OFFscreen: independent, classic and foreign films at the University of Virginia

Ashes of American Flags: tonight

2009-05-01T13:15:00.008-04:00

Tonight is the night!

Make sure to bring your friends (and yourself) to the screening of Wilco documentary "Ashes of American Flags" tonight, featuring introduction by producer and Fugazi drummer Brendand Canty. The show is at Newcomb Hall theater at 7 PM. Tickets will be sold at the door and will cost $5. Take a break from finals or whatever you have going on to enjoy this film.

And after...Invisible Hand is playing at the Tea Bazaar.

Swine Flu

2009-04-30T11:41:00.005-04:00

Between drug wars and swine flu there has been a lot of negative press for Mexico recently. An industry which has not slowed down, however, is Mexico's excellent film production. One standout that recently played at Sundance and Tribeca is Carlos Cuaron's debut feature, "Rudo y Cursi." Even discounting my serious interest in any film with a passing reference to soccer, this looks like a lively comedy that will add to Mexico's important cinematic output. The creation of Cha Cha, a new production companies with powerful directors Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro is an indication that Mexican film is growing even stronger.

Trailer for "Rudo y Cursi"

Wilco Documentary

2009-04-28T14:22:00.002-04:00

Hey folks,

Just wanted to remind everyone about the Wilco Documentary coming up this Friday. Tickets for this bonus screening will cost $5 and be available at the door.

Special Bonus Screening: Wilco Documentary

2009-04-20T17:48:00.007-04:00

"If this show ends up being one of the greatest rock and roll concerts of all time, I'm afraid its going to have an asterisk next to it. Because I'm on steroids..."
-Jeff Tweedy

You may have thought OFFscreen was finished with "Inland Empire," but we have been working behind the scenes to bring a new Wilco concert documentary, "Ashes of American Flags" to Charlottesville next Friday, May 1st. Local fans who remember Wilco's October 2007 performance at the Pavillion will have the chance to get a more intimate view of this legendary band in action.

More than a concert video, "Ashes of American Flags" combines HD video from performances with elements a road movie and personal interviews with all band members, as they travel the highways from Tulsa Oklahoma, to a final, raucous performance at the familiar 9:30 club in Washington D.C.

The film will be introduced by producer Brendan Canty. If the name sounds familiar, that is because Mr. Canty was the drummer for D.C. greats Fugazi. We hope that you will kick off your weekend right and come out for this extra-special presentation. "Ashes of American Flags" will give you a front row seat to one of the best live acts going.

Note that this film is screening at a special time: Friday, May 1 at 7 PM at the Newcomb Hall Theater (map).

Review from Pop Matters
Official site

Trailer after the jump

"Inland Empire" Preview

2009-04-16T10:37:00.004-04:00

"A Woman in trouble"

Director David Lynch to Canal Plus (the French studio that made "Inland Empire" financially possible): "I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V."

A famous actress working on a script that may have been cursed. A jealous husband and a Don Juan lead actor. Coming (we think) for the first time to a big screen in Charlottesville is David Lynch's monumental, semi-narrative meditation on the psyche and the act of recording, "Inland Empire."

Lynch controversially used a midrange DV camera during filming. The finished product retains the raw look of early digital, but the size and cheapness of the cameras allowed the director new creative opportunities. Critics fell into the predictable camps of "What is this?" and "This guy is a genius...I think." OFFscreen invites you to enter the labyrinth for yourself and enjoy Lynch's most recent film.

This showing will conclude our Spring 2009 series, so come out to enjoy "Inland Empire" as it was meant to be seen. As Lynch himself said in a brief NYT interview, "There’s nothing like the big screen. The cinema is really built for the big screen and big sound, so that a person can go into another world and have an experience. As an example, there’s Stanley Kubrick’s “2001:A Space Odyssey” — this would be kind of a pathetic joke on a little screen." Don't be a pathetic joke.

"Inland Empire" will be playing at the Newcomb Theater on Sunday, April 19. Due to its running time of 180 minutes, there will be only one showing at 7 PM.

Thanks for a great season. Trailer and interview after the jump.

2009-04-16T10:36:00.001-04:00

Woah mobile posting!

"Stardust Memories" Preview

2009-04-09T12:23:00.009-04:00

"What do you think was the significance of the Rolls-Royce?"
"I think it represented his car"

Maybe this joke explains the hit-or-miss critical reception to Woody Allen's 1980 masterpiece "Stardust Memories." Often drawing comparisons with Fellinni's "8 1/2," Allen's film not only targets critics, but, as NYT critic Janet Maslin, writes, ''Stardust Memories'' is inhabited by grotesques, sycophants, every kind of fool, and when the film takes aim at any of them it easily hits its mark." This may include you, if you are honest with yourself. Be prepared to be put off and awed over the course of the same 90 minutes. Roger Ebert famously said of this film, "It is the first Woody Allen film in which impotence has become the situation rather than the problem. This is a movie about a guy who has given up." Perhaps this is what makes the film transcendent and modern. It is unafraid to face such abysses...with humor.

"I would trade an Oscar for one more second of life."

Obviously not to be missed, "Stardust Memories" will be shown in glorious black and white at the Newcomb Hall Theater. One night only: Sunday, April 12 at 7 and 9:30 PM. Tickets are $3.

nice clip after the jump

Stardust Memories Clip (not a trailer)

Vinegar Hill Schedule

2009-04-08T11:04:00.003-04:00

Hey Everybody,

Just want everyone to know that the good people that run the Vinegar Hill/Visulite theater are giving Charlottesville the lineup for Cannes 2008 in April 2009.

Last week had "Waltz with Bashir."
This week is "The Class" - a great film and only in town tonight and tomorrow.
Next week is "Che pt. 1"
and the week of April 17 is "Gomorrah" !!!!

Make sure to check for times and do not miss these memorable films.

Trailers after the jump

"The Class"

"Che pt. 1"

"Gomorrah"

French Film Friday

2009-04-02T13:19:00.005-04:00

The French department will be showing the new film by award-winning Quebecois director Philippe Falardeau called "Ce n'est pas moi, je le jure! " ("It's not me I swear!") this Friday (tomorrow) in the Wilson auditorium - room 402 at 5 PM. (Map) The film will be subtitled in English and will be presented by the director himself!

Based on a successful French novel of the same name, "Ce n'est pas moi je le jure!" tells the story of a pre-pubescent Quebecois boy acting out in a number of imaginative and destructive ways. It played at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival and won a crystal bear as one of the best feature films by a new director.

Venez nombreux!!

Offical Site (in French)
Review from Variety.

Trailer after the jump

Monday movies

2009-03-30T09:03:00.004-04:00

Hey all,

First, I don't care what the haters say, but "Funky Forest" was the most fun I have had at the movies in a long time and killed the speakers in Newcomb. Thanks to all who came out, and I hope you were able to enjoy the absurdity. I know I did.

Here are a couple of films to think about this week.

"Goodbye Solo"

The third feature from up and coming/already there director Ramin - the dude that did Chop Shop - Bahrani, "Goodbye Solo," tells a story of hope via a Senegalese immigrant taxi driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Bahrani seems to have inherited the neo-realist mantle with his use of non-professional actors and the strong emphasis on place in his films. Subtle and well-crafted, this film has gotten rave reviews, like this one by A.O. Scott.

"Tokyo Sonata"

This film is not exactly new (premiered at Cannes in 2008), but Michelle told me about it last night and it seems really interesting. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is well-known for his thrillers and horror movies and finally tackles the most frightening subject of all: family. Perhaps now even more relevant now than when it was released, "Tokyo Sonata" tells the story of a man who has been laid off at his corporate position who continues to put on his suit and leave the house every day. His family, pushed to the breaking point, begins their own breakdown. Reminiscent of some of the themes of OFFscreen alum "Momma's Man," Kurosawa's film forces us to reconsider what really matters, especially in our current times. Review from The New Yorker.

Great-looking trailers after the jump

Get Ready

2009-03-26T13:20:00.001-04:00

Funky Forest: The First Contact - Preview

2009-03-26T11:15:00.004-04:00

OFFscreen moves back into international waters this weekend with "Funky Forest: The First Contact." Directed by a Japanese trio including Katsuhito Ishii of "Taste of Tea fame this 2005 feature defies one-paragraph summary from bloggers and critics. The film is based around the frame of a sketch-comedy show and features singing, dancing, animation, and dreams. Visually inventive, unafraid of risk, and with moments of real genius, "Funky: Forest: The First Contact" is a welcome journey into absurdity.

The New York Post claims that something is lost in translation, but we at OFFscreen invite you to lose yourself in this hyperactive treat. Check out this review from some people who get it in "The Brooklyn Rail."

"Funky Forest: The First Contact" will play for one night only at the Newcomb Hall theater at the University of Virginia, on Sunday, March 29. Please note that due to its 150 minute running time, the film will be shown only at 7 PM. Tickets are $3.

If you can't decide whether or not to come, please watch the clip after the jump featuring actress Rinko Kikuchi - oddly the only living Japanese actress to have been nominated for an Academy Award (thanks Wikipedia). I trust you will make the right decision.

OFFtopic: music

2009-03-26T10:49:00.004-04:00

I went to the Wavves' show in Harrisonburg last night. Nathan Williams might be the spokesperson/fantasy for the inertia of our recession-ed out moment. "When I get back from tour, I'm still gonna go back to my parents pool house, and like, smoke weed because I don't really feel like moving out and paying rent." It was a fun show even if he was a little drunk, can't really sing, and can't really play guitar. Check out "So Bored" and "No Hope Kids" - highlights of the show and his recently released album.

Also I can't stop watching this music video for "When I Grow Up" a single off of the new album by Fever Ray, the solo project from the female half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer Andersson. It is directed by Martin de Thurah.

SXSW film

2009-03-19T17:52:00.006-04:00

With the Austin festival coming to a close, I thought a brief recap is in order.
Here is a random selection of some of the films that sounded interesting from the festival.

"Make-Out With Violence"
Easily the best-titled film of 2009,this Deagols brothers feature debut takes a look at love...and Zombies.

"Say My Name"
Hip-Hop's female voices get heard in a big way in this documentary by Nirit Peled. Features one of my favorite emcees of either gender, the legendary Jean Grae.

"Best Worst Movie"
Our generation's "Plan 9?" Look no further than "Troll 2." Filmed by an Italian director in Utah and featuring a lead acting by a dentist from Alabama, this film never had a chance. The documentary is curated by the now-grown child star of the horrible/wonderful original.

Of course this is just a sample. The festival's emphasis on film has been growing and continues to improve. check out the complete listings here.
Great trailers after the jump...

"Make-Out With Violence"

"Say My Name"

"Best Worst Movie"

Virtual JFK and Herzog docs

2009-03-12T11:27:00.009-04:00

Welcome back OFFscreen-ers.

Charlottesville film is back, or more accurately, I am back in Charlottesville to enjoy its films, and I am happy to report on some interesting films being screened in the coming days.

First, this Sunday before OFFscreen's exclusive presentation of "Red Bucket Presents..." is a presentation by Media Studies professor Laura Heins. She will be screening two documentaries from Herzog's middle period: “Wodaabe – Herdsmen of the Sun” (1989) and “Lessons in Darkness” (1992). Each is less than an hour long and there will be a discussion.

The screening will take place at 3:30 PM in the basement of Ruffner Hall (The main building of the education school across the Emmet Street bridge from Newcomb) in room G004C. map (number 44).

Also coming soon to Charlottesville is a documentary that asks the thought-provoking question, What if JFk had lived? The film, "Virtual JFK is director Koji Masutani's first feature. The film combines recently unearthed documentary footage with insights from Brown University professor James G. Blight providing a new way to think about the past. The film's central question is how Kennedy would have handled America's role in the Vietnam War. It was selected for entry in the London International Documentary Festival.

Virtual JFK will be playing on the big screen at Vinegar Hill theater in Charlottesville on March 21 and 22 at 2 PM

Review at indieWIRE

And of course this Sunday OFFscreen presents some of the most promising innovators in film today. "Red Bucket Films Presents..." will be shown for one night only at 7 and 9:30 PM on Sunday, March 15 in the Newcomb Hall theater.

Trailers after the jump

Lessons in Darkness

Virtual JFK

A little break

2009-02-25T11:09:00.003-05:00

Dear readers,

UVA's Spring Break is next week so there will be no films shown and probably no blog updates. However, I encourage everyone to begin looking forward to our next screening, which will take place on March 15: "Red Bucket Presents..." This is a collection of shorts, or "buttons" specially made by the Red Bucket Film Collective for OFFscreen. I will post a more thorough preview as the show approaches.

Now for some hype:

FEARLESS and not quite of this century???

A collaboration with KATE SPADE???

Darlings of CANNES???

Oscar Thoughts?

2009-02-23T13:54:00.007-05:00

I managed to catch some of the Oscars last night and was glad that Slumdog did so well. I was a little surprised about the lack of love for VA film festival alum The Wrestler, but I was happiest to see Man on Wire win for best documentary feature. This was probably my favorite film that got nominated, although I did not see any of the shorts, which is a shame.

