARYN WAECHTER (US, 2014)

IN PERSON Caryn Waechter, Marilyn Fu, Willa Cuthrell, Kal Penn

This is no ordinary teen film. Sisterhood follows the increasingly dangerous actions of three high school girls, which eventually pull their families and community into a dark spiral of suspicion and fear. The film draws on a wide variety of cultural and historical touchstones, from the Salem witch trials to cyberbullying, to show the power of silence and of finding a voice. The excellent cast brings warmth and humor to the occasionally troubling story, and the joy and empowerment that the titular sisterhood invokes tempers the film’s dark tone. Based on a short story by Steven Millhauser. KAT HUGHES

Written by Marilyn Fu, based on the short story by Steven Millhauser. Photographed by Zak Mulligan. With Kal Penn, Georgie Henley, Kara Hayward, Laura Fraser. (103 mins, Color, DCP)

8:15 CICADA DEAN YAMADA (JAPAN/US, 2014)

IN PERSON Dean Yamada

(Senrigan). Jumpei is surrounded by kids. He’s a school-teacher as well as the uncle of a precocious nine-year-old. And then there are the adults in his life who haven’t quite grown up themselves, including his rock-n-rolling girlfriend and gambling-addict brother-in-law. So when Jumpei finds out he can’t have children he takes the opportunity to deepen his relationships with the big and little kids that already encircle him every day. A professor at LA’s Biola University, director Yamada took his students to Japan to produce this soft-stepping comedy that combines colorful characterizations with the gentle moods of social discovery found in much Japanese cinema. BRIAN HU

Written by Yu Shibuya. Photographed by Daniel McNutt. With Yugo Saso, Masayuki Yui, Hiroko Wada, Jumpei Yasui. (100 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

Each year, the Center for Asian American Media

brings us the best in contemporary cinema from

Asia and the Asian diaspora. The thirty-third install-

ment of this adventurous festival at BAM/PFA fea-

tures films and documentaries from Vietnam, Japan,

Iran, Cambodia, Argentina, and the United States.

This spring marks the fortieth anniversary of the fall

of Cambodia to the Khmer Rouge. To commemorate

that tragic event, we present John Pirozzi’s up-

tempo Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost

Rock and Roll, an eye-opening glimpse of music and

modernization in the more optimistic days before

the reign of terror. Oakland-based pop singer

Bochan, a leading proponent of the neo-Cambodian

music scene, will perform a short set. On the fiction

front, the festival’s entries are chilling, charming,

and everything between—Vietnam’s ghostly but

ghastly blockbuster Hollow; Cicada, a Japanese/

American hybrid about personal transformation;

the thoroughly ambitious The Sisterhood of Night,

an Oakland-inspired drama about a feminist autono-

mous zone; 2030, a beautifully rendered sci-fi fea-

ture depicting Vietnam after sea rise. CAAMFest

brings great stories to light.

Steve Seid, Guest Curator

Special admission prices apply: General admission: $14; CAAM and BAM/PFA members, UC Berkeley students: $12 (limit 2 tickets per person per program); Non-UC Berkeley students, 65 & over, 17 & under, disabled persons: $13 (limit 1 ticket per person per program). Please note that our second-feature discount does not apply to these programs. Tickets are nonrefundable, and may not be exchanged.

A presentation of the Center for Asian American Media. Special thanks to Masashi Niwano, Stephen Gong, Lin Kung, and Bochan. Program notes are adapted from the festival catalog. 1 La Salada, 3.15.15

2 The Sisterhood of Night, 3.14.15

3 Hollow, 3.13.15

4 Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll, 3.18.15

5 Kumu Hina, 3.15.15

CAAMFest 2015

FILM

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WEDNESDAY / 4.8.15

7:30IN THE MOOD FOR LOVEWONG KAR-WAI (HONG KONG, 2000) NEW 35MM PRINT!

(Fa yeung nin wa). Supposedly the most univer-sally acclaimed film of the twenty-first century, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love seems like it has been around for decades; even when it debuted in 2000, however, the film—set in the early 1960s—already seemed timeless. “This film is not verbal,” said Wong about the way it effortlessly captures an essence of romance and melancholy, as showcased in the lives of two neighbors (Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who are “in the mood for love,” yet too proper to act on it. “Everything is expressed through the body, through the people, how they walk, how they move.” JASON SANDERS

Written by Wong. Photographed by Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping Bin. With Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Siu Ping Lam, Rebecca Pan. (98 mins, In Cantonese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From TIFF Cinematheque, permission Swank)

SUNDAY / 3.15.15

3:30 KUMU HINADEAN HAMER, JOE WILSON (US, 2014)

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a kumu hula (hula teacher) and advocate for native Hawai’ian rights, prepares her students for a year-end dance performance in this documentary by Emmy Award–winning filmmakers Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson (Out in the Silence). Kalu’s special status as mahu, transgender, allows her to possess both the feminine and the masculine, bequeathing her unique healing and teaching powers. These same spiritual qualities are found in the lone tomboy of the group, Ho’onani, who possesses a confidence and self-awareness well beyond her years. Despite the overwhelming pressure to balance personal and public life, Kalu’s dedication to being a cultural leader never subsides. ELISA GYOTOKU

Narrated by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. (74 mins, Color, DCP)

5:30LA SALADAJUÁN MARTIN HSU (ARGENTINA, 2014)

IN PERSON Juán Martin Hsu

Argentina’s bustling La Salada, an enormous discount market just outside of Buenos Aires, provides the nucleus for Juan Martin Hsu’s understated directorial debut. His ensemble cast includes Korean, Taiwanese, and Bolivian immigrants to Argentina, whose experiences converge and dance parallel to one another with equal parts poignancy and banality. Bruno, newly arrived from Bolivia, strikes up an unlikely friendship with his employer, successful Korean clothes vendor Mr. Kim. Huang sells pirated DVDs by day and by night longs for his native Taiwan. Hsu’s myopic view illuminates the painful middle ground that all immigrants inhabit, teetering between borders and across chasms. SIERRA LEE

Written by Hsu. Photographed by Tebbe Schöningh. With Ignacio Huang, Yunseon Kim, Chang Sun Kim, Nicolás Mateo. (92 mins, In Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

8:002030 MINH NGUYEN-VO (VIETNAM, 2014)

IN PERSON Minh Nguyen-Vo and Bao Nguyen

(Nuoc). From acclaimed writer and director Minh Nguyen-Vo (Buffalo Boy) comes the haunting, dystopian 2030. Part love story and part mystery, the film portrays a not-so-distant future where global warming has caused sea levels to rise, engulfing much of lowland Vietnam. We follow the strong-willed protagonist, Sao, on her quest to find out how her husband died. She suspects that his killer may work at a floating farm, the only way to grow vegetables in a half-submerged country. Cinematographer Bao Nguyen evokes a beautiful and eerie world, where the truth is as murky as the water. MOMO CHANG

Written by Minh. Photographed by Bao Nguyen. With Quynh Hoa, Quy Binh, Kim Long Thach, Hoang Tran Minh Duc. (98 mins, In Vietnamese with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

WEDNESDAY / 3.18.15

7:00 DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN: CAMBODIA’S LOST ROCK AND ROLL JOHN PIROZZI (US/CAMBODIA, 2014)

IN PERSON John PirozziLIVE MUSIC Bochan

Oakland-based indie pop singer Bochan draws on hard-edged urban hip-hop and the more traditional strains of Southeast Asia to create a pulsing neo-Cambodian synthesis

Before Cambodia’s fall to the Khmer Rouge forty years ago, there was joy, life, and music. The Phnom Penh pulse throbbed with spectacular talent, reverbed with Angkor Wattage, and surged from capital to countryside. Homegrown stars brought Cambodian flair and glamour to pop, soul, funk, the cha-cha-cha—and of course, rock ’n’ roll. American bombs and military rule dampened the groove, and Pol Pot snuffed it out; songs of love turned to the spilling of blood. John Pirozzi’s sparkling film elegantly gives the mic to artists like Sinn Sisamouth, Ros Serey Sothea, Pen Ran, and Yol Aularong, all of whom perished in the genocide. They live again onscreen, and music again pulses in Cambodia, whose beauty is resilient. RAVI CHANDRA

(105 mins, In Khmer, French, English with English subtitles, Color, DCP)

SPECIAL SCREENING

Wong Kar-wai


Our final installment of Discovering Georgian Cinema includes two impor-

tant spotlights. We lead off with a focus on the films of the Georgian-born,

ethnically Armenian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov (1924–1990), featuring a

new digital restoration of The Color of Pomegranates (1969) and guest intro-

ductions by UC Berkeley professor Harsha Ram. We also have the distinct

honor of welcoming the Tbilisi-born, Paris-based filmmaker Nino Kirtadze in

the Afterimage series (see p. 18).

We continue to look both back at historical highlights and forward to the

present state of Georgian cinema. From the late silent era, we present Siko

Dolidze’s The Last Crusader (1934) and a pair of films by Lev Push. From the

Soviet era we present allegorical films such as Aleksandr Rekhaviashvili’s

poetic The Way Home (1981/87) and Rezo Esadze’s societal study The Nylon

Christmas Tree (1985). Tengiz Abuladze’s Iliko, Ilarion, Grandmother and Me

(1963) is billed with Fellini’s Amarcord (1973, see p. 17), in recognition of the

aesthetic kinship and cinematic friendship between these two filmmakers.

A selection of contemporary Georgian documentaries, features, and shorts

signals that Georgian cinema has bridged the period of political indepen-

dence with great strength and vitality.

Susan Oxtoby, Senior Film Curator

Discovering Georgian Cinema is a collaboration between the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Organized by Susan Oxtoby, senior film curator, BAM/PFA, and Jytte Jensen, curator, Department of Film, MoMA.

The retrospective at BAM/PFA is supported in part by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellowship program, which allowed for extensive research, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which helped underwrite the touring series organized by BAM/PFA. We wish to thank our community partners, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the Department of Music at UC Berkeley for their support.

We are grateful to the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, the Georgian National Film Center, and the National Archives of Georgia, Tbilisi; Gosfilmofond of Russia, Moscow; Arsenal—Institute for Film and Video, Berlin; Eye Film Institute, Amsterdam; La Cinémathèque de Toulouse; La Cinémathèque Française, Paris; British Film Institute, London; and the Pordenone Silent Film Festival for assisting with research materials as well as archival print loans. Special thanks to our indispensible volunteers and interns: Sophia Babluani and Nino Chichau, at MoMA; and Alix Sandra Blevins, Josephine Sedgwick, Marah Trujillo, Peter Washburn, and Jenny White, at BAM/PFA.

