Fall 2012 Classic Film Series:

• September 21: LONESOME
  
• September 28: KINYARWANDA
  
• October 5: AVALON
  
• October 19: THE EXECUTION OF WANDA JEAN
  
• November 2: GOODBYE, DRAGON INN [BU SAN]
  
• November 9: ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA [BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA]
  
• November 30: DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT

The Future of Film Series: The selections for The Future of Film series are based on film critic J. Hoberman’s list of global cinema’s quintessential 21st century motion pictures. Hoberman, who will appear at the Writers Institute on December 7 (see listing), offers his selections in his book Film After Film (2012), an exploration of the future of the film industry with the advent of new digital image-making technologies, globalization, and accelerated cultural change.

LONESOME
September 21 (Friday)
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Paul Fejos
(United States, 1928, 69 minutes, b/w and hand-tinted color)
Silent with sound elements and live accompaniment by Mike Schiffer

As a prologue to our The Future of Film series we offer a silent film that, in its own day, wrestled with issues that confront film in the 21st century: new technologies, new definitions of art and entertainment, and a rapidly changing society. A spectacular example of silent film attempting to reinvent itself prior to the advent of sound, this rediscovered gem follows the misadventures of a lonely boy and girl who fall in love in an amusement park. The film will be preceded by a “futuristic” comic short, ELECTRIC HOUSE starring Buster Keaton (1922, 19 minutes).

AVALON
October 5 (Friday)
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
(Japan and Poland, 2001, 107 minutes, color and b/w)
In Polish with English subtitles

Japan’s Mamoru Oshii pioneered the concept of a computer-generated world on film with his 1995 anime feature, GHOST IN THE SHELL, a major inspiration for 1999’s THE MATRIX. With AVALON, Oshii creates what Hoberman calls, “a new sort of cyborg entity, namely a digital-photographic fusion.” Made with a Polish cast and a Japanese crew, the film employs digital versions of vintage, sepia-tone photographs to create a battle simulation game set in Eastern Europe in the mid-20th century.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA [BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU’DA]
November 9 (Friday)
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
(Turkey, 2011, 150 minutes, color)
In Turkish with English subtitles

The search for a missing corpse in the Turkish countryside becomes an epistemological quest in Ceylan’s recent masterpiece, winner of the prestigious Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. J. Hoberman, in his final review for the Village Voice, said the film “…knocked me out, seemed even stronger on second viewing, and left me curious to see it again.”

Cosponsored by the Turkish Cultural Center Albany

Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century Film Series: Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century is a multifaceted project aimed at engaging conversations about the intersection of social justice and criminal justice in an increasingly diverse society. UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice and the Writers Institute are partnering to present six films over the next year that will explore these issues. Topics that will be explored during the fall 2012 series are genocide, capital punishment, and terrorism. Each screening will be followed by a discussion. For additional information on the Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century project go to: https://www.albany.edu/justiceinstitute/.

KINYARWANDA
September 28 (Friday)
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus
Written and directed by Alrick Brown
(United States, Rwanda, France, 2011, 100 minutes, color)
In English and Kinyarwanda with English subtitles

Winner of the World Cinema Audience award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, KINYARWANDA is based on the heroic true story of local Muslim clergy who risked their lives to save both Tutsi and pacifist Hutu—Christians as well as Muslims—during the Rwandan genocide. In a four star review, Roger Ebert said, “Here is a powerful film.”

NOTE: The film’s producer Darren Dean and leading Rwandan actress Hadidja Zaninka will answer questions immediately after the screening.