If you haven't seen Man on Wire yet, it is the amazing true story of Phillipe Petit's tightrope walk across the World Trade center towers. If you watched him on the Oscars, you could see what a fantastic character he is. The film actually played locally last Friday at Piedmont Valley Community college, and I am sorry for not posting that. Trailer after the jump. Any thoughts on the awards?

Last Weekend

2009-02-23T11:26:00.005-05:00

It was a great weekend for film fans in Charlottesville. I was lucky enough to catch three of the films being shown in town: My Name is Albert Ayler, La Question Humaine, and Reves de Poussiere at OFFscreen on Sunday evening. All three were very interesting, but my favorite had to be La Question Humaine, directed by Nicolas Klotz and released in France in 2007. The film was adapted from a novel of the same title by Francois Emmaneulle and tells the story of a psychologist (played by the famous French actor Mathieu Amalric) employed in the human resource department of a large Franco-German chemical company. He is assigned to analyze the company's CEO after a series of strange complaints. His investigation takes him through a series of encounters, at work, at raves, and at home that eventually lead him to commit some unfortunate acts. By the end of the film, the viewer must question the mental health of this main character, who has by this point uncovered some frightening facts about the company's questionable links to the Nazi party. The final scenes are incredibly powerful and philosophically rich meditations on language and memory. Highly recommended.

For French speakers here is an interview with the director Klotz and lead actor Amalric. You can see the trailer in the preview post from last Thursday. Also, the onion's AV club has a nice review here.

Internacional

2009-02-19T17:48:00.003-05:00

Hey readers.

I installed google analytics on the blog, and while we won't be blowing anyone away with our hit count (around 10 per day, with a high of 21), you might find it interesting that we have had visitors from:

New York
Los Angeles
Berlin
Mexico City
Athens
London
Milan
Zagreb
Madrid
Glasgow

I also have to shout out our local support coming from
Charlottesville!
Waynesboro
Lynchburg
Richmond

Keep on checking us out!

article of interest?

2009-02-19T10:33:00.003-05:00

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/79/hipster.html

Also just for kicks, but not really.

http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=12185178001

a real-live donk video after the jump

Weekend cinema in Charlottesville

2009-02-18T15:30:00.002-05:00

There are a number of films to look forward to this weekend in the Charlottesville area. First is the annual Festival du Film Francophone at the University of Virginia. Made possible by a grant from the Tournées Film Festival, the French department at the University plans on screening 5 films from Thursday through Sunday. The festival focuses on contemporary French cinema, and concludes with OFFscreen's own presentation of Dreams of Dust on Sunday evening.

Schedule:
DANS PARIS (2006)
INSIDE PARIS
Th. 19 Feb., 6:30pm, Wilson 402 Auditorium (map)
Dir: Christophe Honore, 93 min.

FRANTZ FANON: SA VIE, SON COMBAT, SON TRAVAIL (2004)
FRANTZ FANON: HIS LIFE, HIS STRUGGLE, HIS WORK
Fri. 20 Feb., 6:00pm, Wilson 402 Auditorium (map)
Dir: Cheikh Djemai, 140 min.

LA QUESTION HUMAINE (2007)
HEARTBEAT DETECTOR
Sat. 21 Feb., 4:30pm, Clark 107 (map)
Dir: Nicolas Klotz, 144 min.

LA FAUTE A FIDEL (2006)
BLAME IT ON FIDEL
Sat. 21 Feb., 7:45pm, Clark 107 (map)
Dir: Julie Gavras, 99 min.

REVES DE POUSSIERE (2006)
DREAMS OF DUST
Sun. 22 Feb., 7:00pm and 9:30pm, Newcomb Theater
Dir: Laurent Salgues, 86 min.

All showings are sub-titled in English.
All showings are FREE except for REVES DE POUSSIERE, which is $3 (in partnership with OFFScreen). Additionally, each film will be introduced by a member of the French department at UVA and will include a discussion at the conclusion of each film.
For a summary of each film check the festival's website, linked above. Trailers of the films can be found after the jump.

Switching gears, there will be a film screening at The Bridge Progressive Arts Institute on Thursday evening. The film, My Name is Albert Ayler, is a Swedish documentary on legendary tenor saxaphonist Albert Ayler. This is a man who jumped on stage at a Coltrane show, started wailing on his sax, and so impressed the legend, that Coltrane asked to have Ayler play at is funeral. Ayler's mantra: "If people don't like it now, they will." Rumor has it that there will be an OFFscreen contingent attending this show, so come join us for this fascinating story of a man who could go through anything because of his belief in his art.

MY NAME IS ALBERT AYLER
Thursday, February 19 at 7 PM at the Bridge Progressive Arts institute. (map)
Admission is $5

Dans Paris

Frantz Fanon: Sa Vie, Son Combat, Son Travail
No trailer available.

La Question Humaine

La Faute a Fidel

Bonus: Some Albert Ayler tracks at Last.fm

Dreams of Dust official preview coming soon!

Azazel Jacobs preview

2009-02-12T11:07:00.005-05:00

Double feature weekend at OFFscreen! This Sunday, we are bringing two films by director Azazel Jacobs:The GoodTimesKid (2005) and Momma's Man (2008). This writer and director may not be familiar to readers, but Azazel Jacobs has an interesting pedigree. He is the son of legendary avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs and even had a small acting role in one of OFFscreen's best-attended films of the last couple of years, Wristcutters: A Love Story.

Short on dialogue, but long on basically everything else The GoodTimesKid is OFFscreen's first romantic comedy of the season. It follows a pair of guys named Rodolfo and a girlfriend named Diaz through various existential situations. The legend around this film was that it was shot on some studio grade 35 millimeter stolen from a big Hollywood set. It was named a New York Times critics pick, and many reviewers have compared it to Godard's more romantic films and to the work of classic silent film actors Chaplin and Keaton.

The second film for this week is Jacob's latest feature, Momma's Man. It has been picked for both the Rotterdam and Sundance film festivals, and has some pretty huge one liners from the major critics. Manohla Dargis proclaims, "This is independent film defined!" Not to be outdone, Peter Travers pipes in with "An extraordinary movie in every way!" (Exclamation points mine) I actually thought the best part of the Dargis review was this little dig at the Apatow comedy factory: "But growing up Apatow style just means learning to divide your attention between your joystick and the little lady who loves you just the way you are, flab and all. Real life is harder, as is real art." Momma's Man features Jacobs' real-life artist parents in a touching portrait of a son who is forced to confront adulthood. Jacobs' character portrait is a complex case of regression

This will be an excellent weekend of films. Azazel Jacobs is an up-and-coming director whose work has been building a strong momentum. This double feature is a great opportunity to get to know a young director who we will definitely be hearing from in the future. If you can find an old copy of last week's Declaration, make sure to check out Taylor's interview with the director. Copies should be available at the screening, but for the moment their online archives are down. In the future you should be able to find this content here. He also has a great interview (not sure how long this link will work ) with Sam Lisceno, the art director of Red Bucket Films, whose work will be shown next weekend at OFFscreen.

The GoodTimesKid and Momma's Man will show at the Newcomb Theater for one night only Sunday, February 15 at 7 and 9:30 PM

As usual, previews after the jump.

The GoodTimesKid

Momma's Man

Azazel Jacobs Interview

And just for fun, I saw this on PBS over winter break and just re-discovered it. My favorite concert film ever.

Thoughts on "Shadow of the House"

2009-02-12T10:28:00.003-05:00

Last Monday the UVA studio art department held a screening of Shadow of the House: Photographer Abelardo Morell. I attended the screening and subsequent talk by the filmmaker, Allie Humenuk and the artists, Mr. Morell. The documentary was an in-depth look at both Mr. Morell's life and his artistic process, and showing the artist at work making his giant camera obscura photographs. It was interesting to see a filmmaker so closely involved with her subject; Ms. Humenek had been working on the documentary for seven years and was really able to capture Morell's family dynamic as well as his art. Continue after the jump for some of Morell's photographs if you have not already seen them.

Selected photographs by Abelardo Morell

Water Lilies Preview

2009-02-05T19:58:00.007-05:00

I hope you have been feeling the buzz around the buildup for this Sunday's film, Water Lilies (Naissance des Pieuvres). This debut film of French writer and director Céline Sciamma premiered under the category un certain regard at Cannes in 2007, and has since been released commercially both in France and the UK.

The film centers around a group of 15 year old girls living in a suburb of Paris. As summer progresses, we follow the sexual experiences of Marie and Floriane, partners on the same synchronized swimming team. What critics have noticed is how this film talks authentically about adolescence, not from the outsider perspective of an adult, but rather on its own terms. Sciamma accords her subject a rare level of respect and objectivity. We hope to see you Sunday evening for what should be a provocative film.

Water Lilies will show at the Newcomb Theater for one night only Sunday, February 8 at 7 and 9:30 PM

Preview and more critical reaction after the jump

Water Lilies trailer

The song credits can be found in the last post.

Official English-language website

Reviews:
Manohla Dargis from The New York Times

Andrew O’Hehir at Salon.com - reviewed alongside OFFscreen Alum Tuya's Marriage!

Lisa Nesselson in Variety

Video interview with director Céline Sciamma.

Another interview from Cineuropa

wandering around You Tube

2009-02-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

Look for the Water Lilies (Naissance des Pieuvres) flyers downtown and on grounds soon. Also for those of you who can't get the song from the trailer out of your head, it is called "Trahison" (treason) by the French electro artist Vitalic. It is online here. I have it on repeat.

Vitalic Myspace (wait a couple of seconds for your eyes to adjust.)

I was reading some French film sites today and came across the work of Mexican/Spanish/American director Amat Escalante. His two most recent films have featured at the Cannes festival, and his newest, Los Bastardos got a French release this week. The film is set in L.A., but ironically will probably not hit theaters here in the states. Look after the jump for some frightening trailers.

Los Bastardos

Sangre

As promised

2009-02-02T11:30:00.002-05:00

For those who were unable to see the short film Glory at See this weekend, here it is.

Yet another great weekend of films, and thanks for those who skipped out on the Super Bowl to see our feature. At Sea was hugely impressive. Hutton's photography allows the viewer to explore each image, and there are always things to discover. Look for a Water Lillies preview in the coming days.

Maritime Preview

2009-01-29T10:57:00.008-05:00

First Frownland. This film polarized audiences last weekend. Ugly closeups, difficult dialogue, and a cacophonous ending all contributed to a sometimes unenjoyable but unforgettable experience. For me, a college student graduating during an economic downturn, Frownland was a powerful expression of the anxiety of being over-educated with no apparently useful set of skills. I invite any readers who saw the film to chime in, as I heard many conflicting opinions coming out of the theater and during our discussion afterward.

This week brings an OFFscreen double feature, beginning with the short film "Glory at Sea." I don't want to write too much about it on the blog, because I think to demystify this film in writing would do it an injustice. Let's just call it a post-Katrina Orpheus and Eurydice. The film is available on YouTube, and I will post it here after our showing this weekend. That said, it won't be the same on the computer monitor, so come! "Glory at Sea" created a huge buzz at the South by Southwest film festival, with many touting it for the jury award. In the end it won the Wholphin Award for best short, and has done quite well on the American festival circuit.

Our feature presentation this weekend is Peter Hutton's At Sea, originally released in 2007. The film was included in the Museum of Modern Art's May 2008 retrospective on Hutton (scroll to the bottom for information on At Sea), and should provide some breathtaking images for OFFscreen viewers. The piece is a non-narrative story about the life and death of a container ship, combining horrific and sublime images of man's power to create and destroy. OFFscreen's last venture into similar visual waters was Our Daily Bread, Nikolaus Geyrhalter's unflinching vision of industrial food production. It should be of some interest that OFFscreen will present At Sea in 16mm format. Newcomb's theater is not equipped with a 16 mm projector, so we have found a portable projector to place inside the theater, allowing everyone to witness the physical, mechanical act of projection. As usual, "Glory at Sea" and At Sea will be shown at the Newcomb theater at 7 and 9:30 this Sunday, February 1.

For trailers and links please continue reading after the jump.

"Glory At Sea Trailer"

At Sea Links

Excellent article on Hutton from The Plugg.

Blogger reactions here, here, and here.

Venez nombreux!

Frownland Preview

2009-01-21T11:02:00.006-05:00

In her excellent review of Frownland, NYT critic Manhola Dargis calls the film "personal film-making at its most fierce." This being the case, it would be a good idea to know a little bit about writer and director Ronald Bronstein. On the film's website someone claims that "Ronald Bronstein has spent the last five years several floors below street level in projection booths all over nyc. There deprived of both sunlight and fresh circulating oxygen, he has screened and watched and average of 600 movies a year. This is his first time making one." Woah, sounds like an OFFscreen guy. The film follows main character Keith Sontag (Dore Mann)through a series of embarrassing, painful, and comic episodes to create a portrait that comes to life on film. Frownland has had succes, winning a Special Jury Award at SXSW in 2007 and a Gotham Award in 2007 for the Best Film Not Playing in a Theater Near You, although we like to think that we have solved that problem for UVA students and the Charlottesville community.

More links and info after the jump!