DISCOVERING

Georgian 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

SUNDAY / 3.1.15

3:00SHADOWS OF OUR FORGOTTEN ANCESTORSSERGEI PARADJANOV (USSR, 1964)

(Tini zabutikh predkiv). With this gorgeous picture set among a small Ukrainian sect, Sergei Paradjanov “was the first to indicate the degree to which folklore and local artistic tradition could once again become a source of visual wealth in Soviet national cinema. In the beautiful but fierce Carpathian mountains, an environment of overwhelming Christian-pagan rituals, demonology, and constant struggle with overpowering elements, a story of love unfolds. Adopting the great master Dovzhenko’s use of symbolism and metaphor, and his lyric photography, Paradjanov adds a dynamically active camera suited to the requirements of his energetic and temperamental character” (Yvette Biro).

Written by Ivan Chendei, Paradjanov, based on the novel Wild Horses of Fire by M. Kotsiubinsky and on Western Ukrainian folklore. Photographed by Yuri Ilyenko. With Ivan Nikolaichuk, Larisa Kadochnikova, Tatiana Bestaeva, Spartak Bagashvili. (92 mins, English subtitles, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection, permission Kino Lorber)

WEDNESDAY / 3.4.15

7:30THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATESSERGEI PARADJANOV (USSR, 1969) 4K DIGITAL RESTORATION!

INTRODUCTION Harsha Ram

Harsha Ram is an associate professor of Slavic languages and literatures and comparative literature at UC Berkeley and author of City of Crossroads: Tiflis Modernism and the Russian-Georgian Encounter (forthcoming).

(Sayat Nova, aka Red Pomegranates). Sergei Paradjanov’s paean to his Armenian heritage is an exotic mosaic of the mystical and historical that achieves a surreal effect. In tracing the life of the great eighteenth-century Armenian poet and monk Sayat Nova through his writings, Paradjanov weaves a metaphorical short history of the Armenian nation, telling of Turkish genocide, Persian invasions, and a vast migration to the Russian section in the early twentieth century, all through daringly symbolic imagery. Beyond this the film is an extraordinary artistic rendering of ceremony and ritual, architecture, iconography, and color symbology that, even for the uninitiated, works its extraordinary magic.

Written by Paradjanov, based on the writings of Sayat Nova. Photographed by Souren Chabazian, Martyn Chabazian. With Sofiko Chiaureli, Melkon Alekian, Vilen Galestian. (75 mins, In Armenian with English subtitles, Color, 4K DCP, From Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and The Film Foundation World Cinema Project)

1 The Color of Pomegranates, 3.4.15

2 Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, 3.1.15

3 Arabesque on the Pirosmani Theme, 3.8.15

4 Ashik Kerib, 3.6.15

5 The Way Home, 3.21.15

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts

CINEMA


FRIDAY / 3.6.15

7:00THE LEGEND OF SURAM FORTRESSDODO ABASHIDZE, SERGEI PARADJANOV (USSR, 1985) IMPORTED PRINT!


(Legenda o Suramskoy Kreposki). Codirected by Dodo Abashidze and Sergei Paradjanov, this film is based on a Caucasus Mountains legend that tells of the repeated efforts of the Georgian people to construct a fortress against invaders. The fortress continues to collapse until a fortune-teller recalls a fateful prophecy. The story, at once simple and marvelous (in the literal sense), unfolds in a circular rather than linear manner, and its mythic possibilities are realized wondrously in the film’s visuals. Legend is exquisite in the manner of a painted miniature, with the jewel-like colors and decor of a medieval illuminated manuscript.

Written by Vazha Ghigashvili. Photographed by Yury Klimenko. With Levan Uchaneishvili, Zurab Kipshidze, Lela Alibegashvili, Dodo Abashidze. (82 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From BFI Distribution, permission Kino Lorber)

8:50ASHIK KERIBSERGEI PARADJANOV (USSR, 1988) IMPORTED PRINT!


This is a true trans-Caucasus venture, produced by a Georgian studio and directed by an ethnic Armenian who selected Azerbaijani as the language of his film—simply because he loved the sound of it. As if to combine Sayat Nova and Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors, here is a film about art and the all-conquering power of love. Ashik Kerib, a poor singer and saz (Turkish guitar) player, when denied the hand of the woman he loves, sets out on a ten-year journey. The film recounts the adventures of the wandering minstrel.

Written by Georgi Badridze, based on a story by Mikhail Lermontov. Photographed by Albert Yavurian. With Yuri Goyan, Veronika Metonidze, Levan Natroshvili, Sofiko Chiaureli. (78 mins, In Azerbaijani with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From BFI Distribution, permission Kino Lorber)

SUNDAY / 3.8.15

3:00ARABESQUE ON THE PIROSMANI THEMESERGEI PARADJANOV (USSR, 1985) NEW 35MM PRINT!

(Arabeskebi Pirosmanis temaze). A poetic meditation on the work of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918). Shown in a 35mm print that we have recently acquired for the BAM/PFA collection.

Written by Kora Tsereteli. Photographed by N. Paliashvily. (25 mins, In Georgian, Russian, and English, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)

Followed by:SERGEI PARADJANOV: THE REBELPATRICK CAZALS (FRANCE, 2003)

A portrait of Sergei Paradjanov as a filmmaker, designer, and collage artist, made at the time when he was shooting his last film, Ashik Kerib. Filmed in Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Paris, this documentary includes archival footage and interviews reflecting upon the artist’s pluralistic view of the Caucasian people and their cultural traditions. Cazals also considers Paradjanov’s successive terms of imprisonment by the Soviet government and the artist’s strength of spirit.

Photographed by Jacques Malnou, Philippe Dorison. (52 mins, In Georgian and French with English subtitles, Color, DigiBeta PAL, From Les Films du Horla)


SATURDAY / 3.21.15

6:30THE WAY HOMEALEKSANDR REKHVIASHVILI (USSR, 1981/1987)

(Qartuli Pilmi/Gza shinisaken). The way home for Aleksandr Rekhviashvili is not charted in the conventional sense. It takes the viewer along some peculiar roads and across a unique landscape: Georgian history and legend, politics and social stratification, religion and ethics. Allusive, stylized, and allegorical from beginning to end, The Way Home is in part a tribute to Rekhviashvili’s favorite director, Pasolini, especially to Hawks and Sparrows (1966). It makes extensive use of poems by Bella Akhmadulina (the major female poet of the cultural “thaw” of the fifties and sixties) and of sets by Amir Kakabadze (the son of David Kakabadze, the Georgian avant-garde painter).

Written by Erlom Akhvlediai, Rezo Kveselava, Rekhviashvili. Photographed by Archil Pilipashvili. With V. Pantchilidze, R. Tchkhvadze, Avtandil Makharadze, Janri Lolashvili. (83 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)

8:15THE NYLON CHRISTMAS TREEREZO ESADZE (USSR, 1985) IMPORTED PRINT!

(Neilonis nadzvis khe). A group of mismatched travelers gather to take a bus during New Year’s Eve in actor/director Rezo Esadze’s work of allegorical realism, which supposedly found an admirer in none other than Federico Fellini. The married, the harried, the rich, and the poor: none of the travelers have anything in common with one another, at least not until the bus starts moving. Turning away from the epic sweep or colorful flights of fantasy of much Georgian cinema, The Nylon Christmas Tree uses one night, and one setting, to investigate the moral and social quandaries of Georgia, circa 1985. JASON SANDERS

Written by Esadze, Amiran Dolidze. Photographed by Levan Paatashvili. With Ruslan Miqaberidze, Guram Petriashvili, Sophiko Gorgadze, Kote Chanturishvili. (78 mins, In Georgian with English electronic titling, Color, 35mm, From La Cinémathèque de Toulouse)

SUNDAY / 3.22.15

3:00THE BITTERSWEET FILMS OF MIKHAIL KOBAKHIDZE MIKHAIL KOBAKHIDZE (USSR/FRANCE, 1967–2001)

FAMILY MATINEE RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 8 & UP

A selection of short films made by the talented Georgian filmmaker Mikhail Kobakhidze, whose style is simple on the surface, but employs creative relationships between images and sound. The films tell allegorical stories and enact dramatic situations without dialogue, evoking emotional tones that range from humor to inventive fantasy to bit-tersweet sorrow. These shorts, which have a kinship with the films of Buster Keaton, Jacques Tati, Albert Lamorisse, and Norman McLaren, are beloved by Georgians and well loved in international cinematheques, where they have been widely shown. SUSAN OXTOBY

THE MUSICIANS USSR, 1969, 12 mins, B&W, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection

THE WEDDING USSR, 1965, 19 mins, B&W, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection

THE UMBRELLA USSR, 1967, 18 mins, B&W, Digital

EN CHEMIN France, 2001, 12 mins, B&W, Digital


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SATURDAY / 3.28.15

6:00ILIKO, ILARION, GRANDMOTHER AND ME TENGIZ ABULADZE (USSR, 1963)

(Ya, Babushka, Iliko, Illarion/Me, Bebia, Iliko da Ilarioni, aka Me, Grandma, Iliko, and Ilarion). Landscape as mise-en-scène was to become the distinctive trademark of Abuladze’s art in more formal, allegorical films like Molba or The Wishing Tree. Here, it lends itself to a lyric pastorale full of the grotesque comedy of village life. Abuladze accompanies his characters through the seasons, through the war and then the peace. The “Me” in the title is Zuriko, an orphan who lives with his grandmother Olga. Abuladze’s humanist depiction of a small community and his central character’s coming of age is reminiscent of Satyajit Ray’s The World of Apu, and of Federico Fellini’s films.

Written by Abuladze, Nodar Dumbadze. Photographed by Giorgi Kalatozishvili. With Lurab Ordzhonikidze, Sesilia Takaishvili, Aleqsandre Jorjoliani, Giorgi Tkabladze. (90 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)

TUESDAY / 3.31.15

7:00THE MACHINE WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING DISAPPEARTINATIN GURCHIANI (GEORGIA/GERMANY, 2012)

(Manqana, romelic kvelafers gaaqrobs). This compelling documentary has screened widely at international festivals and received several prestigious awards, including the 2013 Directing Award in World Cinema at Sundance. A film director organizes a casting call for fifteen- to twenty-three-year-olds and the results form the basis for a revealing portrait of Georgian society. Interview footage with the youths, who offer various reasons for wishing to be in the film, is combined with verité segments of the subjects in their daily lives. Director Tinatin Gurchiani travels through her homeland, to cities and villages, finding echoes of the Soviet past and indications of the challenges that face Georgian society today.

