MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at (847) 491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

October 13, 2003

November 2003 Block Cinema Calendar

Block Cinema, a collaboration of the School of Communication and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus, screens classic and contemporary films in the museum’s James B. Pick and Rosalyn M. Laudati Auditorium.

Block Cinema features a series on different themes, directors or countries during each quarter of the academic year.

Throughout fall 2003, Northwestern University faculty members will introduce their favorite films and lead post-screening discussions. These “Professor’s Pick” screenings will showcase the talents of professors from across the University, providing a wide variety of views on movies and methods of interpretation.

Inspired by the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art’s “Drawn toward the Avant-Garde: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century French Drawings from the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen” exhibition (Sept. 26 to Nov. 30), Block Cinema has programmed a series of “Classic French Films.” They include movies directed by Jean Renoir, the son of French impressionist Auguste Renoir; Jean Vigo, the “poet maudit” of 1930s French cinema; Robert Bresson, a devout but doubting Catholic, whose minimalist direction strips cinema to its essential elements; and a few films from the cadre of directors who made up the French New Wave.

There also will be an “Independent Film” series that will focus on some of the best independent films of the 1980s and early 1990s by John Sayles, Jim Jarmusch, Todd Haynes and the Coen brothers, directors who were heavily influenced by such iconoclastic mavericks as Orson Welles, John Cassavetes and the directors of the French New Wave. Each film will shed light on a very specific group of people whether it is a minority group, a bunch of losers, or wealthy New York debutants.

Block Cinema, in partnership with like-minded groups, brings numerous special and rare screenings to Chicago in addition to its regular schedule. All foreign films are subtitled in English, unless otherwise noted. Detailed descriptions of the films are available in the tri-quarterly Block Cinema calendar and on the Block Cinema Web site at http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/education/nufilms.html.

Block Cinema is curated by Block Cinema staff and a student group called the Film and Projection Society (FPS).

General admission is $6, or $4 for Northwestern faculty and staff, Block Museum members, students and senior citizens. Special Block Cinema events are $10, unless otherwise noted. A season pass is $20, but does not include admission to special events. Tickets and season passes are available at the door 30 minutes before showtime.

For more information about the fall screenings, call the Block Cinema Hotline at (847) 491-4000 or go to the Block Cinema Web site at http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/education/nufilms.html.

NOVEMBER 2003

Independent Film, Studio 22 (Four films), Queering Film History. “pièce touchée” (Martin Arnold, 1989, Austria, 15 minutes, 16 mm). With his optical printer, technical genius and wit, Austrian filmmaker Martin Arnold isolates, loops and reworks small sections of classical Hollywood films to construct new meanings -- an 18 second scene becomes a violent quarrel in this short film.

“passage à l’acte,” (Martin Arnold, 1993, Austria, 12 minutes, 16 mm). A breakfast table sequence from “To Kill a Mockingbird” turns into a site of authoritarian disciple and Mickey Rooney enacts the oedipal drama in “Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy” (Matthew Arnold, 1998, Austria, 15 minutes, 16 mm). “Is This What You Were Born For?” (Abigail Child, 1981-1987, United States, 56 minutes, 16 mm). Made up of seven individual films, Abigail Child’s expansive film combines original work with found footage to explore connections between gender, power and aggression. The screenings are sponsored by Studio 22 Productions, a student-run, not-for-profit production company based at Northwestern University.

“Classic French Cinema, “Breathless,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5 (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960, France, 90 minutes, 35 mm). One of the first films of the French New Wave movement, “Breathless” was adapted from a story written by François Truffaut. It stars Jean- Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg.

Professor’s Pick: “Stroszek,” 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 6 (Werner Herzog, 1977, West Germany, 108 minutes, 35 mm). A man recently released from prison leaves Germany with two new friends for a better life in Wisconsin. Casting non-actor and former mental patient Bruno S. in the lead role, Herzog gives the movie an air of otherworldly innocence.

Independent Film, “Poison,” 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 (Todd Haynes, 1991, United States, 85 minutes, 35 mm). Perhaps the most experimental film of this series, “Poison” interweaves three narratives, each with a different style. There’s the documentary-like narrative of a boy who has murdered his father and evaporated into thin air; the 1950s-era sci-fi allegory about a mad scientist who turns himself into a monster; and the more modern prison drama about a gay inmate.