Frownland is not an easy film to watch. Roger Ebert, of all people, describes what we see in the film. He asks here "Now why would you want to see this film? Most readers of this review probably wouldn't. I'm writing for the rest of us. It is a rebirth of the need for expression that inspired the American independent movement in the first place, 50 years ago. It was written, directed and edited by Ronald Bronstein, who had a crew of one cameraman, one soundman and one grip. It has not been picked up for distribution; he is distributing it himself at shrines to outsider cinema." Like Paper Covers Rock, Frownland is a daring and engrossing film that simply cannot crack into larger distribution networks. OFFscreen is proud to present Frownland on Sunday, January 25 in the Newcomb theater at 7 and 9:30.

Links
New Yorker Review
IMDB
Trailer also available in last post.

First showing thoughts and Frownland trailer

2009-01-19T15:39:00.008-05:00

Thanks to everyone who came out for OFFscreen's first film of 2009. We hope you enjoyed the film and director Joe Maggio's talk as much as we did. If you have any thoughts about either the film or the director please feel free to post them below. Also, here is a trailer for next week's (Jan. 25) film Frownland. A more thorough preview to follow later in the week.

Pictures of the talk with director after the jump

Here is real-live indie director Joe Maggio at the Newcomb theater.

We are looking forward to hearing more about his latest project, Euphoria, soon. Filmed in one night, this is the second in his sequence of ten films each based on one of the ten commandments. A retake on Kieslowski's classic The Decalogue. Thanks to Bree for the pics.

Spring 2009 and Paper Covers Rock

2009-01-14T11:35:00.022-05:00

Greetings OFFscreen-ers,

The team put was hard at work over the holiday season and put together a mouth-watering lineup of films for the Spring semester. There are some big names (Rainer Fassbinder, Woody Allen, and David Lynch) as well as some up and comers in what looks to be a fantastic season.

It starts with a bang. This Sunday we are proud to present Joe Maggio's film Paper Covers Rock featuring a question and answer session with the director after the screening. Not to be missed!

The film itself is what Mr. Maggio calls an incidental film. The concept comes with only one rule: "that no creative decision be made based on future commercial considerations, such as securing distribution or protecting the film's budget." Although a pretty straightforward idea, anyone with knowledge of the independent film industry should know how demanding this maxim is. For DIYers and fans of independent cinema it is a real breath of fresh air, especially in today's economic situation.

Paper Covers Rock premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas last year. The film is a portrait of a young woman in turmoil. She loses custody of her daughter after attempting suicide and moves in with her older sister. Maggio explores their complex and often ambiguous relationship.

In an e-mail to OFFscreen Joe Maggio eloquently describes his work. "In the end, what I wanted to do was tell a simple story about someone who has fallen hard and is trying to find her way back to some kind of peace. I wanted to create characters who are complicated and unwittingly undermine themselves and those they love. I also wanted to explore a specific kind of redemption, not the typical movie kind where all of one's problems are solved and all of one's dreams come true, but the kind of redemption that, at best, delivers you all bruised and bloody to the next challenge, alive to fight another day." He continues "There are moments in Paper Covers Rock that for me, even after having watched the film thousands of times in the edit room, still rattle me, or make me really pissed off, or make me laugh. And I suppose that's what this film is to me, and what I hope it will be for the audience - a kind of intensification of life for 88 minutes." This has the makings of a great discussion, so if you are interested in what you heard make sure to stick around and continue this conversation with the director after the film.

Here is the review from Variety

So there you have it. We are looking forward to see both old and new faces at this screening, so round up the troops and come to the Newcomb Hall theater on Sunday, January 18 to get your life intensified. We at OFFscreen are convinced that this should be a fantastic first-showing and a great season.

Drained

2008-11-20T20:22:00.003-05:00

Brazilian cinema comes to the forefront as OFFscreen closes its fall season with Drained (Cheiro do Ralo). Winner of numerous awards in Latin America, Drained follows the often grotesque interaction of a pawnshop owner and his customers. The film is a fresh commentary on Brazil's problems new and old, as the country looks to finally fulfill its immense economic potential. The film is based on a novel by Lourenco Mutarelli, a Brazilian writer noted for his work in the underground comics scene. Director Heitor Dhalia compares Mutarelli to the American graphic novelist Robert Crumb (subject of his own interesting biopic, American Splendor) in this interview in The Filmlot. Mutarelli's website (in Portuguese) gives some nice insights into his style and the variety of his work.

Trailer

We hope to see you Sunday evening, and thanks to everyone who came out for a great semester.

Also, make sure to check out the last film in the Abderrahmne Sissako retrospective this Monday.

The Decay of Fiction

2008-10-21T17:16:00.015-04:00

Is there an avant-garde cinema in Southern California, the belly of the Hollywood machine? Pat O'neill, the director of "The Decay of Fiction" proves that the answer is "yes!" An experimental film that uses heavy noir elements, centered around a mythic hotel, this detective story brings ghosts and detectives together, distancing us through its dialogue and time-lapse photography.

If you are not the experimental type, fear not. Stephen Holden's New York Times review says, If there were more experimental films as entertaining as “The Decay of Fiction,” the notion of a thriving avant-garde cinema might not be so intimidating to the moviegoing public."

"The Decay of Fiction" will be showing at OFFscreen on Sunday, October 26 at 7 and 9:30 at the Newcomb Hall theater.

Also this week: The Bridge Progressive Arts Institute is having two screenings. For more information please click here .
To get you in the mood for these two films, here is a short teaser from Cartune Exprez, showing at the Bridge this Friday evening.

My Winnipeg

2008-10-07T11:41:00.009-04:00

After a break for UVA’s reading weekend, OFFscreen will be coming back on October 19^th with acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg. This is OFFscreen’s second Maddin showing in as many years (who could forget last year's stylish Brand Upon the Brain?). My Winnipeg is a personal journey, a "docu-fantasia" to use Maddin's own term that explores his hometown and upbringing with a sometimes disturbing, sometimes humorous psychological depth. The film has done very well on the festival circuit, winning the award for best Canadian film at the Toronto Film Festival and also played at this year's Berlin and Tribeca festivals. Madden was particularly pleased at the film's European journey, saying “My dream is to show this film at the Berlin Film Festival and have hundreds of Germans watching it as a travelogue of Winnipeg.” It is certainly quite a ways from Berlin to Winnipeg, but if there is anyone who can make the capital of Manitoba relevant besides Wayne Gretzky it is Guy Maddin.

Check out this interview where Maddin talks My Winnipeg (and David Lynch).

Also for those who haven't seen the trailer, here it is.

OFFScreen Schedule Fall 2008

2008-08-28T17:48:00.004-04:00

The Foot Fist Way

August 31st- 7:00 and 9:30- 85 minutes

Dir. Jody Hill- USA 2006

Jody Hill’s film debut stars Danny McBride as Fred Simmons, a bullying, narcissistic tae kwon do instructor who berates the students at his small strip-mall dojo. When Fred learns that his spandex-loving wife, Suzie, has been cheating on him, he decides to go on a journey in order to meet his Tae Kwon Do idol Chuck “The Truck” Taylor. Through Fred Simmons, Danny McBride has succeeded in creating a character “at once engaging and repulsive, that it's hard not to keep watching even while cringing.” (Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times)

2008-08-28T17:46:00.003-04:00

Full Battle Rattle

September 7th- 7:00 and 9:30- 85 minutes

Dir. Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss- USA 2008

The town of Medina Wasl is the focus of this documentary by Tom Garber and Jesse Moss. Medina Wasl is a small desert village with a mixed Sunni/Shiite population that has just been occupied by American forces. What is unusual about Medina Wasl is that it’s not located in Iraq, but California’s Mojave Desert. Its “citizens” are Iraq-Americans, and every explosion, insurgency and sneak attack against the American forces is orchestrated by simulation planners. “If Full Battle Rattle begins as surreal, almost goofball farce, with a bunch of beefy guys playing a fancy-dress version of laser tag in the desert -- aided by a bunch of rented Iraqis who'd rather be watching TV in suburbia -- it ends on an ambiguous and haunting note, much closer to tragedy.” (Andrew O’ Hehir, Salon).

2008-08-28T17:43:00.001-04:00

Wonderful Town
September 14th- 7:00 and 9:30- 92 minutes
Dir. Aditya Assarat- Thailand 2008

Director Aditya Assarat’s second feature length film follows Na, a woman who owns a small hotel in the city of Takua Pa, in southern Thailand. Na’s seaside hotel is still recovering from theTsunami that decimated the coast of Thailand and killed several thousand citizens in Takua Pa. Na’s lone guest at her hotel is Ton, an architect rebuilding a tsunami-damaged shore resort. Soon Na and Ton begin a relationship, angering Na’s brother Wit. Through out the film Assarat sustains “command as he guides his material into darker waters. It’s no small feat to pull off as sweet and sensitive a romance as that between Na and Ton, and something rarer yet to suffuse such affections into a poem of wounded landscape.” (Nathan Lee, The New York Times)

2008-08-28T17:41:00.001-04:00

Forever

September 21st- 7:00 and 9:30- 95 minutes

Dir. Heddy Honigmann- USA 2008

Dutch film maker Heddy Honigmann’s latest documentary fixes on Paris’ Pere-Lachaise cemetery, the world’s largest and most mythologized cemetery. Honigmann focuses on the people who have forged an intimate relationship with the Pere-Lachaise’s famous denizens. She focuses on devotees ranging from an Iranian cab driver who maintains a connection to his homeland and his culture via interred writer Sadegh Hedayat, and an illustrator who is inspired by Proust’s tomb to illustrate a graphic novel entitled “Remembrance of Things Past.” In the end; “Forever" is a poetic meditation on death, yeah, but it's also a joyful experience. It makes you feel profoundly grateful to be alive.” (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon)

2008-08-28T17:40:00.001-04:00

Shotgun Stories
September 28th- 7:00 and 9:30- 92 minutes
Dir. Jeff Nichols- USA 2008

Son, Boy and Kid Hayes are three brothers who are forced, after the death of their father, to come to terms with their difficult upbringing. Set in rural and desolate Arkansas, the film explores the relationship between the Hayes family while tracking the transformation of Son, Boy and Kid’s father from an abusive patriarch to an enlightened practitioner of the Christian faith, and documenting the struggles of each boy in his formative years. “The film is a here-and-now American potboiler and a stripped-down parable that can be appreciated by any culture.” (Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times)

2008-08-28T17:30:00.001-04:00

Tuya's Marriage
October 5th- 7:00 and 9:30 PM- 86 minutes
Dir. Ouanan Wang- China 2007

In the harsh hinterlands of Mongolia, desertification is plaguing the land and those whom it sustains. Tuya and her husband Bater are one such couple, struggling each day with the trials caused by the fast-disappearing landscape and the complications that arise from Bater’s paralysis. Forced to find a better life for herself and her family, Tuya must seek a new husband to provide for her and her loved ones. “Mr. Wang and his screenwriting collaborator, Lu Wei (“Farewell My Concubine”), portray a world that, apart from its hardship, is thoroughly recognizable in its human complexity. Its characters are motivated by the same needs for companionship and material well-being and the same demons — greed, lust, jealousy and despair — that drive everybody.” (Stephen Holden, New York Times)

2008-08-28T17:28:00.001-04:00

My Winnipeg
Sponsored by The Declaration
October 19th-7:00 and 9:30PM- 80 minutes
Dir. Guy Maddin- Canada 2007

Pitching the slogan “the truth is relative,” Guy Maddin gives us an inside look into his past, and how he would have liked to change it. In his self-proclaimed “docu-fantasia,” we are led through the winding streets and tangled lives of Winnipeg, Manitoba, viewing the town through the humorous, bizarre, or the sometimes excruciatingly mundane lens of the director. “The prismatic 80-minute film is a visual translation of a voluptuously nostalgic state of Maddinesque Winnipeg-itude.” (Lisa Schwarzbaum, Enterntainment Weekly)

2008-08-28T17:25:00.002-04:00

Decay of Fiction
October 26th- 7:00 and 9:30 PM- 73 minutes
Dir. Pat O'Neil- USA 2006

The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles serves as the backdrop of Pat O’Neill’s artfully-crafted film. Shot in the classic Hollywood style, the movie follows various mysterious characters as they move through the haunted halls of the hotel, exploring along the way the secrets that are held within. “While depicting the relentless passage of time with a power that few other films have captured, ‘The Decay of Fiction’ sustains a mood of almost gothic sadness.” (Stephen Holden, New York Times)

2008-08-28T17:23:00.002-04:00

The Exiles
(In association with the Virginia Film Festival)
November 2th-7:00 and 9:30 PM- 72 minutes
Dir. Kent Mackenzie-USA 1961

Unseen by the public for almost 50 years, Kent Mackenzie's bleak look on a community in collapse is a rare and unforgettable film. Through one night in the burnt-out Native American Community of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, a group of young Indians look for trouble and a good time. Part immigrant story, part essay on urban decay, Exiles is a rare example of a subject playing itself. Shot with a hard neo-realist look, and jumping with the wild music of the times, the 1962 cult favorite "that's pure foot-to-pedal exhilaration (Jim Ridley, The Village Voice)."