Written by Gurchiani. Photographed by Andreas Bergmann. With Teona Bagrationi, Ramin Iremadze, Eduard Tsikolia. (101 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Icarus Films)

SATURDAY / 4.4.15

6:30 TANGERINESZAZA URUSHADZE (ESTONIA/GEORGIA, 2013)

2015 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE FOR BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

(Mandariinid). An elderly civilian finds himself caring for two wounded soldiers from opposite sides in this insightful antiwar parable, set during the notorious 1992 Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. One of the last holdouts of an ethnically Estonian community in the green Abkhazian hills, the sage, white-haired Ivo simply wants to help his neighbor harvest tangerines, but a sudden gun battle leaves a very burly, very angry Chechen mercenary wounded at his door, and soon also a young, naïve Georgian soldier. A gripping battle of wits and intellect follows in this riveting chamber piece, with the harvests of war, and of life, at stake. JASON SANDERS

Written by Urushadze. Photographed by Rein Kotov. With Lembit Ulfsak, Raivo Trass, Giorgi Nakashidze. (84 mins, In Russian and Estonian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Cinemavault)

8:15THE LAST CRUSADERSSIKO DOLIDZE (USSR, 1934)

LIVE MUSIC Judith Rosenberg on piano

(Ukanaskneli jvarosnebi). Ethnographic footage of the remote Khevsuri culture forms a scenic backdrop to this drama involving a young Khevsuri, murdered after returning from the big city, and his brother’s quest for vengeance. Was it Chechens, as the local overlord states, or forces that benefit more from ethnic strife? Featuring extreme close-ups of rugged Caucasus faces and striking shots of the region’s vast beauty, The Last Crusaders is as pulpy as any Hollywood epic, yet fascinating for its relocation of usually urban-set concepts of class conflict, collec-tive action, and “saboteurs” to even the remotest of provinces. JASON SANDERS

Photographed by Aleksander Digmelov. With Sergo Zakariadze, Sh. Nozadze, Nato Vachnadze, Mikhail Abesadze. (68 mins, Silent with Russian intertitles and simultaneous English translation, B&W, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)

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FRIDAY / 4.17.15

7:00THE DOOMED: RUSSIAN SOLDIERS IN FRANCELEV PUSH (USSR, 1930) IMPORTED PRINT!


(Gantsirulni). Prison escapes, mutinies, a love affair, and vengeful plots fuel this entertaining silent Russian epic, set among Russian émigrés in Paris after the First World War. Director Lev Push teamed with noted Georgian artist Lado Gudiashvili, who had lived in Paris from 1921 to 1925, to painstakingly recreate the Paris of the era. Based on the real-life mutiny of Russian expeditionary corps in France after the Russian Revolution, the film took a then-current worry of the government—that military-trained Russian émigrés in Europe could unite to take arms against the new Bolshevik government—and turned it into a fantasy of “patriotic” Russians actually banding together to help their new overlords. JASON SANDERS

Written by Aleksandr Gidon, Push, Boris Sharanskii. Photographed by Vladimir Kereselidze. With Nikolay Kolomenski, Galina Egorova-Dolenko, A. Martinov, Shalva Khuskivadze. (70 mins, Silent with Russian intertitles and simultaneous English translation, B&W, 35mm, From Gosfilmofond of Russia)

8:30MZAGO AND GELALEV PUSH, SHALVA KHUSKIVADZE (USSR, 1934) IMPORTED PRINT!


(Mzago i Gela). Highlighting the traditions and culture of the rugged Khevsuri people of northeastern Georgia, Mzago and Gela is “a Khevsur’s story, reproduced by photorecording” as a secondary title states, filled with documentary-like footage of stone villages, dances, and horse races. Grafted onto the ethnographic material, though, is a fictionalized account of the arrival of modernity in the form of the radio, brought by intrepid travelers from the city, and the intellectual awakening of a young couple. Moving from isolated mountain peaks to Tblisi’s thriving streets, Mzago and Gela documents (and encourages) the move from tradition to modernity, and tribalism to communism. JASON SANDERS

Written by Khuskivadze, Push. Photographed by Vladimir Polikarpov, Vladimir Poznan. With Rimma Mkheidze, Levan Khotivari, Aleksandre Tsitlidze, Siko Vachnadze. (60 mins, Silent with Russian intertitles and simultaneous English translation, B&W, 35mm, From Gosfilmofond of Russia)

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BAM / PFA 17

6 Iliko, Ilarion, Grandmother and Me, 3.28.15

7 Susa, 4.18.15

8 The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear, 3.31.15

9 Tangerines, 4.4.15

SATURDAY / 4.18.15

6:30SUSA RUSUDAN PIRVELI (GEORGIA, 2010)

A quiet young boy weaves his way through the underbelly of contemporary Georgia in this evocative update of the neorealist tradition, which takes some of that genre’s key pieces—a youthful protagonist, nonprofessional actors, and atmospheric locales—and adds director Rusudan Pirveli’s keen eye for detail. With his father in jail, twelve-year-old Susa helps his mother distribute illegal vodka to various hellholes and deadbeats; no matter his situation, though, he hopes for something better. Avoiding pathos and cartoon villainy for a more genuine tone reminiscent of the Dardenne brothers, Susa “beautifully captures the way a crumbling locale permeates the character’s lives” (Variety). JASON SANDERS

Written by Giorgi Chalauri. Photographed by Mirian Shengelaia, Irakli Geleishvili. With Avtandil Tetradze, Levan Lordkipanidze, Giorgi Gogishvili, Ekaterine Kobakhidze. (85 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, BAM/PFA Collection)

PRECEDED BY WAITING FOR MUM (Nana Ekvtimishvili, Georgia, 2011). A young man waits for his mother to throw down his car keys from their apartment window in this early short from the director of In Bloom. (8 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From the artist)


8:30DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA: CLOSING PROGRAMBAM/PFA’s eight-month retrospective of Georgian cinema closes with a pair of recent works. Deadpan, hilarious, and filled with subtle character schtick, Felicità is pure delight. Salomé Alexi’s short takes a regular societal occurrence—women who support their families by working abroad—and mines it for dramatic effect. We present an encore screening in higher exhibition quality this time around. Shot in a provincial town, Bakhmaro shows us a three-storey, multipurpose building in varying states of decay. There the businesses struggle and the workers and inhabitants wait for change. Director/cameraperson Salomé Jashi creates a poignant, artful study that ruminates on Georgian society. SUSAN OXTOBY

FELICITÀ Salomé Alexi, Georgia, 2009, 30 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, BAM/PFA Collection

BAKHMARO Salomé Jashi, Germany/Georgia, 2011, 58 mins, In Georgian with Eng-lish subtitles, Color, DigiBeta PAL, From Deckert Distribution


FELLINI’S AmarcordFederico Fellini and Georgian filmmaker Tengiz Abuladze shared a kinship through their filmmaking styles. We are pleased to present Fellini’s Amarcord following a screening of Abuladze’s Iliko, Ilarion, Grandmother and Me (see p. 16) in recognition of this cinematic friendship.

SATURDAY / 3.28.15

8:00AMARCORDFEDERICO FELLINI (ITALY, 1974)

In Amarcord, Fellini evokes a year in the life of the small Italian coastal town of Rimini in the mid-1930s with free-spirited fantasy, bittersweet comedy, and intimate detail. Though filled with phantasmagorical gems from the director’s imagination, the film is also rooted in history, filtered through memory: focusing on one family of perfectly normal eccentrics, Fellini examines their impact on one another’s lives and the impact of life on them through a series of intersecting tales. Fascism was a fact of life and, for Fellini, a focal point around which to examine the community, the Church, the state, and the family. JUDY BLOCH

Written by Fellini, Tonino Guerra. Photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno. With Pupella Maggio, Magali Noel, Armando Brancia, Bruno Zanin. (123 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Janus/Criterion Collection)


1 / 2 / 3 / 4

THURSDAY / 4.9.15

7:30DURAKOVO: VILLAGE OF FOOLSNINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2008)

WORLD CINEMA DIRECTING AWARD, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2008

IN CONVERSATION Nino Kirtadze & Michael Guillen

(Durakovo: Le village des fous). An eye-opening documentary shot on the grounds of Durakovo, a “rehabilitation” center outside Moscow. In this gated compound, autocratic leader Mikhail Fyodorovich Morosov lords over the residents, ostensibly helping them gain skills for modern-day society. In his words, he “shapes a new man for a new Russia.” Some initiates have submitted themselves to his indoctrination techniques, while others have been brought to the center by concerned family members. In this microcosm, we see a frightening locus for oppressive behavior and Russian nationalism. Kirtadze’s portrait of life at Durakovo is a metaphor for where Russian leadership is heading today. SUSAN OXTOBY

Written by Kirtadze. Photographed by Jacek Petrycki. (90 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, Color, DigiBeta PAL, From Zadig Productions)

FRIDAY / 4.10.15

3:10THE PIPELINE NEXT DOORNINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2005)

SPECIAL FRIDAY MATINEE—FREE ADMISSION!

IN PERSON Nino Kirtadze

David faces Goliath when a village of Georgian farmers takes on the BP oil corporation in this evenhanded, character-driven documentary. Kirtadze’s verité approach captures the negotiations, breakdowns, heartbreak, and anger surrounding BP’s purchase of Georgian countryside to construct a 1,700-kilometer pipeline from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The villagers try for solidarity but find envy and mistrust as their way of life is crudely upended, and the BP spokespeople are caught in the unending march toward a supposedly ever-brighter future . . . A wrenching exposé of the exploitation of the common people. MOMA

Photographed by Jacek Petrycki. (90 mins, In Georgian, Russian, English with English subtitles, Color, DigitBeta, From Roche Productions)

Afterimage: Filmmakers & Critics in Conversation

Nino Kirtadze Born in Tbilisi and based in France for many years, Nino Kirtadze

has established a distinguished career as both an actor and a

documentary filmmaker. We look forward to hosting her in this

short residency and learning more from her presentations. We

showcase five films she has directed, all of which center on

issues related to Georgia, Russia, or the relationship between

these two nations. Her award-winning Durakovo: Village of Fools

(2008) profiles the autocratic head of a rehabilitation center

outside Moscow, but leads us to consider how political power

in the Russian Federation works today. Kirtadze has chronicled

issues of great importance to her homeland Georgia, such as the

2008 Russo-Georgian War in Something About Georgia (2010)

and the development of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline in

The Pipeline Next Door (2005). She examines cultural and soci-

etal tendencies in Tell My Friends That I’m Dead (2003), which

considers the way western Georgians mourn the dead. Her most

recent foray, the wonderfully entertaining Don’t Breathe (2014),

set in Tbilisi, offers an intimate portrait of a patient’s response

to a medical diagnosis. Kirtadze’s talents as a filmmaker are

demonstrated in the fluid way she works: selecting interesting

subjects and allowing stories to take shape over time.

