Mutual Appreciation

OFFScreen Presents
Mutual Appreciation
Dir. Andrew Bujalski - USA, 2005
Sunday, February 4th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 110 mins.
Newcomb Hall Theatre

Shot in 20 days with a non-professional cast on black and white 16mm film, Andrew Bujalski's sophomore feature is independent in a very real way. Alan (Justin Rice), a musician whose band has just broken up, goes to New York to pursue his burgeoning musical career. Alan spends his time drinking with his friend Lawrence, whose girlfriend finds herself attracted to Alan. The attraction is mutual, but both parties are reluctant to take a next step. Mutual Appreciation "is a meditation on the crisscrossed subjectivities of boys and girls, their mutual comprehension or lack thereof. Bujalski makes intuitive portraits of his people from the inside out rather than fixing them into a conventional drama."
(Nathan Lee, Slate Magazine)

Dir. Andrew Bujalski won the award for Best Screenplay for Mutual Appreciation at the Newport International Film Festival in 2005.

Click here to check out the official site and to delve into the trailer.

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Spain on Main - Cine Chat

The Main Street Market on West Main Street serves as a cultural center in a number of ways. In addition to its variety of fresh food markets and its delightful gelato and espresso cafe Milano, It is also host to two amazing programs: eccoItaly and Spain on Main.
These programs offer courses in Italian and Spanish language and culture.
One specific course that Spain on Main is currently offering is Cine Chat: Conversational Spanish through film. The course will include screenings of works by Pedro Almodovar (Volver, Bad Education, All About my Mother, etc.) and Alejandro Amenábar (Abre los ojos, Mar adentro, Nadie conoce a nadie, etc.).
The course is intended for students with an intermediate level of Spanish and who want to expand their vocabulary and conversational skills.

The course will meet every Thursday night from 8-10 pm beginning Feb. 8th and running through Mar. 8th and will be taught by Joaquin Bueno. The total cost is $125.

Entry forms can be downloaded here, and should be turned in to Verity Blue/Spain on Main.

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Sexual Assault Documentary

Angela Rose, co-founder of PAVE (Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment) will be at UVA tomorrow in Newcomb to have a sit down session with certain women's and assault awareness organizations. In addition she will be screening her first documentary on sexual assault awareness. Rose herself is a sexual assault survivor.

Meet with members of SALC and FIFE tomorrow
January 26th at 3:30 pm
in Newcomb Hall at UVA

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Winter Film Series at The Bridge

Thursday, January 25th at the Bridge there will be a presentation of "Photo-reelists: Films by Photographers."

The night will be hosted by William Wylie and he will be screening "Nectar", a film by him and UVa cinematography professor Kevin Everson.
Other films to be screened include "Pull My Daisy" by Robert Frank and assorted works by Elijah Gowin.

The Bridge exhibition space is located at 209 Monticello Road in Belmont, beside Spudnuts.

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Ryan Gosling nominated for "Half Nelson"

As many of you probably know the nominations are out for the 79th Annual Academy Awards, and Ryan Gosling has been nominated for Best Actor for his role in "Half Nelson." A large amount of the nominations this year have gone to more independent films, which in my opinion says a lot about the current state of American film criticism.
Other nominations worth mentioning include


"Little Children" - Supporting Actor (Jackie Earle Haley), Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Adapted Screenplay.

"Pan's Labyrinth" - Art Direction, Cinematography, Best Foreign Language Film, Makeup, Original Score, Original Screenplay



"Volver" - Best Actress (Penélope Cruz)

Volver begins playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
this Friday January 26th. Check out Vinegar Hill's website for showtimes.

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World According to Shorts

OFFScreen Presents
The World According to Shorts
Sunday, January 28th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 95 mins.
Six Directors - Six Countries, 2006

A fixture of the independent moviegoing circuit since 2000, the annual "The World According to Shorts" program has provided one of the few regular outlets for the commercially problematic short-film format. This year's Cinema Village program is something like a best-of, compiling six films from past incarnations and pointedly showcasing the scope and range of the series both geographical and formal. These six films are "provocative, mystifying, original, and, as if to prove the vitality of the short form, utterly unimaginable at feature length." (Joshua Land, Village Voice)

The Six films that make up this presentation are as follows:

La Perra
Hugo Maza, Chile, 17 min.
A couple with an empty life make up a story about the new maid in order to satisfy their sexual obsessions.

We Have Decided Not to Die
Daniel Askill, Australia, 11 min.
experimental. Three rituals. Three people. Three modern-day journeys of transcendence.

Ring of Fire
Andreas Hykade, Germany, 15 min, animated.
Replete with outrageous sexual imagery, this tale of innocence lost and ultimately redeemed is accompanied by a lyrical voiceover (in appropriate cowboy drawl) that seems to have only the loosest of connections to the action on-screen.

United We Stand
Hans Petter Moland, Norway, 9 min.
Eight old timers come upon a young woman stuck in a swamp. This short film was inspired by the Norway's Labour Party, and is a part of the collective feature film Utopia: No One is Perfect in the Perfect Country.

Antichrist
Adam Guzinski, Poland, 28 min.
A group of boys play in a barren, seemingly post-apocalyptic landscape. The group's leader believes he is the Antichrist. He goads the others into increasingly daring games until events spiral out of control.

The Old Woman's Step
Jane Malaquias, Brazil, 15 min.
An old lady travels from the fishermen's village where she lives to the city to sell a chicken so she can buy her grandson a present.

Check back in with further details about each of the shorts and they're creators.