2008-08-28T17:20:00.004-04:00

Trumbo
November 9th-7:00 and 9:30 PM- 96 minutes
Dir. Peter Askin- USA 2007

In 1950, in the heat of the Red Scare, ten members of Hollywood's elite were called before congress to testify. Among them was Dalton Trumbo. Originally known for his controversial screenplays, Trumbo became even more famous when he refused to give evidence, and was eventually blacklisted from the film industry. Set in nation gone mad, Peter Askin's documentary examines not only the infamous writer, but the entire mood and fear of the era, and how strongly this man's stand for the voice of the individual resonates today.

2008-08-28T17:18:00.001-04:00

Woodpecker
November 16th-7:00 and 9:30-87 minutes
Dir. Alex Karpovsky-USA 2008

In the town of Brinkley, Arkansas, tensions and excitement boil over with the sudden appearance of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a rare species of bird assumed to be extinct. Soon, the community of bird-enthusiasts, environmentalists, hunters, and profiteers is turned upside-down with the arrival of this extraordinary species. Enter Johnny and Wes, a would-be bird-watcher and his uninterested poet friend. Together, the two scour the hillsides, refusing to leave before at least catching a glimpse, all while musing on the nature of love, death, life, and birds. . Told in the mocumentary-style of such hits as Best in Show and A Mighty Wind, the newest film by Alex Karpovsky "soars above the bulk of low-budget Amer-indie farces, earning a beakful of yuks. (Robert Nelson, Variety)."

2008-08-28T17:14:00.002-04:00

Drained:

November 23rd- 7:00 and 9:30 PM-112 minutes

Director Heitor Dahalia-Brail 2006

Trapped in the office of his seedy Rio De Janeiro pawnshop, Lourenco aspires to live a more romantic life, while cruelly manipulating the shop's desperate patrons. Desperate for contact, yet hopelessly disconnected with the world around him, his life becomes dominated with two obsessions: the well-shaped rear of a local waitress and the growing smell from his back-room toilet. As sewage and seduction run wild, Lourenco breaks down as he fights between suppressing his raging fetishes or embracing them. Nominated for Sundance's Grand Jury Prize, Drained is a disgusting and enthralling take on film noir that provides a "scatological piece of theater of the absurd" that's never less than engaging (Robert Koehlker, Variety).

APAHM FILM SERIES

2008-04-06T16:23:00.001-04:00

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, films from all over Asia will be shown throughout the month of April. They are mostly free, with the exception of OFFscreen's co-sponsored film, Nanking, which will be $3 as usual.

Bunty Aur Babli, dir. Shaad Ali
April 4 - 6pm - Wilson 402
Hosted by Indian Student Assn.

Mountain Patrol, dir. Chuan Lu
April 10 - 7pm - Ruffner G004A
Hosted by Chinese Student Assn.

Nanking*, dir. Billy Guttentag & Dan Sturman
April 13 - 7pm & 9:30pm - Newcomb Theater
Hosted by OFFscreen
*Tickets $3

Beautiful Boxer, dir. Ekachai Uekrongtham
April 15 - 7pm - Ruffner G004A
Hosted by Thai Student Assn.

Warrior, dir. Sung-Su Kim
April 17 - 7pm - Ruffner G004A
Hosted by Korean Student Assn.

Imelda, dir. Ramona S. Diaz
April 21 - 7pm - Gilmer 130
Hosted by Organization of Young Filipino-Americans

Journey from the Fall, dir. Ham Tran
April 23 - 7:30pm - Chemistry 402
Hosted by Vietnamese Student Assn.
*****Special Guest Speaker: Director Ham Tran*****

Infernal Affairs, dir. Wai-Keung Lau
April 28 - 6pm - Minor 125
Hosted by Hong Kong Student Assn.

OFFscreen Presents: DIVA

2008-04-06T16:20:00.002-04:00

Diva
Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - France, 1981- 123 min.
Sunday, April 6 - 7:00 & 9:30 PM

Jules, a bohemian courier in Paris, is obsessed with two things: opera and the elusive Cynthia, an American soprano who refuses to record her mellifluous voice. Desperate to hear more of her, Jules secretly tapes one of her live performances. But when the tape is switched with a police recording of a white-slavery ring, Jules becomes entangled in a chase stretching throughout Paris's vast, color-saturated landscape. Utilizing the romping stylistics of the French (New) New Wave, Diva is a playful experiment in genre as well as a gripping tale of suspense. "Here is a director taking audacious chances, doing wild and unpredictable things with his camera and actors, just to celebrate moviemaking." (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)

Click here to read Ebert's full review.

Hannah Takes the Stairs + OFFscreen Award

2008-03-11T14:45:00.004-04:00

OFFscreen Presents
Hannah Takes the Stairs
Featuring our very special guest, DIR. JOE SWANBERG
Sunday, March 16 - 7:00 & 9:30 PM - 83 min.
Dir. Joe Swanberg - USA, 2007

There will be a Q+A session with JOE SWANBERG following the 7:00 PM Screening.

Writer-director Joe Swanberg's microbudget feature is a big leap forward in lo-fi, do-it-yourself filmmaking. Shooting digitally and taking a hands-on approach with his actors, Swanberg prefers improvised, fleeting moments rather than sweeping dramatic revelations. The film follows Hannah, a recent graduate, through a series of quick summer relationships as the characters attempt to navigate the post-college abyss. Andrew Bujalski, director of Mutual Appreciation, and Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair) play two objects of her roaming affection. As endearingly bumbling and aimless as its characters, Hannah is a prime example of the "mumblecore" movement in film, and an "ode to love in the time of cultural distraction." (David Fear, Time Out New York)

Click here to check out the complete review by David Fear.

Also be sure to pick up a copy of the Declaration for an interview with Joe Swanberg by our own Joe Mier. Or you can read it here.

Finally, I am very proud to announce that OFFscreen was given the award for being the Most Outstanding CIO for the 2007-2008 year. We are all very excited about this award, and are thankful for everyone who has been coming out to the films and supporting us.

Berlinale Film Festival

2008-03-11T14:18:00.005-04:00

One of OFFscreen's members, Alex, is currently abroad and was lucky enough to check out the Berlinale Film Festival. Here is his update:

As an OFFscreen member studying in Europe, it can be difficult to miss all of the interesting films shown throughout the semester. Fortunately, I was able to attend the end of the 58th Berlin Film Festival. The Festival ran from February 7th through the 17th.

I arrived in Berlin on the 16th and was planning on seeing the new Michel Gondry comedy Be Kind Rewind. Unfortunately when I got to the box office I was informed that the screening was "only for the right sort of people." I am assuming (hoping) that this meant it was some sort of awards ceremony.

Luckily I was able to make it to the final showing at the Festival, which was the British comedy Happy-Go-Lucky. The film centered around a London schoolteacher named Poppy played by Sally Hawkins, who put in an immense performance and was awarded with the best actress award at the festival. I thought the best moments of the film came through the more peripheral characters including a neurotic driving instructor and the an intense Salsa teacher.

The real highlight of the experience was the atmosphere. The festival is a very big deal in the city, and the official messenger bags are a hot item. I saw one on every subway (u-bahn) ride I took. The film was shown in the prestigious Berlinale Palaste, the showpiece theater for the entire festival. It is actually only a movie theater for two weeks out of the year, as it normally houses large audiences for musicals. The red carpet outside and caped ushers inside definitely made for an intense viewing
experience.

Going to the Berlinale made me think of how lucky the Charlottesville viewers are to be able to experience films of a similar quality, which are normally reserved for big international festivals. Enjoy the rest of the season!

Francophone - Saturday

2008-02-16T10:32:00.005-05:00

The 3rd Annual Francophone Film Festival continues today with two FREE films.

Au-delà de la haine
Beyond Hatred (2005)
5:00pm, Wilson 402 Auditorium - FREE
Dir: Olivier Meyrou, 86 min.
Speaker: Carlos Fagundo, French Department
Twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu, openly homosexual, was murdered on the night of September 13, 2002 in a park in Reims, France by three skinheads. Olivier Meyrou’s camera follows François’ parents, sisters and brothers as each member tries to deal with his or her grief. In the course of filming, the family changes. The grief is gradually replaced by a desire to understand the murderers, who come from socially and culturally underprivileged families. The young murderers were exploited by right-wing radical groups. As a filmmaker, Meyrou did not want to make a documentary about homophobia, but a universal film about tolerance and intolerance. He arrived in Reims before the skinheads’ trial in order to meet the attorneys for both parties, but especially François’ family. His tact and sensitivity lead them to accept him. After a few months Meyrou brought his camera along. Soon, all those involved forgot that the camera was there and spoke with great dignity and natural authority, and without the least tendency to pathos.

Le plafond de verre
The Glass Ceiling (2004)
7:30pm, Wilson 402 Auditorium
Dir: Yamina Benguigui, 52 min.
Speaker: Majida Bargach, French Department
“The Glass Ceiling” is an American sociological expression referring to the invisible, impalpable barrier that prevents women from reaching the same level as men in their careers. Using this metaphor, Yamina Benguigui examines the integration of immigrants in the workplace. For her, the comparison between immigrants and women is relevant because they face the same challenges: the issue is not necessarily about finding work, but about being hired for positions of responsibility that correspond to their educational backgrounds. The film provides deeply moving testimonies of qualified students who, because of their obviously foreign last names, were not called back for job interviews. Some chose to fight for jobs for which they are qualified, others gave up and accepted positions with less or no responsibilities. Yamina Benguigui also interviews experts who discuss the reasons behind discrimination, which include France’s colonial past as well as deeply entrenched corporate practices, and the difficulty that individuals of foreign origins face.

Children Left Behind

2008-02-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

UNICEF Awarded "Children Left Behind" in Rural China Documentary Screening
-"They have parents, but they live very lonely lives. They eat alone, they
play alone."

Producer: Catherine Lee Yuk San (Hong Kong)

"Children Left Behind", a 30-minute documentary, chronicles the lives of
children who are "left behind" in the villages of rural China, when their
parents migrate to urban areas in search of work. As part of China's
economic boom, it is estimated that over 120 million rural migrants have
moved to urban areas to work in factories and construction. A new phenomenon
in China, the number of children "left behind" is now estimated to be over
22 million. Although it is their basic right to have their parent's love,
concern and care, in reality you can see that they live like an orphan. (For
more info, visit http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china_41650.html)
After the screening, Dream Corps will present an introduction about
education and community building projects in rural China. An interactive
question and answer session will follow, with information on how you can get
involved with our current projects.
Join us to learn a new perspective of China. FREE THAI TEA will be provided!

When: Feb 7th, Thursday 7:00-8:00pm
Where: Clark 108
Website: http://www.student.virginia.edu/~dcuva
Sponsors: Americans for Informed Democracy, Mainland Student Network

Terror's Advocate

2008-02-03T11:56:00.001-05:00

OFFscreen Presents
Terror's Advocate
Dir. Barbet Schroeder - France, 2007 - 135 min.
Sunday, February 3 - 7:00 & 9:45 PM

Barbet Schroeder attempts to illuminate the mystery behind the enigmatic Jacques Vergès, the controversial lawyer and former Free French Forces guerrilla fighter who has defended unpopular political figures and war criminals. Centered around interviews with Vergès, his colleagues, clients and comrades, the documentary seeks to uncover a man who took pride in his unparalleled tactics in the fields of law and politics. Schroeder explores and questions the history of blind terrorism and reaches towards shocking revelations that expose long-hidden histories. "It is one of the most engaging, morally unsettling political thrillers in quite some time, with the extra advantage of being true." (A. O. Scott, New York Times)

Click here to read A.O Scott's Full Review.

Click here to visit the official site of the film and check out the trailer.

Film series at UVa

2008-02-03T11:50:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, this film series just got started up last Thursday. If you are interested in any of these films on Globalization you should definitely check them out.

Globalization and Education
An International Film Series for the
Curry/UVA Community

When: Thursdays 5-7pm

Where: (in the auditorium in Ruffner Hall) RFN G004C

We've compiled a documentary film series of cutting edge, social
justice films that we hope will inspire, educate and engage the entire
UVA community to discuss and think more broadly about global issues in
education. Most of the films have been selected from various
international film festivals and focus on globalization, and we've
identified those that look specifically at global influences on
education and other social sectors. Offering an alternative view to
understanding globalization in purely economic terms, the film series
and discussions will serve as an important forum for thinking about
and acting on global concerns, reminding us that a different
trajectory is not only possible but imperative. We hope you'll be able
to join us!

Each of the films runs approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours and will be
followed by a facilitated discussion (sometimes with the film actors,
directors or faculty from the particular country or region ? see
details in the flier!). We will kick off the series this Thursday
night (1/31) with a film about education and the colonial system in
Cameroon. We are fortunate to have Caroline Berinyuy, a Social
Foundations doctoral student who is from Cameroon and has been
teaching there for the past 20 years to lead off the discussion.

Film topics and dates

Feb. 7 Life and Debt (Jamaica, Stephanie Black, 1 hour 26 min)
(***ROOM CHANGE ?RFN 175): Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning
non-fiction text "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a
woven tapestry of sequences ... all » focusing on the stories of
individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of
day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign
economic agendas.