We are delighted that critic Michael Guillen will join Kirtadze in

conversation to discuss her work following screenings on April

9 and 10. Guillen is a freelance film journalist, known for his

thorough reviews and interviews on The Evening Class blog and

for his contributions to Film International, movieScope, Fandor,

MUBI, GreenCine, and Twitch.


Afterimage: Filmmakers & Critics in Conversation is made possible by generous funding from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association®. Nino Kirtadze’s visit is supported by the Departments of French, Journalism, Film & Media, and ISEEES, UC Berkeley; and the French Cultural Services through the French Consulate in San Francisco.

1 Durakovo: Village of Fools, 4.9.15

2 The Pipeline Next Door, 4.10.15

3 Don’t Breathe, 4.11.15

4 Something About Georgia, 4.10.15

5 Tell My Friends That I’m Dead, 4.11.15

Nino Kirtadze

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7:30SOMETHING ABOUT GEORGIANINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2010)

IN CONVERSATION Nino Kirtadze & Michael Guillen

The war with Russia, in August 2008, over the disputed region of South Ossetia becomes the central concern of this examination of Georgia’s relationship with the European community. Kirtadze picks up the story earlier that year, during the reelection campaign of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. She follows Saakashvili closely, even as Russian bombers strike Gori, just an hour’s drive west of the capital. Suddenly, Georgia holds center stage in world news; European diplomats arrive, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy mediates. Something About Georgia reveals the political process as well as responses by ordinary Georgians who see the independence of their nation threatened. SUSAN OXTOBY

Photographed by Nathalie Durand, Octavio Santo Espirito, Denis Gravouil, Kirtadze, Zurab Kodalashvili. (100 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DigiBeta PAL, From Zadig Productions)

MEMBER SCREENINGMONDAY / 3.16.15

7:30 INSIDE THE BAM/PFA FILM COLLECTION Join us for this third annual event, an insider’s view into how we shape our film and video collection. In conjunction with Member Appreciation Month, our curators and film collection staff present a selection of recently acquired works and share insights into their significance, both for our collection and for the history of film.

Program highlights include an IB Tech print of Lotte Reiniger’s Mary’s Birthday (1951), Irakli Kvirikadze’s Kvevri (The Jar, 1971), Sally Cruikshank’s Your Feets Too Big (1994), and an excerpt from Michael Glawogger’s Workingman’s Death (2005).

Open to BAM/PFA members only. Free admission. To reserve tickets or become a member call (510) 642-5186.

SATURDAY / 4.11.15

6:30DON’T BREATHENINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2014) WEST COAST PREMIERE!


(La faille). Nino Kirtadze’s most recent documentary could easily be mistaken for a drama—her subjects are so at ease before the camera’s lens, one would think they were professional actors. And indeed, Kirtadze blends fact and fiction in this entertaining and touching portrait of a fortysomething couple, Irma and Levan. Levan’s unclear medical prognosis feeds his hypochondria and threatens their marriage. Kirtadze spent months living with the pair, observing them, documenting situations and recreating others. The result is a beautifully composed work that captures the charms and character traits of this couple, their friends, and life in Tbilisi. Kirtadze’s versatility as a filmmaker shines. SUSAN OXTOBY

Written by Kirtadze. Photographed by Andro Sanovich, Tornike Shengelia, Octavio Espirito Santo, Jacek Petrycki. With Levan Murtazashvili, Irma Inaridze. (86 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Deckert Distribution)

8:45TELL MY FRIENDS THAT I’M DEADNINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2003)


(Dites à mes amis que je suis mort). Kirtadze introduces perhaps her most astounding film, an intimate look at western Georgia’s elaborate mourning rituals, thusly: “The dead are not separated from the living. People involve them in their family life, talk to them, seek their advice . . . The family is never alone.” Then she disappears behind her camera for a nonjudgmental look at some intensely personal scenes of family and friends dressing a recently deceased husband and discussing what to buy for him to take on his journey, or people crashing a car through a wall so that it can be the decorated coffin of a beloved son. MOMA

Photographed by Jacek Petrycki. (86 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, BetaSP, From the artist)


One of Italian cinema’s greatest secrets is revealed in this nine-film

spotlight on director Mario Monicelli, a filmmaker responsible for

some of the biggest comic hits that country has ever seen, yet

whose name remains criminally unrecognized in the United States.

Fresh from a successful New York retrospective, this series show-

cases Monicelli’s reputation as the king of “Comedy, Italian Style,”

and also Italy’s Everyman, an artist who put entertaining audiences

above pleasing every critic. Some of Italian cinema’s most glamor-

ous and well-known stars—Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Magnani,

Totò, Claudia Cardinale, Alberto Sordi—appear here, many in

roles that made or defined their careers. The films range from the

deadpan caper film Big Deal on Madonna Street, which created the

comedy heist subgenre, to the antiwar satire For Love and Gold

and the unabashedly vulgar sex comedy The New Monsters.

“In Italy,” Monicelli said, “there has always been a tendency to view

reality as a comedy with a touch of bitterness, a touch of vulgar-

ity, even boorishness . . . It is a bitter tradition, born of misery,

which takes advantage of the bad luck of others.” This quote belies

the essential humanism of Monicelli’s worldview, confronting the

absurdity of the human situation with an appropriate sense of

irony, and sometimes tragedy.

Series curated by Senior Film Curator Susan Oxtoby. Thanks to the following individuals and institutions for their assistance: Camilla Cormanni, Paola Ruggiero, and Marco Cicala, Luce Cinecittà, Rome; Paolo Barlera, Istituto Italiano di Cultura San Francisco; Amelia Antonucci, Colpa Cinema; Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum, New York; Eric Di Bernardo, Rialto Pictures; and Brian Belovarac, Janus Films/Criterion Pictures.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

THURSDAY / 3.5.15

7:30THE PASSIONATE THIEF MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1960) 4K DIGITAL RESTORATION!

REPEATS ON SATURDAY / 3.7.15

(Risate di gioia/Laugh for Joy). For The Passionate Thief Totò was reunited with his revue costar of the forties, Anna Magnani, whom he revered. An adapta-tion of two novels by Alberto Moravia, this beautiful film depicts the failed illusions of two broken-down bit players at Cinecittà. The marvelous Magnani portrays a hapless would-be actress who becomes implicated in a theft by a retired extra (Totò) and a young pickpocket (Ben Gazzara) with whom she falls in love. Time Out New York called this, one of Monicelli’s most beloved comedies, “fun and frothy . . . It’s like a long night of champagne without the hangover.”

Written by Monicelli, Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Age and Scarpelli, adapted by D’Amico from the novels Risate di Gioia and Ladri in Chiesa by Alberto Moravia. Photographed by Leonida Barboni. With Anna Magnani, Totò, Ben Gazzara, Fred Clark. (106 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, DCP, From Rialto Pictures)

SATURDAY / 3.7.15

6:30BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1958) IMPORTED PRINT!

(I soliti ignoti). This spoof on the caper thriller à la Rififi shows with satiric precision just what happens when real human beings attempt the “perfect heist.” Here we have several individuals, united by their desperate need for money, attempting to rob a neighborhood jewelry store in Rome. All are far too human for their own good. The greatest humanist of the gang is the renowned safecracker Dante (Totò), who delivers an incomprehensible lecture in heistmanship and then wisely heads for high ground. Unlike these boys, Monicelli’s timing is flawless and the film moves apace to a climax worthy of Buster Keaton. JUDY BLOCH

Written by Age and Scarpelli, Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Monicelli, from a story by Age and Scarpelli. Photographed by Gianni Di Venanzo. With Totò, Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori. (111 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Luce-Cinecittà, permission Rialto Pictures)

8:40THE PASSIONATE THIEF MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1960) 4K DIGITAL RESTORATION!

SEE THURSDAY / 3.5.15

FRIDAY / 3.20.15

7:30THE GREAT WARMARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1959) IMPORTED PRINT!

(La grande guerra). Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi star as two very reluctant soldiers tossed into the chaos of World War I in Monicelli’s biting comedy, which turns the tragedy and madness of war into the vitality of humor. Silvano Mangano adds beauty and charm as a pickpocket who joins Gassman and Sordi in surviving by wit and luck, not violence. Filled with anti-heroes, shirkers, and con artists rather than brave fighters or nationalist heroes, the film was met with fury by politicians who hoped to repress the film; instead, it became a popular hit, and shared Venice’s Golden Lion with Rossellini’s Generale Della Rovere.

Written by Age and Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni, Monicelli, from a story by Vincenzoni. Photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno, Roberto Serrandi. With Alberto Sordi, Vittorio Gassman, Silvana Mangano, Folco Lulli. (134 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, ’Scope, 35mm, From Luce-Cinecittà, permission René Chateau)

SUNDAY / 3.29.15

7:00FOR LOVE AND GOLD MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1966) IMPORTED PRINT!

(L’armata Brancaleone, aka Brancaleone’s Army). The creators of Big Deal on Madonna Street reteamed for this deliriously absurd send-up of the medieval Crusades genre, an Italian Monty Python and the Holy Grail whose ribald put-downs of all things “honorable” turned the film into one of Italy’s biggest hits. Vittorio Gassman is a blowhard knight with a mind as warped as his grasp of language; hooking up with three not-so-wise men, he soon blazes a torrid path through medieval Italy, encountering plagues, damsels in distress (including a whip-wielding Barbara Steele), not-so-saintly holy men, and evil lords. JASON SANDERS

Written by Monicelli, Age and Scarpelli. Photographed by Carlo Di Palma. With Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Spaak, Gian Maria Volontè, Maria Grazia Buccella. (120 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Luce-Cinecittà)

Mario MONICELLI SATIRES, CAPERS & SENDUPS

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FRIDAY / 4.3.15

7:00ACCORDING TO MARIO M. CANALE, F. FARINA, M. GIANNI, W. LABATE, A. MORRI (ITALY, 2012)

(La versione di Mario). Italian cinema’s greatest secret is revealed in this in-depth portrait of director Mario Monicelli, an artist responsible for such classics as Big Deal on Madonna Street and The Organizer yet who sadly remains little known outside his home country. Sometimes condemned by critics but always loved by audiences, Monicelli was blessed with a personality as passionate as it was powerful, and as brusque as it was beloved. Critics, assistants, collaborators, and stars (including Claudia Cardinale) lend their memories to this fascinating look at not only a filmmaker, but an entire era of Italian film.