Professor’s Pick, “Ride Lonesome,” 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11 (Budd Boetticher, 1959, United States, 73 minutes, 35 mm). In “Ride Lonesome” our hero, an aging lawman portrayed by Randolph Scott, will not let go of the search for his wife’s killer. The film will be introduced by Northwestern’s Scott Curtis, assistant professor of speech, radio, television and film.

Classic French Cinema (Two films), “La Jetée,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12 (Chris Marker, 1962, France, 29 minutes, 35 mm). Composed, it might seem, entirely of still photographs, “La Jetée” concerns a man from the future dominated by a single, vibrant memory who becomes a guinea pig for a government experiment in time travel. “Hiroshima, Mon Amour” (Alain Resnais, 1959, France, 91 minutes, 35 mm). A French actress, who is in Hiroshima to shoot a movie, and a Japanese architect fall in love, in only a few days. This affair recalls her first love, a German soldier she met during the occupation of France during World War II.

Independent Film (Two films) “When it Rains,” 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 (Charles Burnett, 1995, United States, 12 minutes, 16 mm). It’s New Year’s Day and a musician has to help a friend pay the rent. This poetic short film was listed as one of the 10 best films of all time by Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum in the 2002 “Sight and Sound” Poll. “To Sleep with Anger,” (Charles Burnett, 1990, United States, 102 minutes, 35 mm). Director Charles Burnett makes films that explore the complexities of the African American experience. “To Sleep with Anger” combines mysticism with realism in its tale of a Southern trickster (Danny Glover) who disrupts the lives of a Los Angeles family when he visits them.

Professor’s Pick, “My Beautiful Laundrette,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19 (Stephen Frears, 1985, Great Britain, 97 minutes, 35 mm). In Margaret Thatcher’s London, Omar, a college-age Pakistani man, takes the reins of his wealthy uncle’s Laundromat. Helping him with the business is former lover, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), a pink-haired fascist who fits into the British ethnic landscape as awkwardly as Omar. The duo seeks acceptance and the 1980s British dream of instant riches.

Classic French Cinema, “Jules and Jim,” 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 (François Truffaut, 1961, France, 105 minutes, 35 mm). Sharing a love of culture and conversation, the Austrian Jules and French Jim are best friends until a woman (Jeanne Moreau) and World War I come between them.

Independent Film, “My Own Private Idaho,” 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21 (Gus Van Sant, 1991, United States, 102 minutes, 35 mm). A crowning work of New Queer Cinema, this film follows hustlers Mike (River Phoenix) and Steve (Keanu Reeves) on a journey across the Pacific Northwest in search of Mike’s mother. The scenes of narcolepsy, motorcycles and sex are shot like Caravaggio paintings.

REELTIME FILM SERIES

REELTIME is an independent film and video forum jointly sponsored by the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University and the Evanston Public Library in partnership with project directors Andrea Leland and Kathy Berger. This program is partially sponsored by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, The Playboy Foundation and many individual donors.

The free admission, monthly series of award-winning independent features, documentaries and short-subject videos is held either at the main branch of the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., in downtown Evanston, or the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus. Each screening is followed by a discussion between filmmakers and the audience.

Free parking is available on Northwestern’s Evanston campus after 5 p.m. weekdays and all weekend. For more information, call the Block Museum at (847) 491-4000 or the Evanston Public Library at (847) 866-0300 or visit the museum’s Web site at www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu or Reeltime at www.reeltimeevanston.org/.

Reeltime, (two films) “Nobody’s Business, “ 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12, Evanston Public Library (Alan Berliner, 1996, United States, 58 minutes). Alan Berliner takes on a formidable and reluctant subject: his father, Oscar Berliner. The filmmaker’s attempts to coax his dad into telling the story of his life are harshly and insistently countered by the elder Berliner, who frequently remarks, “My life is nothing!” Through his protestations and the filmmaker’s persistence we learn a great deal about Oscar Berliner and his eccentric methods of dealing with a past alternately joyous and painful. “Bubbeh Lee and Me” (Andy Wilson, 1996, United States, 35 minutes). Filmmaker Andy Wilson took a video camera along on one of his yearly visits to his grandmother in Florida to document their time together. Filled with humorous touches, this film also embraces more difficult subject matter when his grandmother speaks candidly of her apprehension in accepting his homosexuality.