February 14: Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa (South
Africa, Molly Blank, 1 hour) Chronicles the lives of four young people
in Nyanga township, just outside Cape Town, as they work towards their
crucial final high school exams, the Matric. While this is the new
South Africa, many vestiges of apartheid remain ? poverty is
entrenched, many students live in shacks, and families have been
dramatically changed by the impact of HIV-AIDS.

February 28: The Other Europe (58min) Immigration is as hot button an
issue across Europe as it is here. The film is a penetrating study of
the economics and politics behind the immigration debate with
revealing parallels to our own country.

Mar. 13: Granito de Arena (Grains of Sand) (Mexico, 2 hours) For
over 20 years, global economic forces have been dismantling public
education in Mexico, but always in the constant shadow of popular
resistance...Granito de Arena is the story of that resistance ? the
story of hundreds of thousands of public schoolteachers whose
grassroots, non-violent movement took Mexico by surprise. Discussion
with David Edwards, International Initiatives at the NEA.

March 27: Saudi Solutions (Saudi Arabia,77 min) Filmmaker Bregtje van
der Haak is the first Western filmmaker ever granted permission to
film the lives of Saudi women. She profiles several women with
professional careers--including a journalist, a doctor, a
photographer, a television newsreader, a university professor and the
nation's first female airplane pilot--and asks them to explain what it
means to be a modern woman in a fundamentalist Islamic society.

April 10: Sand and Sorrow (Sudan, Freedman, 93 minutes) Offered
exclusive and unparalleled access to the situation on the ground
inside Darfur, Peabody award-winning filmmaker, Paul Freedman ("Rwanda
- Do Scars Ever Fade?"), joins a contingent of African Union
peacekeeping forces in Darfur while a tragic and disturbing chapter in
human history unfolds. Discussion with the Filmmaker Paul Freedman and
human rights activist and author of many books on Darfur, John
Prendergast.

April 17: Secret Ballot (Iran, 100min) A film about democracy and
social change in Iran explored through the lives of a soldier and a
young woman who are tasked with collecting votes throughout the
country. Followed by a discussion with the film's leading actor,
Nassim Dezfooli, about the film, girls' education and the grass-roots
democracy movement in Iran.

April 24: Two films: New Rulers of the World (53 minutes) Journalist
John Pilger investigates the realities of globalization by taking a
close look at TNCs in Indonesia (companies such as GAP, Levis, Nike,
Rebock) and Afro@Digital (Congo/France/ Nigeria, 52 minutes) begins
with a provocative question: How can Africa escape the logic of
poverty and unequal development by making sure that digital technology
doesn't pass it by, become an agent of neo-colonialism or marginalize
it still further?

OFFScreen gets Press

2008-02-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

So many of you may have seen our articles in both the Declaration and in the Tableau portion of the Cav Daily, but if you didn't here they are:

Cav Daily, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008: HERE

The Declaration, Jan. 24, 2008: HERE

See you Sunday for Terror's Advocate.

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With

2008-01-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

Tonight marks the big premier of the OFFScreen Spring Season.
Come join us for

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
Dir. Jeff Garlin - USA, 2006 - 80 min.
Sunday, January 27
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Tickets $3

Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin writes, directs, and stars in this offbeat romantic comedy that is a poignant and double-edged look at an over-the-hill actor in search of a companion. James only really wanted three things in life: someone to love him, a great part, and to lose weight. Unfortunately, he is 0 for 3. His girlfriend dumps him, he loses the title role in a remake of Paddy Chayefsky's Marty to teen idol Aaron Carter, and he sneaks out of an Overeaters Anonymous meeting only to wind up at an ice cream parlor. There, he meets an employee named Beth (Sarah Silverman), who is animated and whimsical, with plenty of issues of her own. "Idiosyncratic and personal, [Cheese] is a comedy that could only have come from the distinctive mind of its very talented creator." (Jim Hemphill, Reel.com)

Click here to read the complete review from Jim Hemphill on Reel.com.

Click here to check out the trailer and official film website.

Additionally, Season passes for OFFScreen will be available for sale in the lobby. Passes for new members are $26, and passes for returning members $20.

Spring 2008 Schedule Finalized

2008-01-21T12:21:00.000-05:00

The Spring 2008 OFFScreen schedule has been finalized:

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
Sunday, January 27th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 80 minutes
Dir. Jeff Garlin / USA, 2006

Terror's Advocate
Sunday, February 3rd / 7:00 & 9:45 pm / 135 minutes
Dir. Barbet Schroeder / France, 2007

Les Bonnes Femmes
Sunday, February 10th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 100 minutes
Dir. Claude Chabrol / France/Italy, 1960

Comedy of Power with the Francophone Film Festival
Sunday, February 17th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 110 minutes
Dir. Claude Chabrol / Germany/France, 2006

Khadak
Sunday, February 24th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 104 minutes
Dir. Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth / Belgium, 2006

Hannah Takes the Stairs
Sunday, March 16th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 83 minutes
Dir. Joe Swanberg / USA, 2007

Lake of Fire
Sunday, March 23rd / 7:00 & 9:45 pm / 152 minutes
Dir. Tony Kaye / USA, 2006

Jellyfish (Special Advance Screening)
With short film The Women's Kingdom
Sunday, March 30th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 100 minutes (total running time)
Jellyfish: Dir. Shira Geffen & Etgar Keret / France/Israel, 2007 / 78 minutes
The Women's Kingdom: Dir. Xiaoli Zhou / China/USA, 2006 / 22 minutes

Diva
Sunday, April 6th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 123 minutes
Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix / France, 1981

Nanking
Sunday, April 13th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 88 minutes
Dir. Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman / USA, 2007

The Violin
Sunday, April 20th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 98 minutes
Dir. Francisco Vargas / Mexico, 2005

Chop Shop
Sunday, April 27th / 7:00 & 9:30 pm / 84 minutes
Dir. Ramin Bahrani / USA, 2007

End of Fall Season, Keep on the look out for the SPRING!

2007-12-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Hey all, we have come to the end of the Fall 2007 OFFScreen Season, closing out with a bang.

This semester has been one of the organization's most successful since its formation, additionally, we have seen some record breaking turn out for films such as Wristcutters: a Love Story, Manufactured Landscapes, and Paprika.

If you would like to be added to our email list to receive weekly reminder emails, with tidbits of information for each week's events, please shoot us an email as offscreen@virginia.edu and we will get you added to the list pronto.

Thanks so much for all the support! We look forward to providing you with new films in January.

Pierrot le Fou trailer

2007-11-18T10:47:00.001-05:00

Here's the trailer we've shown in the theater (In case you missed it). Enjoy!

Pierrot le Fou

2007-11-17T18:39:00.000-05:00

OFFScreen Presents
Pierrot le Fou
A film by Jean-Luc Godard - France/Italy, 1965- 110 min.
Sunday, November 18
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Newcomb Hall Theater
Tickets $3

At turns a cross-country crime movie, a misogynist romance, a critique of the Vietnam war, and a meditation on the grammar of cinema, Pierrot le Fou marks a turning point in the career of Jean-Luc Godard. Combining the pop culture-laden playfulness of his early period with the militant political crusade of his works to follow, this film showcases the director's manic talents in an approachable format. As Ferdinand (Jean-Paul Belmondo) abandons his wife to go on the lam with the babysitter (Anna Karina), it becomes clear that the plot serves mainly as a canvas for Godard's basic cinematic delights: bold splashes of saturated color, the feminine form, American cars, shifts in style and narrative, and sneakily complex editing and camerawork. Even after forty years, the film's "power to overwhelm and offend is undiminished." (Anthony Lane, The New Yorker)

Click here to read Anthony Lane's full review.

Additionally, this is the second and final installment in our Jean-Luc Godard Director's Series. Ari Blatt from the French Department will be present after the 7pm screening to lead a short discussion on the film and also the more general scope of Jean-Luc Godard's work.

Mount Eerie / Woelv Show Cancelled

2007-11-13T15:33:00.000-05:00

Just Announced:
The Mt. Eerie / Woelv show sponsored by Tyrannosaurus Rock that was going to be tonight in the Chapel has been cancelled. Spread the word.

The Unforeseen: Human Rights Watch

2007-11-13T15:20:00.001-05:00

OFFScreen and the Human Rights Watch Travelling Film Festival Present
THE UNFORESEEN
A film by Laura Dunn
Wednesday Nov. 14th, 7pm
Newcomb Hall Theater
93 Mins.
FREE

The Unforeseen, executive produced by Terrence Malick, follows the career of Gary Bradley, an ambitious west Texas farm boy who went to Austin and became one of the state's most powerful real estate developers in the boomtown growth era of the 1970s. When one of his developments threatened a local treasure, "Barton Springs," the community fought back and the subdivision became a lightning rod for environmental activism. The Unforeseen shows the negotiation between the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream in its debates over land, economics, property rights, and the public good.

Stay around after the film tomorrow night to take part in a discussion with Prof. Karen Firehock.

Also:
Other films left in the Film Festival include:
Tuesday, November 13 | Cabell 345 | 7pm
A Lesson in Belarusian
Presented by Amnesty International

Thursday, November 15 | Maury 209 | 8pm
Suffering and Smiling
Presented by the Organization of African Students

A Woman is a Woman: Part I in the Godard Director's Series

2007-11-08T00:44:00.001-05:00

OFFScreen Presents
A Woman is a Woman (Une Femme est Une Femme)
a film by Jean-Luc Godard
Italy/France, 1961 - 84 min.
Sunday, November 11
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Newcomb Hall Theater
Tickets $3

Jean-Luc Godard's third feature is the virtuosic director's sardonic take on a (neorealist) movie musical. Subverting and expanding the genre, JLG and longtime cinematographer Raoul Coutard fill the widescreen frame with bold colors and postmodern axioms in giant lettering. Youthfully playful and formally experimental, the film follows Parisian stripper Angela, played by Anna Karina (Mrs. Godard at the time). Bored with her career of disrobing, Angela decides she wants a baby in the next 24 hours. Her boyfriend is less enthusiastic, so Angela starts eyeing his best friend, played by Jean-Paul Belmondo. Cinematic in-jokes and spur of the moment musical numbers create a smartly eccentric, smirkingly Godardian "celebration of romance, sentiment, musical comedy, color film, the city of Paris, and the abundant charms of Ms. Karina." (A.O. Scott, New York Times)

Click here to read A.O. Scott's full review.

Also, be sure to join us the following week for a discussion of Godard's work with Ari Blatt, an Assistant Professor in the French Dept, following the 7pm screening of Pierrot le Fou!

check back for more details and events.

VA Film Festival! - Brand Upon the Brain!

2007-11-02T10:21:00.001-04:00

It is day TWO of the Virginia Film Festival. There were tons of people out to see Killer of Sheep with Charles Burnett last night, and I know a lot of people saw Honeydripper and Ghosts.

Tonight is My Brother's Wedding with Charles Burnett , Persepolis by Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, The Savages with writer/director Tamara Jenkins and David Edelstein, and many many more. Best of all is GREY GARDENS! (free midnight showing at Gravity Lounge! BE THERE!)

Last in the festival but certainly not least,
BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!

Dir. Guy Maddin - USA/Canada, 2006
Sunday, November 4 - 7:00 & 9:30 PM - 95 min.
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT DOOR ONLY, NOT DOWNTOWN AT THE REGAL 6!!!

Canadian filmmaker and cinephile Guy Maddin once again deconstructs and reinvents the history of silent film in this quasi-autobiographical, expressionist dream set in a corrupt orphanage run by Maddin’s parents. A house painter named Guy, (Maddin’s fictional version of himself) travels home to visit his past and his family, constantly travelling between his childhood and the present. While Guy reconciles his muddled memories with what he sees before him, a harp-playing teenage detective duo notices strange circular wounds on the necks of the orphans cared for by Guy’s parents. Combining silent-era intertitles and narration by Isabella Rossellini, the film uses frenzied editing and hauntingly flourished over-acting to create “a feverishly imaginative Freudian vampire film.” (Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer)

Click here to check out the official site!

Human Rights Watch Update!

2007-10-28T11:52:00.000-04:00

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES

2007-10-23T16:52:00.000-04:00

OFFScreen Presents

Manufactured Landscapes
A Film by Jennifer Baichwal
featuring the photographic work of Ed Burtnysky

Manufactured Landscapes is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s industrial materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an impossibly immense factory floor, the filmmakers extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.

Sunday, October 28
Newcomb Hall Theater
7:00 & 9:30 PM - 80 min.
Tickets $3

Join us after the 7:00 PM screening for a discussion of the film, Burtynsky's work, and the current state of the industrial impact in China. The discussion will be led by Beth Meyer, and associate professor in the landscape architecture department in the architecture school.

Click here to visit the official site for the trailer.

Click here for more stunning images.

I can't get enough so I'm going to include a few extras here:

Intense.