(83 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Luce-Cinecittà)

8:40WE WANT THE COLONELS MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1973) IMPORTED PRINT!

(Vogliamo i colonelli). Monicelli pulled off a real coup with this irreverent political satire about a rightist plot to restore a dictatorship in Italy. Ugo Tognazzi turns in an energetic performance as the extremist who masterminds the failed coup d’état (blueprints of which he later tries to sell to a small African republic). The squadron of extremist oddballs and shuffling troops is all Monicelli’s own—with only minor reliance on stock footage of military parades and maneuvers. While unloading most of his comedic spleen on Italy’s right-wing fringe, Monicelli never stops wagging his finger at the other end of the political spectrum.

Written by Monicelli, Age and Scarpelli. Photographed by Alberto Spagnolli. With Ugo Tognazzi, Claude Dauphin, Lino Publisi, Tino Bianchi. (100 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Luce-Cinecittà)

SUNDAY / 4.5.15

4:30THE ORGANIZER MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1963)

(I compagni). Mastroianni plays a stubbornly idealistic schoolteacher who comes from Genoa to Turin to lead the local textile-mill workers in a much-needed strike. Monicelli draws on his neorealist roots to capture the late-nineteenth-century setting in seeming documen-tary style: cinematographer Rotunno’s gray-toned photography etches an image of the times. Monicelli is unyielding but never less than compassionate in this look at the beginnings of the trade union movement in northern Italy. The Organizer was nominated for an Oscar for story and screenplay, and still stands as a classic of Italian cinema. JUDY BLOCH

Written by Monicelli, Age and Scarpelli. Photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno. With Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Gabriella Giorgelli, Folco Lulli. (126 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Janus Films/Criterion Collection)

SUNDAY / 4.19.15

6:30DEAR MICHAEL MARIO MONICELLI (ITALY, 1976) IMPORTED PRINT!

(Caro Michele). In an adaptation of a novel by Natalia Ginzburg, Monicelli subjects a bourgeois family, tradition bound and so in advanced stages of decay, to the anarchic energy of a child of the sixties. The free-spirited Mara has been impregnated by the fam-ily’s only son, and gives birth while he’s off getting killed in a political demonstration. Will the family’s only heir be a little bourgeois or a zany individualist like his mother? “Monicelli’s direction manages just the right balance of implied social criticism and an almost affectionate understanding for the victims of changing times” (Variety).

Written by Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Tonino Guerra, based on the novel by Natalia Ginzburg. Photographed by Tonino Delli Colli. With Mariangela Melato, Delphine Seyrig, Aurore Clement, Lou Castel. (108 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Luce-Cinecittà, permission Intramovies)

1 The Passionate Thief, 3.5.15, 3.7.15

2 Big Deal on Madonna Street, 3.7.15

3 The Great War, 3.20.15

4 The Organizer, 4.5.15

5 We Want the Colonels 4.3.15

6 Dear Michael, 4.19.15

7 According to Mario, 4.3.15

6 / 7


1 Through a Lens Darkly, 4.15.15

2 Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela, 4.14.15

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TUESDAY / 4.14.15

7:00TWELVE DISCIPLES OF NELSON MANDELA: A SON’S TRIBUTE TO UNSUNG HEROESTHOMAS ALLEN HARRIS (SOUTH AFRICA/US, 2005)

IN PERSON Thomas Allen Harris

“Something of a miracle.” TIME OUT

In 1960, “Lee” [Harris’s stepfather B. Pule Leinaeng] and eleven boyhood friends left their families [in South Africa] to build the anti-apartheid move-ment and gain support for the African National Congress abroad. Known as The Twelve Who Left, they blazed a trail through sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, Cuba, and North America. Lee later met Harris’s mother, and their Bronx household became a center for their many comrades in the New York anti-apartheid and black nationalist movements. Along the way, Lee documented the struggle and his personal life. Audiotapes of his voice, old photographs, posters, newsreels, video, and Super 8mm anchor the story while interviews with surviving members and family add depth and texture. KATHLEEN DENNY, SFIFF

Written by Harris. Photographed by Jonathan Kovel, David Forbes. (73 mins, Color/B&W, DigiBeta, From the artist)

WEDNESDAY / 4.15.15

7:30THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THE EMERGENCE OF A PEOPLETHOMAS ALLEN HARRIS (US, 2014)

IN CONVERSATION Thomas Allen Harris and Leigh Raiford

Harris extends the concept of a family album from an intimate document of close relations to the images that make up the American family album, a document of race relations. Within these pages, he finds both disturbing and compelling portraits of blacks in the US dating from the early days of photography to the present. Drawing on the research of Deborah Willis and her groundbreaking book Reflections in Black, Harris’s fascinating film essay examines the role of photography in shaping the identity of African Americans. Photographers and artists from Roy DeCarava to Carrie Mae Weems deepen the reflections, as do scholars such as Willis. KATHY GERITZ

Written by Harris, Don Perry, Paul Carter Harrison, inspired by the book Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present by Deborah Willis. Photographed by Martina Radwan. (92 mins, Color/B&W, DCP, From the artist)

Committed Cinema

Thomas Allen Harris Much of Thomas Allen Harris’s film work has involved looking into his personal

history, which was shaped by the absence of his father, childhood years spent in

Tanzania, his gay identity, and a grandfather interested in photography. While the

emotional resonance of his films may reside in his family stories, Harris opens up

the possibility of political action and social change by placing them within larger

community contexts. His films boldly move from pain to celebration, from the

personal to the epic.

Harris’s most recent film, Through a Lens Darkly, constructs a counter history of

photography in the United States, one that includes amateurs such as his grand-

father, neighborhood studio photographers in black communities, and contem-

porary black artists. An unknown, fascinating history of the representation of

African Americans emerges, refuting the identity created by mass media images.

In Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela, Harris uses imaginative re-creations to

document his South African father’s life and the early days of the African National

Congress. In both films, he draws on a diverse array of imagery and interviews to

create visually striking and insightful film essays. As A. O. Scott noted in the New

York Times, “he is a wise and passionate guide.”

We are delighted that Harris will present his work at the PFA Theater, where he will

be joined by Leigh Raiford in conversation following the screening of Through a

Lens Darkly. Raiford is the author of Imprisoned in a Luminous Glare: Photography

and the African American Freedom Struggle and coeditor of The Civil Rights

Movement in American Memory; she is an associate professor in African American

Studies at UC Berkeley.


Support for Committed Cinema has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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BAM / PFA 23

DOCUMENTARY VOICES

We continue this year’s edition of our annual

spring series Documentary Voices with two pow-

erful examinations of genocide by master film-

makers: The Last of the Unjust, Claude Lanzmann’s

most recent film in his ongoing investigation of the

Holocaust, which has consumed him for decades;

and The Missing Picture, Rithy Panh’s attempt

to comprehend his family’s experience of the

Cambodian genocide under the Khmer Rouge, a

subject he has explored in numerous films. On a

different note, Canadian filmmaker Caroline Martel

will be in person to present her documentary

about an unusual electronic instrument, the ondes

Martenot.

Complementing this series, an exciting array of

documentary filmmakers will visit BAM/PFA in

March and April. South African filmmaker Khalo

Matabane will present his most recent film (see

p. 9); J. P. Sniadecki and Georgian filmmaker Nino

Kirtadze will be in person as part of our Afterimage

series (see p. 24, 18); and Thomas Allen Harris will

discuss two of his personal documentaries in the

latest installment of Committed Cinema (see p. 22).


Documentary Voices is presented in conjunction with the UC Berkeley course History of Documentary Film taught by Linda Williams. Caroline Martel’s visit is made possible by support from Porter College, Film + Digital Media, Music Department, and Arts Dean’s Fund for Excellence, all at UC Santa Cruz, with thanks to Irene Lusztig. Special thanks to Haden Guest and Mark Johnson, Harvard Film Archive, for making the newly discovered and restored Oidhche sheanchais available to us.

TUESDAY / 3.3.15

7:00THE LAST OF THE UNJUSTCLAUDE LANZMANN (FRANCE, 2013)

(Le dernier des injustes). The director of the Holocaust documentary Shoah tackles one of that era’s most con-troversial aspects—the collaboration of Jewish “elders” in running the Czech concentration camp and “model ghetto” Theresienstadt—in this encounter with Benjamin Murmelstein, the camp’s last surviving elder. Murmelstein rose to authority in Nazi-controlled Vienna and then Theresienstadt, where he saved hundreds of lives, yet also oversaw the deaths of thousands more. In 1975 Lanzmann found him living in obscurity in Rome; their interviews form the backbone of this work, which echoes between that time, the present, and the always-present past. “A monumental film” (Kent Jones), The Last of the Unjust is a haunting coda to Shoah. JASON SANDERS

Written by Lanzmann. Photographed by William Lubtchansky, Caroline Champetier. (219 mins, In French and German with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Cohen Film Collection)

TUESDAY / 3.10.15

7:00WAVEMAKERSCAROLINE MARTEL (CANADA, 2013)

IN PERSON Caroline Martel

“Amazing! A film as beautiful and tender as the instrument itself.” JONNY GREENWOOD, RADIOHEAD

(Les chants des ondes). While you may never have heard of the ondes Martenot, you may have heard the evocative tones that emit from this unique electronic instrument. Its distinctive timbre has been used in soundtracks for the sci-fi TV show Thunderbirds as well as feature films from Lawrence of Arabia to There Will Be Blood. The French musician and educator Maurice Martenot was a telegraph operator during World War I, when he was transfixed by the sounds emanating from radio vacuum tubes. He spent the rest of his life perfecting his ondes, an instrument that converts electricity into music, and one so mysterious that its secrets are still being unraveled.