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Pan's Labyrinth

In addition to our first film of the season, another exciting film begins playing this weekend at the Regal 6 Theater on the Downtown mall. Pan's Labyrinth by Dir. Guillermo Del Toro is a elegantly film and enthralling take of a fictional world. Every trailor I've seen is simply beautiful, and is certainly worth going to see.

Showtimes for this week at the Regal Downtown are 1:30pm, 4:30pm, 7:30pm, and 10:10pm daily.

For more info or to see the trailer check out the official website.

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Facts about women in the film industry

Harping on the topic brought up in the previous post, I thought it would be relevant to post about the facts of the current state of the film and entertainment industry.

According to the 2006 Report of the Celluloid Ceiling [a survey conducted each year by Martha M. Lauzen, who is a professor in the School of Communication at San Diego State University]"A comparison of women's employment on the top 250 films in 2005 and 1998 shows that the percentages of women directors, writers, executive producers, and cinematographers have declined, while the percentage of women producers has increased."

Women's E-News also reported "In Academy Award history, only three female filmmakers have been nominated for best director award (Lina Wertmuller in 1977, Jane Campion in 1994, and Sofia Coppola in 2004), but none have won."

The need for more female directors is great, not only for the sake of equality in statistics, but also for the sake of the preservation of film as a keyhole into a specific perception of the world. The female perspective is one we rarely get to see, yet is often as elegant, dramatic, frightening, or sensual as any film we should see directed by a man.

OFFscreen is proud to have included two powerful films directed by women in the line-up for this semester (Old Joy by Dir. Kelly Reichardt & Innocence by Dir. Lucile Hadzihalilovic.

If you are interested in the role of women in the film industry and wish to know more you should check out a few of these organizations who work to not only raise awareness of lack of female employment, but also aide women in getting their films made and publicized.
Women Make Movies
Women in Film: A Non-Profit Organization
New York Women in Film & Television

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Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck's work on "Half Nelson"

Anna Boden may not be accreditted as a director, but her hand in the creation of Fleck's Half Nelson is undeniable. Not only is she the co-writer of the film, but worked as its Editor. She reportedly told Ellen Mills of Newenglandfilm.com that before her and Ryan Fleck gained the funding to begin constructing the film she was struggling as a receptionist.

Despite financial struggles, Fleck & Boden have successfully produced, directed, written and editted this and another feature length film, "Young Rebels," (pictured on left). Also, under their belt are several short films.

Women who manage to hold a strong presence within the realm of filmmaking are unfortunately hard to come by, and therefore we at OFFscreen think Boden's hand in this harshly belieavable film is worth bringing to the attention of our audiences.

To read Mills' full interview with Boden click here.

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Half Nelson

Half Nelson
Sunday, January 21st - 7 & 9:30 pm - 106 mins.
Newcomb Hall Theatre
Dir. Ryan Fleck - USA, 2006

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is an inner-city teacher balancing addiction and education in director Ryan Fleck's debut feature film. Dunne's engaging classroom presence jolts his students out of the same disillusioned stupor he craves in his drug-fueled nightlife. When Dunne's habit begins to bleed over into his daytime hours, a troubled student (Shareeka Epps) catches him semi-conscious and clutching a crack pipe, and the bond that forms leads to a uniquely difficult friendship. Half Nelson "is that rarest of marvels - an American fiction film that wears its political heart on its sleeve. What makes Half Nelson both an unusual and an exceptional American film...is its insistence on political consciousness as a moral imperative." (Mahnola Dargis, New York Times)

For the trailer, press information, background on the film check out the Half Nelson Website

Click HERE to read a review of Half Nelson by Jonathan Rosenbaum in the Chicago Reader

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Bringing in a new OFFScreen season

After a long hiatus from updating this blog with more in depth information as to the ongoings at OFFScreen, we are back to start our Spring 2007 season with a bang.

As always, you can refer to our website as well for more information, directions, and the history of our organization at U.Va.

The Schedule for the Spring 2007 Season has just been finalized and is as follows:

Half Nelson
Sunday, January 21st - 7 & 9:30 pm - 106 mins.
Dir. Ryan Fleck - USA, 2006

The World According to Shorts
Sunday, January 28th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 95 mins.
Six Directors - Six Countries, 2006

Turn It Up Series - Mutual Appreciation
Sunday, February 4th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 110 mins.
Dir. Andrew Bujalski - USA, 2005

Turn It Up Series - Brothers of the Head
Sunday, February 11th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 93 mins.
Dirs. Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe - UK, 2005

Woman is the Future of Man
Sunday, February 18th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 88 mins.
Dir. Hong Sang-soo - South Korea/France, 2004

Innocence with the Francophone Film Festival
Sunday, February 25th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 122 mins.
Dir. Lucile Hadzihalilovic - Belgium/France/UK, 2004

Drawing Restraint 9 with the VA Film Society
Sunday, March 18th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 135 mins.
Dir. Matthew Barney - USA/Japan, 2005

Old Joy
Sunday, March 25th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 76 mins.
Dir. Kelly Reichardt - USA, 2006

Three Times
Sunday, April 1st - 7 & 9:30 PM - 120 mins.
Dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien - Taiwan, 2005

Film Feast Series - Black Gold
Sunday, April 8th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 78 mins.
Dirs. Marc & Nick Francis - UK/USA, 2006

Film Feast Series - Our Daily Bread
Sunday, April 15th - 7 & 9:30 PM - 92 mins.
Dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter - Germany/Austria, 2005

Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
Sunday, April 22nd - 7 & 9:30 PM - 99 mins.
Dirs. Stephen & Timothy Quay - Germany/UK/France, 2005


Look forward to updates each week with more detailed information about each of the films, also for information about the special programs that OFFScreen is working with this semester.

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