Lady Chatterley

2007-10-20T13:41:00.001-04:00

OFFScreen Presents
Lady Chatterley
Dir. Pascale Ferran - Belgium/France/UK, 2004 - 168 mins

Sunday October 21st
Newcomb Hall Theater
7:00 PM ONLY
Tickets $3

Director Pascele Ferran’s adaptation of the infamous novel is taken from the lesser known, second version of D.H. Lawrence’s work. The story presents an upper-class lieutenant’s wife whose sexual frustration with her impotent husband leads her to an affair with a gamekeeper. The progression of the affair highlights the complexity of sex and love, while representing Lawrence’s belief in sexuality as a transformative experience. Under Ferran’s direction, the film is frankly sensuous, capturing a passion that is both innocent and subversive – one that transcends, without ever ignoring, class and social conventions. “To see this difficult love believably take root and flower is a tribute to the power of passion, not only the passion between lovers but the kind that animates filmmakers as well.” (Kenneth Turan, LA Times)

Click here to read Kenneth Turan's full review.

Click here to visit the official site and to view the trailer.

Human Rights Watch Film Festival

2007-10-18T16:08:00.001-04:00

OFFScreen is proud to announce that it will be screening a film with the Human Rights Watch Film Festival next month, Nov. 5-15 here at UVa.

The Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival is a collection of films from the London and New York Human Rights Watch Film Festivals and sets out with the hope that these documentaries and feature films will stimulate passionate conversations about human rights and inspire new generations of human rights activists.

In collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Human Rights Film Festival has been displaying controversial viewpoints since 1994.

The Unforeseen
Produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick
Directed by Laura Dunn

Laura Dunn’s beautifully crafted documentary, (Executive Producers Terrence Malick and Robert Redford), The Unforeseen, follows the career of Gary Bradley, an ambitious west Texas farm boy who went to Austin and became one of the state’s most powerful real estate developers, capitalizing on Austin’s boomtown growth beginning in the 1970s. At the peak of his powers, Bradley transformed 4000 acres of pristine Hill Country into one of the state's largest and fastest-selling subdivisions. When the development threatened a local treasure, “Barton Springs”—a natural spring-fed swimming hole—the community fought back and the subdivision became a lightning rod for environmental activism of the kind that flourished under Governor Ann Richards. However, when George W. Bush became governor, development laws change, and the water quality at Barton Springs, as well as the surrounding landscape of Austin, was irreversibly altered. The Unforeseen is a powerful meditation on the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development. It is an intricate tale of personal hopes, victories, and failures, and debates over land, economics, property rights, and the public good.

The film will screen on Wednesday, Nov. 14th in Newcomb Hall Theater, Time is TBA
FREE ADMISSION

A different film will screened each night through the course of the festival.
Dates and times are in the process of being confirmed. Please check back for more info over the course of the next few days!

VA Film Fest - Brand Upon the Brain!

2007-10-17T00:32:00.000-04:00

Despite our best efforts, Guy Maddin will not be available to attend the screenings of Brand Upon the Brain! with the Film Festival this year. Additionally, tickets for this film will not be sold online with the rest of the VA Film Fest tickets. They will only be sold at the door, as is the norm for our weekly screenings.

So be sure to show up early so tickets don't sell out!

Click here for the blurb that is available for the film on the vafilm website.

Bridge Fall Film Series - Avant Garde Nightmares

2007-10-17T00:22:00.000-04:00

The Bridge will be showing its second installment of their Fall Film Series this Thursday.

Avant-Garde Nightmares
Oct 18th’s screening will be a night of spooky and sinister experimental films, including several ghastly and ghoulish short works to get us all in the mood for the Halloween season. The evening’s debaucherous delights will include two works by legendary filmmaker Kenneth Anger: “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome,” a satanic ritual in film language, and “Invocation of My Demon Brother,” a mystical journey scored by Mick Jagger on the Moog synthesizer. There will also be two avant-garde responses to the modern slasher-horror film: “The Scary Movie,” Peggy Ahwesh’s 1993 film in which two small girls re-enact the genre’s stereotypes, and “Outer Space,” in which Peter Tscherkassky re-appropriates horror-movie footage, literally deconstructing the image to implicate the viewer in a murder.

So that's
Thursday, Oct. 18th
The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative
205 Monticello Rd.
7:00 PM
Admission: $5

Market Value Competition

2007-09-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

Everyone should head downtown to the Charlottesville Community Design Center TONIGHT to view the submissions for the Charlottesville Market Value Competition and to cast your vote for "People's Choice."

Market Value Competition is a open call for design submissions for a re-design of the location of the Charlottesville weekly city market between Water and South Streets downtown. This is an awesome competition, so go check out the results and cast your vote for which you would like to see implemented downtown.

Check out the Charlottesville Community Design center site here.
OR
Click here to check out the website for the Market Value Competition.

The Pervert's Guide to Cinema

2007-09-22T15:01:00.000-04:00

THE PERVERT'S GUIDE TO CINEMA
Dir. Sophie Fiennes - UK/Austria/Netherlands, 2006 - 150 min.

*Tomorrow*
Sunday, September 16th
7:00 & 9:45 PM
Newcomb Hall Theatre
Tickets $3

Slavoj Zizek returns to illuminate the audience with his unique world view through his chosen medium of film. The Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst preaches that �cinema is the ultimate pervert art. It doesn�t give you what you desire--it tells you how to desire.� In a three part series, Zizek explores this concept, and what cinema has to offer in uncovering the mysteries of fantasy, sexuality, and subjectivity. Using clips from over 40 films, including works by Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers, Tarkovsky, David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Michael Haneke, and Stanley Kubrick, Zizek delves into the collective unconscious of cinema and its audience. "Above all, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema ponders a crucial question for all film-goers: why do we continue to be emotionally affected by movies, even when we know they're fake?" (Tom Dawson, BBC)

Click here for the official site and to check out the trailers.

ALSO this film is being shown with the help of The Declaration, UVa's alternative weekly newspaper.
Check them out online here OR attend one of their production meetings every Tuesday night at 8pm in the Coup, located in the basement of Newcomb hall.

ALLEGRO

2007-09-14T12:19:00.000-04:00

ALLEGRO
Dir. Christoffer Boe - Denmark, 2005 - 88 min.

Sunday, September 16th
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Newcomb Hall Theatre
Tickets $3

Zetterstrom is a Danish concert pianist who has left his home in Copenhagen to pursue his career. When a performance brings him back to his homeland, the memories of his past begin to reveal themselves as being shrouded in forgetfulness. He receives an invitation to return to a particular number of blocks in central Copenhagen referred to as “The Zone.” He enters the rabbit hole armed only with a rigid list of instructions on how to maneuver. His memories are slowly revealed to him and a passion is returned to his life unlike any he has felt in years. He is left missing only one thing: his ability to play the piano. Allegro is a vibrant mix of emotional uncovery, visual effects, and storybook animated sequences. “Had Tarkovsky ever felt the urge to shoot a perfume commercial, it would probably look a lot like Allegro.” (Xan Brooks, The Guardian)

Click here to check out the official film site.

Click here to read Xan Brooks's complete albeit short review.

2007 Fall Film Series at the Bridge

2007-09-12T02:06:00.000-04:00

The Fall Film Series schedule has been released, and covers everything from sinister and spooky shorts and animation to a night with local filmmaker and cinematography professor Kevin Everson.

Here's the basic rundown:

Thursday, September 27
MAGICAL SHADOWS

Thursday, October 18
AVANT-GARDE NIGHTMARES

Thursday, November 15
KEVIN EVERSON PRESENTS

Thursday, December 6
NEON PRIMITIVISM

To check out more details about each film see the Fall Film Series site here.

FUZZ: Drawing Party & Zine-Making Workshop

2007-09-12T02:02:00.001-04:00

If you like making zines or just doodling, you should try to attend this particular workshop at the Bridge on Thursday. Considering the wide variety of zines available for sale at the show opening on Friday, it should be a really great workshop.

Thursday, September 13th
Drawing Party & Zine-Making Workshop
7 to 10 pm

A friendly drawing party. Paper and markers will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own, too! Because sometimes it is just nice to sit with other people and draw. Also, they will be sharing zine-making skills and advice.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

2007-09-06T12:30:00.001-04:00

Wristcutters: A Love Story
Dir. Goran Dukic - USA, 2007 - 91 min.

SCREENING BEFORE ITS NATIONAL RELEASE DATE!
Sunday, September 9th
7:00 & 9:30 PM
Newcomb Hall Theatre
Tickets $3

From the moment Zia cuts his wrists and enters a bizarre afterlife reserved for suicides, Wristcutters becomes a strangely uplifting, darkly comic tale about a journey through the hereafter. This is a world where everyone still bears the scars earned from the manner in which they “offed” themselves, while everyday reality is a twisted mirror image of our own mortal world. Zia (Patrick Fugit), along with characters played by Shannyn Sossaman, Shea Whigham, and Tom Waits, tries to uncover what they had missed in their previous lives. Adapted from the novella “Kneller’s Happy Campers” by Etgar Keret, Dukic’s interpretation turns the diverse landscapes and buildings of California into strange and otherworldy locales within a unique parallel world. Wristcutters is “a delightfully mordant, wryly funny look at an alternate reality”. (Todd McCarthy, Variety)

Click here to check out the official film site.

Click here to check out the trailer on youtube.

Click here to watch a Q&A session with Goran Dukic and Patrick Fugit at Sundance.

First Fridays: FUZZ

2007-09-06T12:19:00.000-04:00

A new art exhibition entitled FUZZ will be opening at the bridge this Friday with an emphasis on handcrafted work by local artists, DIY literature, clothing, and crafts, and followed up with a series of workshops through the exhibition's run. Also featured will be the first screening of the Bridge's fall film series with films by Lotte Reiniger on Thursday, Sept. 27th.

Here's a break down of the exhibition w/ dates and details:
Friday, September 7th
Opening Reception
6 to 10pm
Music at 7:30

The opening reception for Fuzz will be colorful and social. There will be cupcakes and an intriguing musical performance by GULL (Nate from Ultra Dolphins!). In addition to the displayed works, there will be a DIY merchandise table with handmade zines, clothing, and frills!

Sunday, September 9th
Musical Performance by Corndawg & friends
7 pm
$3 (for touring performers)

Jonny Fritz also known as The Corndawg will perform his unique blend of humorous and heartfelt songs. We are not sure how to describe a Corndawg performance except to say that you will find yourself laughing and then be unexpectedly moved. How about this? The man is a skilled airbrush artist with an Appalachian falsetto. We are honored to have him play at the Fuzz show.

Thursday, September 13th
Drawing Party & Zine-Making Workshop
7 to 10 pm

A friendly drawing party. Paper and markers will be provided, but please feel free to bring your own, too! Because sometimes it is just nice to sit with other people and draw. Also, we will be sharing zine-making skills and advice.

Sunday, September 16th
Musical Performance by Big Bear
8 pm
$5 (for the touring band)

Big Bear is a female-fronted band that plays jagged, screamy spazzy music full of fractured, dissonant melodies. They are on Monitor Records, home to Battles, the Oxes and Video Hippos.

Wednesday, September 19th
Sewing Workshop
5 to 8 pm

Bring fabric or clothing to alter and sewing materials if you any (even a sewing machine). Sewing machines will be on hand if you don’t have your own. Together we’ll learn how to make some simple things. This workshop will be led by Becca Mccharen, who has made been making her own unique clothing for years.

Saturday, September 22nd
Pinata-making Workshop
3 to 6 pm

The piñata is a brightly-colored paper-mache container, often shaped as an animal and filled with treats. Kristin Smith, who has made piñatas representing endangered animals for Fuzz, will lead this workshop. Come as you are, leave with a wealth of sweet knowledge.

Sunday, September 23rd
Circuit-Bending Workshop
3-6pm

Sonic Fuzz! Circuit bending is the creative short-circuiting of battery-powered audio devices like children's toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. You don’t need any experience to participate, just bring your toy/lo-fi instruments. If you don't have something to work on, bring one of the following: 4 AA batteries, one 9V AC adaptor, or 5 bucks. Electronics geniuses & engineers strongly encouraged to attend and help out. This workshop will be led by Adam Rogers and Josh Van Horne, both of whom have experimented with electronic music.

Thursday, September 27th
Fall Film Series: Films by Lotte Reiniger
8 pm
$5

The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative’s Fall Film Series proudly presents short films by Lotte Reiniger. Reiniger was a pioneer of shadow puppet animation starting in the early 20th century. Inspired by Chinese silhouette puppetry as a child, Reiniger went on to make dream-like, ornately handcrafted shadow puppet films. Her work is astounding for its attention to detail and because she devised the first multi-plane camera for certain effects at least a decade before Walt Disney.
Saturday, September 29th
Closing Reception & Potluck
6pm

Bring a dish to share and leave with a handmade recipe zine.

Sunday, September 30th
Last Day of Fuzz show
12 to 3 pm

The Fall 2007 Schedule is Here!

2007-08-25T20:19:00.000-04:00

The Fall 2007 Schedule is here! Stick around to stay on top of reviews and synopses about all the upcoming films and what's going on around in Charlottesville.

THIS WEEK:

Sept 2nd - Day Night Day Night by Dir. Julia Loktev / USA/Germany/France, 2006
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 94 minutes
Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night takes the idea of terrorism and pulls it out of its typical context, following a young woman, whose nationality and ethnicity are ambiguous, whose name is never spoken, and whose alliances are never disclosed. Every mundane act is taken into account, as the spectator slowly realizes that she is being prepped to ignite a bomb in Times Square. Loktev attempts to subvert viewer preconceptions and even illicit a sense of sympathy for this young woman, who is just beginning to realize the power and gravity of her task. At the core of the film, Loktev’s “subject, ultimately, is religion – how it can inspire devout action, but in certain crucial moments can’t be explained at all. She captures the absolute power in that awe.” (Wesley Morris, the Boston Globe)

Click here to read Wesley Morris's full review of Day Night Day Night

Click here to visit the official site for the film from IFC-First Take and check out the trailer.