Photographed by Geoffroy Beauchemin. (96 mins, Color/B&W, Digital, From National Film Board of Canada)

TUESDAY / 3.17.15

7:00THE MISSING PICTURERITHY PANH (CAMBODIA/FRANCE, 2013)

(L’image manquante). A daunting task that contin-ues to confront media makers is how to represent the unrepresentable—calamities and atrocities of unimaginable magnitude. The challenge is even greater when the media maker himself is a survivor. Such is the case for veteran filmmaker Rithy Panh, who has committed his life to probing and exposing the Cambodian genocide and its aftermath. Having toiled in labor camps as a boy and watched his entire family die, he prepares to grapple with this childhood. Using clay figures, archival footage, and live action, Panh materializes the missing pictures for us, his companion witnesses. Stunningly vivid and achingly intimate. ANITA CHANG, CAAMFEST

Written by Panh. Photographed by Panh, Prum Messa. Narrated by Randal Douc. (90 mins, English voiceover, Color, DCP, From Strand Releasing)

PRECEDED BY A NIGHT OF STORYTELLING (Robert Flaherty, Ireland, 1935). (Oidhche sheanchais). A recently dis-covered Flaherty film! Features famed storyteller Seáinín Tom Ó Dioráin relating an ancient tale as the cast of Man of Aran looks on. (11 mins, In Gaelic with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Harvard Film Archive)


1 The Last of the Unjust, 3.3.15

2 Wavemakers, 3.10.15

3 The Missing Picture, 3.17.15

1 / 2 / 3


Afterimage: Filmmakers & Critics in Conversation

J. P. Sniadecki“As filmmakers, we strive to listen closely to the world, relin-

quish our own predetermined goals, and move beyond con-

ventional framings in order to look more deeply at the present

moment,” the filmmaker and anthropologist J. P. Sniadecki

once wrote. A collaborator in Harvard’s famed Sensory

Ethnography Lab, the “studio” behind such groundbreaking

works as Sweetgrass and Leviathan, Sniadecki first came to

prominence with his documentary Demolition, which followed

life on a construction site in Chengdu, China. His feature

Foreign Parts (2010, codirected with Véréna Paravel) solidified

his standing as one of the US’s foremost “new ethnographic”

filmmakers, artists who looked towards cinema as a way, he

says, “to allow viewers to have their own sense of the fabric

of a place, and to gain experiential knowledge of life there.”

His acclaimed new documentary, Iron Ministry, will screen at

BAM/PFA as part of the 58th San Francisco International Film

Festival in May; stay tuned for details.

An exciting voice in documentary film, Sniadecki also teaches

at Cornell University and curates independent cinema from

China for his series Emergent Visions. We are proud to have

him as our guest for our Afterimage series, in conversation with

local critic Max Goldberg. Goldberg works as an archivist and

writes on cinema for publications including Cinema Scope, The

Brooklyn Rail, Keyframe, and, until its recent demise, the San

Francisco Bay Guardian.

Jason Sanders

J. P. Sniadecki’s visit is presented as part of Afterimage: Filmmakers and Critics in Conversation, made possible by generous funding from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association®.

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TUESDAY / 4.21.15

7:00DEMOLITIONJ. P. SNIADECKI (US, 2008)

IN CONVERSATION J. P. Sniadecki & Max Goldberg

(Chaiqian). One of the first works from Harvard’s acclaimed Sensory Ethnography Lab was this riveting study of the never-ending cycle of construction and destruction in booming modern China, in this case the western city of Chengdu. On a massive construction site, laborers in shirtsleeves smoke, joke, and slave away, dwarfed by the machinery and landscapes that surround them. As time goes on, they also begin to notice the camera that’s filming them, and “that man from Harvard” who is always there. A document on labor, modernity, and cinema, Demolition offers a primer on both China and the documentary form. JASON SANDERS

Photographed by Sniadecki. (62 mins, In Mandarin with English subtitles, Color, DigiBeta, From the artist)

PRECEDED BY SONGHUA (China/US, 2007). Filmed only a year after a major chemical spill, Songhua follows the bends and depths of the Songhua River in northeastern China, the main water supply for the residents of the city of Harbin. (Photographed by Sniadecki, 28 mins, In Mandarin with English subtitles, Color, DigiBeta, From the artist)


WEDNESDAY / 4.22.15

7:30FOREIGN PARTSJ. P. SNIADECKI, VÉRÉNA PARAVEL (US, 2010)

IN CONVERSATION J. P. Sniadecki & Max Goldberg

Anthropological in scope, sensuous in detail, and emotionally resonant throughout, Foreign Parts hearkens back to the unsentimental poetry of James Agee and Walker Evans’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, as well as the urban advocacy of Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The film takes a local interest in the industrial Willets Point neighborhood in Queens, New York, where cars are scrapped, salvaged, and repaired. Without recourse to voiceover or direct interviews, Foreign Parts raises essential questions about urban renewal’s effects on pluralism and the city’s working class, yet remains adamantly concerned with the grain of human experience. MAX GOLDBERG

Photographed by Paravel, Sniadecki. (80 mins, In English, Hebrew, Spanish, with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From the artist)

1 Foreign Parts, 4.22.15

2 Demolition, 4.21.15

UPCOMING AT THE 58th SF International Film Festival at BAM/PFA

IRON MINISTRYJ. P. SNIADECKI (US, 2014)

Go to festival.sffs.org after March 31 for details and tickets

Shot over three years, this riveting work of cinema verité hops aboard China’s vast and often chaotic railway system, and not on a first-class ticket either; you’ll be riding coach in Iron Ministry, right alongside China’s ever-moving social classes—some upwardly mobile, others stuck going sideways and forwards. Beginning with the clash and clank of metal as a train starts up, Iron Ministry quickly moves into the depths of rail travel, introducing us to the ticket takers, the live-chicken carriers, the snack vendors, the students, workers, and officers who make up China’s fast (yet sometimes very, very slow) moving train. JASON SANDERS

Photographed by Sniadecki. (82 mins, In Mandarin with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From the artist)

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Seconds of Eternity: The Films of

Gregory J. MarkopoulosCopresented by San Francisco Cinematheque

“For me, personally, the Cinema is music; is music with its

contrapuntal elaborations,” Gregory J. Markopoulos wrote

in 1955. “Cinema is the noble metaphysical Art of our age,

and of our one world without boundaries. Cinema can show

us in what aspects we differ from one another, and in what

aspects we remain the same. Cinema can draw nations

together, and dissolve boundaries between groups of men.

Lastly, Cinema is the representative of Life, which no other

Art can give us, so truly.”

One of the great visionary filmmakers of the twentieth cen-

tury, Markopoulos was an equally insightful writer on film

aesthetics, theory, and criticism. His call for an ideal cinema

is one that remains highly relevant today, giving us direc-

tion and inspiration. The presentations at BAM/PFA this

April pick up where our 2012 Markopoulos retrospective

left off, offering a rare chance to see films made between

1967 and 1969. The series coincides with the launch of Film

as Film: The Collected Writings of Gregory J. Markopoulos

(The Visible Press, 2014), a volume that offers essential

reading and insights into the mind of a poet filmmaker.

We welcome the book’s editor, London-based film curator

Mark Webber, who will introduce the programs.


With thanks to Robert Beavers and Temenos Archive. For more information on Film as Film, go to thevisiblepress.com.

1 / 2 / 3

WEDNESDAY / 4.1.15

7:30THE FILMS OF GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS PROGRAM 1INTRODUCTION & BOOKSIGNING MARK WEBBER

The first film Markopoulos made after relocating to Europe, Bliss depicts a small church on the Greek island of Hydra. The elegantly spare Gammelion was filmed in and around the castle of Roccasinibalda in Italy. It is “structured by a thousand slow fades in and out of black-and-white leader . . . On the soundtrack there are snatches of Roussel, the sound of horses’ hooves over pavement, and the voice of the filmmaker read-ing Rilke’s lines: ‘To be loved means to be consumed. To love means to radiate with inexhaustible light. To be loved is to pass away, to love is to endure’” (P. Adams Sitney).

BLISS US/Greece, 1967, 6 mins, Color, 16mm, From Temenos Archive

GAMMELION US/Italy, 1967, 54 mins, Color, 16mm, From Temenos Archive


1 Bliss, 4.1.15

2 Sorrows, 4.2.15

3 Gammelion, 4.1.15

THURSDAY/ 4.2.15

7:30THE FILMS OF GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOS PROGRAM 2INTRODUCTION & BOOKSIGNING MARK WEBBER

Edited entirely in camera, Sorrows was filmed at the house in Switzerland that King Ludwig of Bavaria built for Richard Wagner and his family. “The Mysteries is a mournful work in which . . . the rhythmic repetition of images evokes poetic speech, and changes in costume emphasize shifts in time, space, and emotion. Here a young man’s struggles with memories of love and intimations of death are set alternatively to deafening silence and the music of Wagner” (Kristin M. Jones). Of the three-minute portrayals in Political Portraits, Markopoulos said, “I call them political portraits in the Greek sense, daily living.”

SORROWS US/Switzerland, 1969, 6 mins, Color, 16mm, From Temenos Archive

THE MYSTERIES US/Germany, 1968, With Friedhelm Krey, 64 mins, Color, 16mm, From Temenos Archive

POLITICAL PORTRAITS US/Switzerland/Italy, 1969, With Ulrich Herzog, Marcia Haydee, Rudolf Nureyev, Giorgio de Chirico, 12 mins (excerpt), Silent, Color, 16mm, From Temenos Archive


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WEDNESDAY / 3.4.15

3:10 A MAN ESCAPEDROBERT BRESSON (FRANCE, 1956)

LECTURE Emily Carpenter

(Un condamné à mort s’est échappé). A Man Escaped is pure film existentialism. From a newspaper account by a Resistance leader who escaped from a Nazi prison in Lyon just hours before he was to be executed, Bresson created a film in which the drama is all internal. Minimizing the drama of prison life, paradoxically he maximizes its intensity, concentrating on his character Fontaine’s solitude, and on prison relationships in which a tap on the wall, a whisper in the washroom, are bridges to another’s soul. . . Set to Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, this is a genuinely moving encounter with limits, and the need to transcend them. JUDY BLOCH

Written by Bresson, after the account of André Devigny. Photographed by Léonce-Henry Burel. With François Leterrier, Charles LeClainche, Maurice Beerblock. (97 mins, In French with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Janus Films/Criterion Collection)

WEDNESDAY / 3.11.15

3:10 L’AVVENTURA MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (ITALY, 1960)


While exploring a volcanic island on a yachting expedi-tion, a troubled young woman named Anna disappears, leaving her lover Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti) and close friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) to search in vain, and fall in love. L’avventura unfolds against Anna’s very palpable absence, a love story in a void. As always, landscape is the screen onto which Antonioni projects human emotions. Anna’s pain is articulated in the parched suburb from which she came, and in the rocky island on which her cohorts wander, not realizing it is they who are lost. JUDY BLOCH

Written by Antonioni. Dialogue by Antonioni, Elio Bartolini, Tonino Guerra. Photographed by Aldo Scavarda. With Monica Vitti, Gabriele Ferzetti, Lea Massari, Dominique Blanchar. (140 mins, In Italian with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm, From Janus Films/Criterion Collection)

Film 50 HISTORY OF CINEMA

A UC Berkeley course open to the public as space permits

Lectures by Emily Carpenter

Emily Carpenter is a lecturer in the Department of Film and Media at UC Berkeley

BAM/PFA and the UC Berkeley Department of

Film and Media copresent the film-lecture course

Film 50, now celebrating its twenty-second year.

This year’s course, taught by Emily Carpenter,

showcases an exciting lineup of world cinema

classics, globetrotting between continents and

featuring strong examples from various film

movements and historical periods. The selection

also draws upon the strengths of the BAM/PFA

collection and presents the film experience faith-

fully, with a high standard of technical presenta-

tion. Enjoy the communal experience of viewing

while learning how to understand the complex

medium of film.

Please note: Most programs are sold out, but rush

tickets may be available. Special admission prices apply.

WEDNESDAY / 3.18.15

3:10 GEMS FROM THE BAM/PFA COLLECTION(US/USSR, 1967–76)

LECTURE Susan Oxtoby

IN THE BEGINNING Arthur Peleshian, USSR, 1967, 10 mins, B&W, 35mm

OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE Lawrence Jordan, US, 1969, 10 mins, Color, 35mm

QUASI AT THE QUACKADERO Sally Cruikshank, US, 1976, 10 mins, Color, 35mm

CROSSROADS Bruce Conner, US, 1976, 38 mins, B&W, 35mm

WEDNESDAY / 4.1.15

3:10 ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOULRAINER WERNER FASSBINDER (GERMANY, 1973)


(Angst essen Seele auf). In the unlikely love between a washerwoman (Brigitte Mira) and a Moroccan guest-worker (El Hedi Ben Salem) twenty years her junior, muscular Ali and diminutive Emmi redefine each other. This is Fassbinder’s most beautiful homage to Douglas Sirk, his interpretation of All That Heaven Allows. Where Sirk’s sadness is in America’s split from nature, Fassbinder finds an even more basic split, from humanity. Nowhere is his trademark framing—the indoor long-shot—more aptly integrated, nowhere his jewelbox colors more brilliantly contrasted with the reality they adorn.

Written by Fassbinder. Photographed by Jürgen Jürges. With Brigitte Mira, El Hedi Ben Salem, Irm Hermann, Fassbinder. (93 mins, In German with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Janus Films/Criterion Collection)

WEDNESDAY / 4.8.15

3:10 DON’T BREATHENINO KIRTADZE (FRANCE, 2014) WEST COAST PREMIERE!


ALSO SCREENS SATURDAY / 4.11.15 IN THE SERIES AFTERIMAGE (SEE P. 18)

(La faille). Nino Kirtadze’s most recent documentary could easily be mistaken for a drama—her subjects are so at ease before the camera’s lens, one would think they were professional actors. And indeed, Kirtadze blends fact and fiction in this entertaining and touching portrait of a fortysomething couple, Irma and Levan. Levan’s unclear medical prognosis feeds his hypochondria and threatens their marriage. Kirtadze spent months living with the pair, observing them, documenting situations and recreating others. The result is a beautifully composed work that captures the charms and character traits of this couple, their friends, and life in Tbilisi. Kirtadze’s versatility as a filmmaker shines. SUSAN OXTOBY

Written by Kirtadze. Photographed by Andro Sanovich, Tornike Shengelia, Octavio Espirito Santo, Jacek Petrycki. With Levan Murtazashvili, Irma Inaridze. (86 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Deckert Distribution)

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

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WEDNESDAY / 4.15.15

3:10 IN THE MOOD FOR LOVEWONG KAR-WAI (HONG KONG, 2000)

ALSO SCREENS WEDNESDAY / 4.8.15 (SEE P. 13)


(Fa yeung nin wa). Supposedly the most universally acclaimed film of the twenty-first century, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love seems like it has been around for decades; even when it debuted in 2000, however, the film—set in the early 1960s—already seemed timeless. “This film is not verbal,” said Wong about the way it effortlessly captures an essence of romance and melancholy, as showcased in the lives of two neighbors (Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai) who are “in the mood for love,” yet too proper to act on it. “Everything is expressed through the body, through the people, how they walk, how they move.” JASON SANDERS

Written by Wong. Photographed by Christopher Doyle, Mark Lee Ping Bin. With Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Siu Ping Lam, Rebecca Pan. (98 mins, In Cantonese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From TIFF Cinematheque, permission Swank)

WEDNESDAY / 4.22.15

3:10 WENDY AND LUCYKELLY REICHARDT (US, 2008)


Wendy and Lucy solidified Reichardt’s reputation for films that are “a touchstone of the new realism in American cinema” (New York Times). Drifting upwards to Alaska like a twenty-first-century Depression heroine (“I hear they need people up there”), Wendy (Michelle Williams) has only her dog Lucy and her car as company, but soon loses first the car, after it breaks down in Oregon, and then her dog. Wendy is, for Reichardt, emblematic of so many Americans: barely holding on, and ready to slip through the cracks of a society with little safety net. JASON SANDERS

Written by Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond, based on a story by Raymond. Photographed by Sam Levy. With Michelle Williams, Will Patton, John Robinson, Wally Dalton. (80 mins, Color, 35mm, From Oscilloscope Pictures)

1 Wendy and Lucy, 4.22.15

2 Quasi at the Quackadero, 3.18.15

3 A Man Escaped, 3.4.15

4 L’avventura, 3.11.15

5 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, 4.1.15

6 In the Mood for Love, 4.15.15

7 Finding Vivian Maier, 4.29.15

WEDNESDAY / 4.29.15

3:10 FINDING VIVIAN MAIERJOHN MALOOF, CHARLIE SISKEL (US, 2013)

LECTURE Jenn Blaylock

This intriguing documentary shuttles from New York to France to Chicago as it traces the life story of the late Vivian Maier, a career nanny who has earned a posthumous reputation as one of America’s most accomplished and insightful street photographers . . . Maier was an inveterate wanderer and self-taught photographer, favoring a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera, with an uncanny ability to get close to people from all walks of life. Her artful and comic eye calls to mind the photography of Berenice Abbott and Weegee . . . But the families who employed her as a nanny have mixed memories, and hint at her dark side. TIFF

(83 mins, DCP, Color, From IFC Films)

Film & Video Makers at CalFRIDAY / 5.8.15

7:00WORKS FROM THE EISNER COMPETITIONIN PERSON Student filmmakers

The Eisner Prize is the highest award for creativity given on the UC Berkeley campus. This program presents work by the 2015 winners in film and video, along with a diverse sampling of videos from the competition—narratives, documentaries, experimental works, and animations. A handout with written descriptions by the artists will be available at the screening.


A special thanks to Jimmy Ausemus, who until his retirement in December was the Eisner prizes and honors coordinator, and Jeffrey Skoller, UC Berkeley faculty coordinator of the film and video competition.

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▹ YOUR NAME IN LIGHTSJoin or renew at the Curator’s Circle Contributor level ($1,000–2,499) for one year to be honored on the donor sign in our new building. Join or renew at the Curator’s Circle Benefactor level or above ($2,500 and up) for one year to be honored on the donor sign in our new building and on a seat in the Barbro Osher Theater.

Contact [email protected] or call (510) 643-9632 for details.

bampfa.berkeley.edu/join [email protected] (510) 642-5186

MEMBER APPRECIATION MONTH

MEMBER EVENTSSATURDAY / 3.7.15 / 2:00

MFA STUDIO TOURS

Open to all members

Get a sneak peek! Join us for a day of studio tours

to preview the work of UC Berkeley’s Master of Fine

Arts graduate students.

RSVP to [email protected].

FRIDAY / 5.15.15 / 6:00

45TH ANNUAL MFA GRADUATE EXHIBITIONOPENING CELEBRATION AT BERKELEY ART CENTER

Open to all members

Celebrate the 2015 MFA graduates of UC Berkeley’s

Department of Art Practice. This year the graduate

exhibition and opening will be held at the Berkeley

Art Center, 1725 Walnut Street. The Theresa Hak

Kyung Cha Fellowship awards will be given out

during our opening celebration; we are honored

that Cha’s sister, Elizabeth Cha Park, will present the

awards to this year’s recipients.

RSVP [email protected].

MONDAY / 3.16.15 / 7:30

INSIDE THE BAM/PFA FILM COLLECTION P. 19

Open to all members

View a selection of recently acquired films and get

insights into their significance, both for our collection

and for the history of film, from our staff.

To reserve tickets, call (510) 642-5186 or email

[email protected].

SUNDAY / 3.22.15 / 3:00

FAMILY MATINEE: THE BITTERSWEET FILMS OF MIKHAIL KOBAKHIDZE P. 15

Open to all members. Recommended for ages 8 & up

These short allegorical films recall the work of Buster

Keaton, Jacques Tati, and Albert Lamorisse.

To reserve tickets, call (510) 642-5186 or email

[email protected].

CHARTER MEMBERSHIP

Not a Charter Member? Renew your membership today to enjoy the exclusive benefits of being a BAM/PFA Charter Member—and receive 20% off membership rates when you renew for two years. Lock in these rates now to take advantage of all the benefits of membership in our first year downtown.

BECOME A CHARTER MEMBER TODAY! BAM/PFA Charter Members get free admission and other benefits at partner organizations throughout the Bay Area:Asian Art MuseumAurora Theatre CompanyBerkeley Repertory TheaterCal PerformancesContemporary Jewish MuseumDe Young & Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San FranciscoThe Freight & Salvage CoffeehouseLawrence Hall of ScienceThe Museum of the African DiasporaOakland Museum of CaliforniaSan Francisco Film SocietyUC Botanical Garden at BerkeleyWalt Disney Family MuseumYerba Buena Center for the Arts

See our website for full terms and restrictions.

We are grateful for the support of our members. To show our appreciation, we are offering you these special events and benefits during the month of March.

< Let's Go! A Farewell Revel, 12.21.14. The T Sisters lead the parade to our new location.