The following weeks include:

Sept 9th - Wristcutters: A Love Story by Dir. Goran Dukic / USA, 2007
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 91 minutes

Sept. 16th - Allegro by Dir. Christoffer Boe / Denmark, 2005
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 88 minutes

Sept. 23rd - The Pervert's Guide to Cinema by Dir. Sophie Fiennes / UK/Austria/Netherlands, 2006
7:00 & 9:45 pm / 150 minutes

Sept. 30th - Syndromes and a Century by Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul / Thailand/Austria/France, 2006
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 105 minutes

Oct. 14th - Into Great Silence by Dir. Philip Gröning / France/Switzerland/Germany, 2005
7:00 pm ONLY / 169 minutes

Oct. 21st - Lady Chatterley by Dir. Pascale Ferran / Belgium/France/UK, 2004
7:00 pm ONLY / 168 minutes

Oct. 28th - Manufactured Landscapes by Dir. Jennifer Baichwal / Canada, 2006
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 80 minutes

Nov. 4th - Brand Upon the Brain! w/ the Virginia Film Festival by Dir. Guy Maddin / USA/Canada, 2005
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 95 minutes

Nov. 11th - Director Series: Godard / A Woman is a Woman by Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / Italy/France, 1961
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 84 minutes

Nov. 18th - Director Series: Godard / Pierrot le Fou by Dir. Jean-Luc Godard / Italy/France, 1965
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 110 minutes

Dec. 2nd - Paprika by Dir. Satoshi Kon / Japan, 2006
7:00 & 9:30 pm / 90 minutes

We're getting back into the swing of things!

2007-08-13T12:51:00.001-04:00

To any regular readers, sorry for the long summer without film updates on what's going on with film in Charlottesville.
I've been in Denmark without a laptop so updates have proved to be a little less than easy.

However! the new OFFscreen schedule will be released by Aug 26th, and our first film will be the following Sunday, September 2nd.

Please stay posted.
And enjoy the last tidbit of your summer before the craziness begins again.

Flicks by Chicks

2007-05-19T23:41:00.000-04:00

This coming Thursday, May 24th, Flicks by Chicks is taking place at the Bridge as the final installation in the Spring Film Series.

Here's a summary:
Host Sarah Lawson continues her mini-series begun at DUST last month with Flicks By Chicks. Provocative and visionary, yet often under- or mis-represented, films by female directors have helped redefine modes of cinematic representation. This screening will include an assortment of short films by Martha Colburn, Sally Potter, Joyce Wieland, Lynne Ramsay, Janie Geiser, Shirley Clarke, Miranda July and others.

Show starts at 8pm and tickets are $5 as usual.

Geometric Hallucinations

2007-05-09T12:39:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since anything has been announced on this website, but that is not to say that c-ville isn't still busy with film events.

Geometric Hallucinations, is this weeks event at the bridge as part of the Spring film series.

This program will showcase several abstract films, dealing with the movement of colored shapes across the screen, often designed to induce a transcendent experience within the viewer. The evening will feature the works of 1960’s computer animation pioneers John and James Whitney, including Experiments in Motion Graphics, an inspiring documentary by John Whitney which explains the complex and brilliant method of filmmaking he invented. Also included are several shorts by the New Zealand experimental animator Len Lye, more early films by Bridge fan-favorite Oskar Fischinger, and a single-channel work by contemporary filmmaker Sandra Gibson.

Thats:
Geometric Hallucinations
@ The Bridge
Thursday May 10th
8pm
tickets $5

Piano Tuners of Earthquakes

2007-04-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

TONIGHT! is OFFscreen's last film of the semester, and of the academic year.

OFFscreen presents
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
by Dirs. Stephen & Timothy Quay
Germany/UK/France, 2005 - 99 mins.
*Tonight*
Sunday, April 22
Newcomb Hall Theatre
7:00 & 9:30 pm
Tickets $3

The breathtakingly beautiful and long-awaited second feature from master animators the Brothers Quay draws a direct line to the realm of the collective id, where Jungian archetypes and characters from the Brothers Grimm play out dark tales of eros and death. On the eve of her wedding, the beautiful opera singer Malvina is mysteriously killed and abducted by a malevolent Dr. Droz. Felisberto, an innocent piano tuner, is summoned to Droz's secluded villa to service his strange musical automatons. "With the possible exception of Canadian director Guy Maddin, there's not another living filmmaker who comes close to creating a world as potent and magical as the one conjured by the Quays." (Kristine McKenna, Los Angeles Times)

Click here to read McKenna's full review in the Los Angeles Times

Click here to check out the official Piano Tuner Website.

Our Daily Bread Tonight

2007-04-15T12:52:00.000-04:00

OFFscreen Presents:
Our Daily Bread
Dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Germany/Austria, 2005 - 92 mins.
*Tonight*
Sunday, April 15th
7:00pm & 9:30 pm
Tickets $3

Beth Meyer of the Landscape Architecture Department will be leading a discussion after the 7pm screening with graduate student Mark Phemister.

Our Daily Bread reveals the little-known world of high-tech agriculture. In a series of visually stunning, continuously tracking, wide-screen images that seem right out of a science-fiction movie, we see the places where food is cultivated and processed: surreal landscapes optimized for agricultural machinery, clean rooms in cool industrial buildings designed for maximum efficiency, and elaborate machines that operate on a 'disassembly line' basis. Dispensing entirely with explanatory commentary or 'talking-head' interviews, Our Daily Bread unfolds on the screen through an endlessly fascinating flow of images and an insistent gaze, accompanied only by the persistent industrial soundtrack of the ingenious marvels of mechanization employed by agri-business. Our Daily Bread is "the 2001: A Space Odyssey of modern food production." (Stuart Klawans, The Nation)

click here to see the official website.

Jem Cohen's Chain

2007-04-14T01:14:00.000-04:00

I hope people were able to make it to the Bridge's screening of the four films for the AIA Film Festival on Thursday. Additionally, if you weren't at the Bridge, I hope you were able to make it to Take Back the Night, which had a pretty good turn out this year.

In other news, Jem Cohen's Chain will be screened tomorrow at Vinegar Hill Theatre as part of the Architecture Film Festival.

the plot summary of the film is as follows:
"As regional character disappears and corporate culture homogenizes our surroundings, it's increasingly hard to tell where you are. Actual malls, theme parks, hotels and corporate centers worldwide are joined into one "superlandscape" which shapes the lives of two women caught within it. One is a corporate executive, the other a young drifter."

To read a short write up of the Chain film project from indiewire click here.

Once again:
Jem Cohen's Chain
Vinegar Hill Theatre
Saturday April 14th
3pm
As part of the AIA Film Festival
Tickets are $6

Our Daily Bread Review

2007-04-11T06:51:00.000-04:00

Just in case you missed it, The Cav Daily ran a review last Thursaday of Our Daily Bread, which OFFScreen will be showing this coming Sunday, April 15th, as the concluding film in the Architecture Film Festival.

We held a press screening last weekend, and a few people came out, including Elaine Quick, who was able to use some of her insight as an urban planning major when reviewing the film.
Check the review out here.

Architecture films Wed. Night

2007-04-10T00:14:00.000-04:00

The AIA Film Festival continues tomorrow night with three films at the Charlottesville Community Design Center.

Lagos / Koolhaas by Bregtje van der Haak
LAGOS / KOOLHAAS follows Koolhaas during his research in Lagos over a period of two years as he wanders through the city, talking with people and recognizing the problems with water, electricity and traffic. But instead of judging the city to be doomed, he is able to interpret this 'culture of congestion' positively, thereby creating a completely new concept of the big city.
55 mins.
Recycle by Vasco Nunes
6 mins. Documentary short
Architecture of Reassurance by Mike Mills
Through the eyes and imagination of a young girl, Architecture of Reassurance explores life in a suburban wonderland where objects and design create an illusion of identity, belonging and comfort. Mike Mills (also the Dir. of Thumbsucker) blurs the lines of narrative film with documentary technique by exploring the ideas and lives behind suburbia's architecture.
23 mins.

p.s. - everyone who loves a little Koolhaas should check this out. (or if you just enjoy a good laugh and some snappy flash animation)

Black Maria Film Festival

2007-04-10T00:04:00.000-04:00

The Black Maria Film Festival returns to Vinegar Hill Theatre tonight as part of the Virginia Film Society's Spring Series.
The screening will include a selection of short experimental, animation, and documentary award winners from this year's Black Maria Festival and will be presented by Dir. John Columbus.

Once again that's
Tuesday, April 10th
Vinegar Hill Theatre
Screening begins at 7pm and will run a little over 2 hours.
Tickets are $8, free for Film Society Members

Renzo Piano: Work in Progress

2007-04-09T23:54:00.000-04:00

Renzo Piano: Work in Progress
a film by Marc Pettijean will be shown
Tuesday, April 10th
at the Charlottesville Community Design Center
Brown Bag Lunch - 12 noon
52 mins.

'As a revealing personal and professional portrait, RENZO PIANO brings together many of his closest collaborators-architects, engineers, and maquette-makers-to create a "real-life" portrait of an architect who sees his profession as a living thing, evolving with time and practice.'
www.frif.com

AIA FILM FESTIVAL!

2007-04-09T10:07:00.000-04:00

After more than a week of no posts (sorry), the OFFScreen blog is back to tell you to check out this:

The American Institute of Architects Film Festival is here (well, it's been here since last saturday).

Everyday this week there will be films held around town about the exciting world of architecture, design, and sustainability. (Can you tell I'm an A-schooler?)
Today @ Noon
Brown Bag Lunch at the Charlottesville Community Design Center on the Downtown Mall
Regular or Super: Views on Mies van der Rohe by Patrick Demers & Jeffrey Hillel
Running time: 56 mins. (Perfect for that lunch break)

'Featuring stylish cinematography and an evocative jazz score, REGULAR OR SUPER illustrates many of Mies' classic buildings, combining these striking facades with observations from some architecture superstars, including Rem Koolhaas, Elizabeth Diller and Phyllis Lambert, which are interlaced with anecdotes from customers and neighbors of the gas station, plus comments from his biographer and family members.'

If you have the time or work downtown you should definitely check it out
Tomorrow, same time same place, there will be a documentary on the work of Renzo Piano.

Three Times

2007-04-01T12:36:00.000-04:00

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

Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien (Millennium Mambo) has delivered one of the most rapturously beautiful and romantic movies of the year. The film is composed of three love stories, each set in a different era - a 1966 pool hall, a 1911 brothel and present day Taipei. The film stars the same actors - Shu Qi and Chang Chen - in all three sections , evoking a sentimental tale of three reincarntions of an unfinished love. The images are "photographed with such visual beauty that watching the movie is like holding your breath so the butterfly won't stir." (Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times)

Click here to read Ebert's full review of the film.

Click here to read another review from Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader.

Finally, click here to check out the official website of the film and see the trailers.

ALSO TONIGHT : Bridge starts Spring Film Series

2007-03-29T13:14:00.000-04:00

TONIGHT! The Bridge is kicking off its Spring Film Series.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the title of tonight's screening is Underground Music and Noise

The Synopsis of tonight's events on The Bridge's site:
The series will start with an explosion of psychedelic sounds and sights brought to you by local filmmaker Meghan Eckman. Part 1 of the program introduces an on-the-road documentary following the band Animental (pictured above) on their tour across the US as they meet the most far-our freaks in the country. Part 2 continues the wild ride with experimental animations and shorts by members of bands such as Neon Hunk, Wolf Eyes, Smegma, and Nautical Almanac. The evening will also feature a live musical performance by Charlottesville’s own ruckus-makers Grand Banks.

This screening should be totally awesome, and I'm sad I will be missing it.
The screening begins at 8PM
Tickets are $5.00

The Spring Film Series will continue with films every other Thursday night. Also, look forward to info on the Lost Film Series that The Bridge is bringing in early April with a little help from OFFscreen et. al.

BAMAKO to show tonight at Vinegar Hill with Director

2007-03-29T12:53:00.000-04:00

The UVA French Dept. presents a special screening of
Bamako
with a Q&A Forum following the film with
Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
The film was shot in Mali, the USA, & France, 2006 - 115 minutes.

To get a good idea of the content of the film here's an excerpt from Michael Phillips's review in the Chicago Tribune

Much of BAMAKO unfolds as a trial, held in the courtyard of a neighborhood in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. This African nation, as well as others, has seen its basic social services cut and cut again while massive debts are repaid to other countries. Witness after witness takes the stand, recounting tales of poverty, homelessness and bone-deep resentment about jobs and lives lost.

If a poke in the eye of the IMF was all BAMAKO had in mind, the film would cancel itself out in 10 minutes. But Sissako brings to life the surrounding neighborhood, as its inhabitants listen in on the trial broadcast while they go about their daily tasks. The film features a cast of non-actors playing roles very close to their experiences. A singer struggles to keep her marriage to an unemployed man together under duress. A freelance cameraman talks of filming weddings and murder sites alike; it is his documentary footage, soundless but fully expressive, that concludes BAMAKO.

Sissako has an unusual camera eye, patient and alert to the ebb and flow of both the courtroom sequences and the outside scenes. The music is wonderful as well, no more meaningful than when one elder witness, called to speak, utters not a word. Instead he sings a lament, and it's riveting. No subtitle accompanies this scene, and none is needed.

Click here to read Phillips's full review.
Also, check out A.O. Scott's review in the New York Times which also features a short video clip about the film.
And click here for Bamako's official site.

Bishop Allen, Tonight At Satellite Ballroom

2007-03-26T02:19:00.000-04:00

BISHOP ALLEN will be playing tonight at the Satellite Ballroom with +/- and SAY HI TO YOUR MOM.
Doors open at 8pm and tickets are $8.

Bishop Allen is a great Brooklyn band, whose mellow tunes take the current stream of indie rock and bring it back to its roots, where basic creativity with drums, vocals, and guitars takes precedence over synthetic pop.

Now you might ask why OFFScreen is advertising this specific show...and the answer is quite simple. You might recognize the mug of one Justin Rice in the image shown above (front left). Rice played the protagonist, who ironically is named "Alan," in Andrew Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation, which OFFScreen showed a few months back. In fact, if you came to see the film, you've already heard quite a few of Bishop Allen's tunes, as "Alan" plays them as his own in the film.

Also, if you liked Mutual Appreciation, or are just really into Bishop Allen, also check out Andrew Bujalski's freshman film Funny Ha Ha, which features Bishop Allen's other lead singer Christian Rudder(front right in above image)in one of the lead roles. Both titles are available on DVD at Sneak Reviews.

OLD JOY cosponsored by The Declaration

2007-03-23T02:42:00.000-04:00

OFFScreen Presents
OLD JOY
Dir. Kelly Reichardt - USA, 2006 - 76 mins.
Sunday, March 25th - 7 & 9:30 PM

Two friends in their 30s, played by alt-country singer/songwriter Will Oldham and Daniel London, embark on a camping trip in the majestic Cascade Mountains near Portland, Oregon. One is on the verge of fatherhood, while the other has no strings attached. The trajectory of their relationship, surrounded by gorgeous wilderness, makes for a minimalist yet powerful tale of friendship and alienation in Bush-era America. An original soundtrack by Yo La Tengo complements sublime cinematography in this "elusive and haunting meditation on the passing of a friendship. Against a radiant backdrop of decay and rebirth, nothing needs to be said; everything in this lovely film is crystalline." (David Edelstein, New York Magazine)

Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun wrote:

Anyone who has ever had an inspiring and infuriating friend will find something to love about Old Joy, a spare, trembling lyric poem of a movie that uses stillness and facial blips the way melodramas use showdowns and action films big bangs.

Click here to read Sragow's full review.

Click here to check out the film's official site.

Last, but certainly not least, this screening of Old Joy is co-sponsored by The Declaration, UVA's alternative weekly newsmagazine. Thanks again to everyone at the DEC for helping out.

Spring Film Series at the Bridge

2007-03-23T02:20:00.000-04:00

As many of you probably known, the Bridge has announced its Spring Film Series.
Expect week by week updates with more details, but for now here's the rundown:

Thursday, March 29: UNDERGROUND MUSIC AND NOISE
An explosion of psychedelic sounds and sights brought to you by local filmmaker Meghan Eckman. Part 1 of the program introduces an on-the-road documentary following the band Animental on their tour across the US as they meet the most far-our freaks in the country. Part 2 continues the wild ride with experimental animations and shorts by members of bands such as Neon Hunk, Wolf Eyes, Smegma, and Nautical Almanac. The evening will also feature a live musical performance by Charlottesville’s own ruckus-makers Grand Banks.

Thursday, April 12: THE AIA (American Institute of Architects) FILM FESTIVAL
As part of AIA Week in April, Dina Sorensen of VMDO Architects has organized a week-long film festival in Charlottesville to mark the 150th anniversary of the American Institute of Architecture. The Bridge is proud to host this screening, just one of many events around town during the week-long festival. The program will feature Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Sheds by Jane Crawford and Robert Fiore, and two Peter Greenaway shorts: Windows and H is for House.
OFFscreen has also worked with VMDO Architects in this week of events, and Our Daily Bread will be the final film that week. Day by day information will be coming at you all soon, but for more information on the week's schedule please visit the AIA's Central Virginia events site.
*As an architecture student and a giant nerd I could not be more excited about this event.*

Thursday, April 26: REMEMBERING ARTHUR — AN HOMAGE TO ARTHUR LIPSETT
Hosted by Richard Herskowitz, Remembering Arthur is an intimate portrait of a visionary collage filmmaker, his body of work and the troubled last years of his life. George Lucas has said: “In terms of understanding the power of sound and picture relationships, there’s no one better than Arthur Lipsett.” The honesty and access of the film is a result of director Martin Lavut’s friendship with Lipsett and those of his inner circle, including National Film Board of Canada producers Colin Low and Donald Brittain. This event is co-sponsored by the Virginia Film Society and will run as a part of their continuing spring series.

Thursday, May 10: GEOMETRIC HALLUCINATIONS
This program will showcase several abstract films, dealing with the movement of colored shapes across the screen, often designed to induce a transcendent experience within the viewer. The evening will feature the works of 1960’s computer animation pioneers John and James Whitney, including Experiments in Motion Graphics, an inspiring documentary by John Whitney which explains the complex and brilliant method of filmmaking he invented. Also included are several shorts by the New Zealand experimental animator Len Lye, more early films by Bridge fan-favorite Oskar Fischinger, and a single-channel work by contemporary filmmaker Sandra Gibson, who was last seen in Charlottesville performing live with Luis Recoder at an incredible Virginia Film Society event at Vinegar Hill this past February. More of Gibson+Recoder's work was then on display at the UVa Art Museum and has been travelling around the Netherlands and Belgium, and luckily graced Charlottesville with its presence.

Thursday, MAY 24: FLICKS BY CHICKS
Host Sarah Lawson continues her mini-series begun at DUST last month with Flicks By Chicks. Provocative and visionary, yet often under- or mis-represented, films by female directors have helped redefine modes of cinematic representation. This screening will include an assortment of short films by Martha Colburn, Sally Potter, Joyce Wieland, Lynne Ramsay, Janie Geiser, Shirley Clarke, Miranda July and others.

More information will follow as I get it, but as always, tickets for these screenings are $4 and all events are held in the gallery space.
Thanks to nailgun for the heads up.

The Lives of Others

2007-03-20T01:57:00.000-04:00

The Lives of Others opened at Vinegar Hill Theatre last Friday and is sure to continue to show there for the next few weeks.

This is the debut feature length film from German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and the winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Set in East Germany in 1984, The Lives of Others captures the atmosphere of tension in the East German government near the end of the Cold War. The film revolves around the loyal, stone-faced Stasi agent Capt. Wiesler as he bugs an apartment shared by a prominent playwright and his actress girlfriend - two people about whom the Party harbors suspicions.

From A.O. Scott's February 9th review in the New York Times:

There is a bracing, old-fashioned quality to Mr. von Donnersmarck’s film, which supplies us with good guys to root for and villains to despise. But it also shows, with excruciating precision, the cruelty with which a totalitarian state can exploit the weakness and confusion of its citizens. And even as they are, to some extent, enacting a morality play, the actors also seem like real, vulnerable people forced into impossible choices.

Click here to read the full review.

Showtimes for the film are as follows:
Tuesday, March 20 at 4:00 and 9:35 only,
otherwise Daily at 4:10, 7:00, 9:35 plus
Saturday and Sunday at 1:20.follows:

The High Lonesome Sound and Dancing With the Incas

2007-03-20T01:40:00.000-04:00

TONIGHT at Vinegar Hill Theatre, the Virginia Film Society is featuring a screening of John Cohen's The High Lonesome Sound and Dancing With the Incas.

John Cohen, the photographer (Young Bob: John Cohen's Early Photographs of Bob Dylan) and musician (The New Lost City Ramblers), started to make films in 1962. Filmmaking provided a way to present traditional musicians in their home setting, to reveal the environment in which music happens, and suggest how music functions within its community. Tonight, Cohen will exhibit his first and last films: The High Lonesome Sound (1963, 30 min.) explores how the music of church-goers, miners, and farmers of eastern Kentucky express the joys and sorrows of life among the rural poor; Dancing with the Incas (1992, 58 min.) documents the most popular music of the Andes -- Huayno music -- and explores the lives of three Huayno musicians in a contemporary Peru torn between the military and the Shining Path guerrillas.

The event is cosponsored by the McIntire Department of Art, and a corresponding exhibit will be going on at the UVA Art Museum in the video gallery titled Q'Eros The Shape of Survival The exhibit will run March 20-April 9.

Once again that's
The High Lonesome Sound and Dancing With the Incas
With guest artist John Cohen
Vinegar Hill Theatre, 7pm
TONIGHT
March 20th
at Vinegar Hill Theatre
7pm
Tickets $8

A Week of Matthew Barney

2007-03-13T10:10:00.000-04:00

TONIGHT at the Vinegar Hill Theatre, The Virginia Film Society will be screening a documentary on the Matthew Barney's film Drawing Restraint 9.

Matthew Barney: No Restraint
a film by Alison Chernick
Screens at 7pm
Tickets are $8

We at OFFScreen will be featuring Drawing Restraint 9 this Sunday.

Drawing Restraint 9
Dir. Matthew Barney - USA/Japan, 2005 - 135 mins.
Sunday, March 18th - 7 & 9:30 PM
Newcomb Hall Theatre
Tickets $3

Director Matthew Barney (The Cremaster Cycle) co-stars with his partner Bjork, who also composed the score of the film. Barney transforms Japan's Nagasaki Bay into an alien landscape in Drawing Restraint 9, his mystical vision of a plundered sea. Combining images of modern industrialization and archaic traditions, Barney creates a mystifying world where metal submarine walls, Japanese marriage ceremonies, and giant mounds of Vaseline converge in an epic symphony of mood and visual texture. "Its rhythms are solemn but never static; the color glowing; the largely ambient score evocative. Even the most enigmatic images, shot from many different angles, are arresting." (Stephen Holden, New York Times)

Click here to read the rest of Stephen Holden's review of this film.

Click here to check out the official website.

Click here to check out the trailer.

The Sporting Life: Last Night of Winter Film Series

2007-03-08T00:15:00.000-05:00

Winter is finally coming to a close, as is the Bridge's Winter Film Series, so if you haven't made it out to one of their many night of film, be sure to check it out tonight:

THE SPORTING LIFE
Films on the Theme of Sports
Thursday, March 8th
Show starts at 7pm
Entry is $4

Hosted by Jordan Taylor, this night includes Werner Herzog’s THE GREAT ECSTASY OF WOODCARVER STEINER and a documentary film about French soccer player Zinedine Zidane.

First Fridays

2007-03-02T13:07:00.000-05:00

As you all probably know today is another First Friday. here are some highlights of what's going on around town tonight:

Satellite Ballroom:
SCREENING: "Live From...the Hook"
with live music from Alligator
Doors at 7, movie at 7:30 / $15-$40
livefromthehook.com
"Live from...the Hook" is a small, compelling film about the history and camaraderie of the Charlottesville music scene, a story about a community of musicians and music fans who share a co-dependent passion for live music. Our story is seen through the eyes of many local musicians, from members of the Charlottesville Blues All-Stars to the Dave Mathews Band. At the center of the song and story circle are Bob Girard and Charlie Pastorfield, two local rock n roll guys who met in Probability class at UVA many moons ago and have since played together live on the same stage more than 2000 times. What are the odds? In their time, these two friends have flirted with stardom, taken the day jobs, nurtured families, loved and lost friends. They have experienced night after night onstage and day after day on the road, the agony of near death on the streets of Rome, and the ecstasy of resurrection back home...all for the music. LFTH is a rip-roaring regional film about the wide-open Virginia music scene in the 70s and 80s. The college circuit, country parties, and, of course, Easters. So many great bands, so much fun. Inside stories of off-the-wall parties and glimpses of long-lost archival live performances, plus a live performance, following the screening by Charlottesville’s own Alligator.

Charlottesville Community Design Center:
Student and Faculty Art and Design Auction.
7pm-9pm.
Come and place a silent bet on outstanding work from the students and faculty at the UVA School of Architecture. All procedes go towards funding the ecoMOD project, which involves an annual design process of a Ecological Modular home that is also economical. Once designed these houses are constructed annuallly by the student at UVA.

Oscar Results

2007-02-26T00:24:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Pan's Labyrinth, which won three Oscars for Cinematography, Makeup, and Art Direction.
Also, congratulations to Das Leben der Anderen (Lives of Others) for Best Foreign Language Film.

Finally, a HUGE win by Martin Scorsese's The Departed

The Departed won for Editing, Screenplay based on previously published works, Best Picture of the Year, and for Best Direction by Scorsese.

Click here for the full results of this night's awards.