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MARCH IS


MAR1/SUN3:00 Shadows of Our Forgotten

Ancestors DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 14

5:00 Godard Shorts GODARD P. 8

3/TUE7:00 The Last of the Unjust

DOCUMENTARY VOICES P. 23

4/WED3:10 A Man Escaped

Lecture by Emily Carpenter FILM 50 P. 26

7:00 A World in Flux: Lawrence Rinder and Malcolm Margolin in Conversation At the Brower Center P. 6

7:30 The Color of Pomegranates Introduced by Harsha Ram DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 14

5/THR7:30 The Passionate Thief

MONICELLI P. 20

6/FRI7:00 The Legend of Suram Fortress

Introduced by Harsha Ram DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 15

8:50 Ashik Kerib Introduced by Harsha Ram DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 15

7/SAT6:30 Big Deal on Madonna Street

MONICELLI P. 20

8:40 The Passionate Thief MONICELLI P. 20

8/SUN3:00 Arabesque on the Pirosmani

Theme and Sergei Paradjanov: The Rebel DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 15

5:00 Godard’s Television Commercials GODARD P. 8

9/MON7:30 Tarek Atoui: DeafSpace and

Making Musical Instruments MATRIX 258 At the Brower Center P. 6

10/TUE7:00 Wavemakers

Caroline Martel in person DOCUMENTARY VOICES P. 23

11/WED3:10 L’Avventura


7:30 Slovenian 8mm Experiments: Karpo Godina and Davorin Marc Introduced by Jurij Meden YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA P. 10

12/THR7:00 A Letter to Nelson Mandela

Khalo Matabane in person. Introduced by Gillian Hart P. 9

13/FRI 7:00 Tales CAAMFEST P. 12

8:50 Hollow Ham Tran and Suboi in person CAAMFEST P. 12

14/SAT 5:45 The Sisterhood of Night

Caryn Waechter, Marilyn Fu, Willa Cuthrell, Kal Penn in person CAAMFEST P. 12

8:15 Cicada Dean Yamada in person CAAMFEST P. 12

1 /2

15/SUN 3:30 Kumu Hina

CAAMFEST P. 13

5:30 La Salada Juán Martin Hsu in person CAAMFEST P. 13

8:00 2030 Minh Nguyen-Vo and Bao Nguyen in person CAAMFEST P. 13

16/MON7:30 Inside the BAM/PFA Collection

MEMBER EVENT P. 19

17/TUE7:00 The Missing Picture

with short DOCUMENTARY VOICES P. 23

18/WED3:10 Gems from the BAM/PFA

Collection Lecture by Susan Oxtoby FILM 50 P. 26

7:00 Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll John Pirozzi in person. Live music by Bochan CAAMFEST P. 13

19/THR7:30 Croatian Avant-Garde Filmmakers

of the 1960s Introduced by Pavle Levi YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA P. 11

20/FRI7:00 Tarek Atoui in Concert

MATRIX 258 At Meyer Sound P. 6

7:30 The Great War MONICELLI P. 20

1 Big Deal on Madonna Street, 3.7.15

2 2030, 3.15.15

21/SAT6:30 The Way Home


8:15 The Nylon Christmas Tree DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 15

22/SUN3:00 The Bittersweet Films of

Mikhail Kobakhidze DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA Free for Members P. 15

5:00 The Experimental Film Movement in Serbia: Formative Years (1950s–60s) YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA P. 11

28/SAT6:00 Iliko, Ilarion, Grandmother

and Me DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 16

8:00 Amarcord P. 17

29/SUN5:00 The Experimental Film Movement

in Serbia: Years of Structure (1960s–80s) YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA P. 11

7:00 For Love and Gold MONICELLI P. 20

31/TUE7:00 The Machine Which Makes

Everything Disappear DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 16


APR1/WED3:10 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul


7:30 The Films of Gregory J. Markopoulos: Program 1 Introduced by Mark Webber MARKOPOULOS P. 25

2/THR7:30 The Films of Gregory J.

Markopoulos: Program 2 Introduced by Mark Webber MARKOPOULOS P. 25

3/FRI7:00 According to Mario

MONICELLI P. 21

8:40 We Want the Colonels MONICELLI P. 21

4/SAT6:30 Tangerines


8:15 The Last Crusaders Judith Rosenberg on piano DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 16

5/SUN4:30 The Organizer MONICELLI P. 21

8/WED3:10 Don’t Breathe

Nino Kirtadze in person FILM 50 P. 26

7:30 In the Mood for Love SPECIAL SCREENING P. 13

9/THR7:30 Durakovo: Village of Fools

Nino Kirtadze and Michael Guillen in conversation KIRTADZE P. 18

10/FRI3:10 The Pipeline Next Door

Nino Kirtadze in person KIRTADZE Free admission P. 18

7:30 Something About Georgia Nino Kirtadze and Michael Guillen in conversation KIRTADZE P. 18

11/SAT6:30 Don’t Breathe

Nino Kirtadze in person KIRTADZE P. 18

8:45 Tell My Friends That I’m Dead Nino Kirtadze in person KIRTADZE P. 19

12/SUN2:00 Six fois deux/Sur et sous la

communication: Parts I–II GODARD P. 9

14/TUE7:00 Twelve Disciples of Nelson

Mandela: A Son’s Tribute to Unsung Heroes Thomas Allen Harris in person COMMITTED CINEMA P. 22

15/WED3:10 In the Mood for Love


7:30 Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People Thomas Allen Harris and Leigh Raiford in conversation COMMITTED CINEMA P. 22

16/THR7:00 Six fois deux/Sur et sous la

communication: Parts III–IV GODARD P. 9

17/FRI7:00 The Doomed: Russian Soldiers

in France Judith Rosenberg on piano DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 16

8:30 Mzago and Gela Judith Rosenberg on piano DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 16

18/SAT6:30 Susa with short


8:30 Closing Program: Felicità and Bakhmaro DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMA P. 17

19/SUN2:00 Six fois deux/Sur et sous la

communication: Parts V-VII GODARD P. 9

6:30 Dear Michael MONICELLI P. 21

21/TUE7:00 Demolition with short

J. P. Sniadecki and Max Goldberg in conversation J. P. SNIADECKI P. 24

22/WED3:10 Wendy and Lucy


7:30 Foreign Parts J. P. Sniadecki and Max Goldberg in conversation J. P. SNIADECKI P. 24

24/FRISFIFF @ BAM/PFA

25/SATSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

26/SUNSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

27/MONSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

28/TUESFIFF @ BAM/PFA

29/WED3:10 Finding Vivian Maier

Lecture by Jenn Blaylock FILM 50 P. 27

SFIFF @ BAM/PFA

30/THRSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

1 /2 / 3 / 4

1 Tarek Atoui / MATRIX 258 P. 4

2 The Color of Pomegranates, 3.4.15

3 Through a Lens Darkly, 4.15.15

4 Songhua, 4.21.15

5 The Nylon Christmas Tree, 3.21.15

6 Focus, 3.19.15

The BAM/PFA Galleries at 2626 Bancroft Way are closed. MATRIX 258 is presented off-site at the Brower Center and Meyer Sound. The Annual MFA Exhibition is presented at Berkeley Art Center. The Museum Store and Babette cafe are open Mondays through Fridays via the Durant Avenue entrance.The PFA Theater remains opens through summer 2015.

CA

LEN

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MAY1/FRISFIFF @ BAM/PFA

2/SATSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

3/SUNSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

4/MONSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

5/TUESFIFF @ BAM/PFA

6/WEDSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

7/THRSFIFF @ BAM/PFA

8/FRI7:00 Works from the

Eisner Competition Student filmmakers in person FILM & VIDEO MAKERS @ CAL P. 27

9/SATThe PFA Theater will be closed for our annual spring hiatus through early June

15/FRI6:00 MFA Graduate Exhibition

Opening Celebration MEMBER EVENT At Berkeley Art Center P. 28

45th Annual MFA Graduate Exhibition opens at Berkeley Art Center P. 5

17/SUN3:00 Artists’ Talks

MFA GRADUATE EXHIBITION At Berkeley Art Center P. 6

6 5

@ BAM/PFAAPRIL 24–MAY 7

In late April, BAM/PFA becomes the exclu-sive East Bay venue for the San Francisco International Film Festival. Details to come March 31. Check the website and our printed festival miniguide, which is mailed to all BAM/PFA members.

MUSEUM STORE Mon–Fri 9–5 (510) 642-1475 store.bampfa.berkeley.edu

CESAR CHAVEZ

STUDENT CENTER

ZELLERBACH HALL

MLK STUDENT

UNION

ESHLEMAN

BARROWS HALL

HEARST GYMNASIUMBANCROFT TENNIS COURTS

HEARSTMUSEUM

BOALT LAW SCHOOL

KROEBER HALL

WURSTER HALL

HARGROVE MUSIC LIBRARY

SPROULHALL

UNIT 1 RESIDENCE HALLS

HEARST ANNEX

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CHANNING WAY

BA

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DURANT AVENUE ▶

BANCROFT CLOTHING

URBANOUTFITTERS

theater

museum store

cafe

UC BERKELEY ART MUSEUM & PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE bampfa.berkeley.edu

PLAN YOUR VISIT

GALLERIES CLOSED IN 2015 bampfa.berkeley.edu/visit (510) 642-0808

PFA THEATER 2575 Bancroft Way (at Bowditch St.)

PFA THEATER ADMISSION*

$5.50 BAM/PFA members, UC Berkeley students$9.50 General admission$6.50 UC Berkeley faculty/staff, non-UC Berkeley students, 65+, disabled persons, 17 & under

ADDITIONAL FEATURE $4.00*Unless indicated otherwise

TICKETS

ONLINE bampfa.berkeley.eduBY PHONE (510) 642-5249IN PERSON Two hours before first screening at the PFA Theater box office, 2575 Bancroft Way

MUSEUM STORE & BABETTE

2621 Durant Avenue Open Mon–Fri

Please see bampfa.org for Visitor Policies

BABETTEMon–Fri 8:30–4:30

TAREK ATOUI / MATRIX 258 March and October

Off-site at David Brower Center and Meyer Sound

THE 45TH ANNUAL UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY MFA GRADUATE EXHIBITIONMay 15–June 15

Off-site at Berkeley Art Center

DOCUMENTARY VOICESThrough March 17

DISCOVERING GEORGIAN CINEMAThrough April 18

JEAN-LUC GODARD: EXPECT EVERYTHING FROM CINEMAThrough April 19

FILM 50: HISTORY OF CINEMAThrough April 29

MARIO MONICELLI: SATIRES, CAPERS & SENDUPSMarch 5–April 19

YUGOSLAV AVANT-GARDE CINEMA, 1950S–1980S

March 11–29

A LETTER TO NELSON MANDELAMarch 12

SECONDS OF ETERNITY: THE FILMS OF GREGORY J. MARKOPOULOSApril 1–2

AFTERIMAGE: NINO KIRTADZE April 8–11

COMMITTED CINEMA: THOMAS ALLEN HARRIS April 14–15

CAAMFESTMarch 13–18

AFTERIMAGE: J. P. SNIADECKIApril 21–22

FILM & VIDEO MAKERS @ CALMay 8

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL @ BAM/PFAApril 24–May 7

ON VIEW

The Last Crusaders, 4.4.15

MAR/APR/MAY 2015archive.bampfa.berkeley.edu/Images/Programguide/030115.PdfPROGRAM GUIDE UC BERKELEY...

Documents

Transcript of MAR/APR/MAY 2015archive.bampfa.berkeley.edu/Images/Programguide/030115.PdfPROGRAM GUIDE UC BERKELEY...