Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein (1925, 80 min.) One of the immortal classics of world cinema, Battleship Potemkin was a perfect vehicle for the young, brilliant and restless Eisenstein to experiment with his theories about montage, the creation of new ideas and filmic realities through the creative juxtaposition of images. Based on the famous revolt by the crew of a Russian warship in Odessa in 1905, the film celebrates the courage of the rebels and those on land who supported them, and it also depicts, in the extraordinary and oft-quoted Odessa Steps sequence, the raw brutality of the Tsarist regime. Well-received in the USSR when first released, the film was among the first Soviet films shown in the Western Europe, where it created an enormous sensationthe most powerful evidence yet of a new, revolutionary art emerging from what claimed to be a new, revolutionary society. Silent Bob Winter provides live piano accompaniment.
one day only
Happiness by Aleksandr Medvedkin 1934, 66 min.). Anarchic in its humor, caustic in its view of peasant life, Happiness defies easy categorization or definition. The painted backdrops inspired by Russian woodprints evoke the atmosphere of a Russian folk tale and give the action a curious theatricality. The story concerns a poor and lazy peasant, Khmyr, who hates work of any kind and dreams of doing nothing. Before the Revolution, he and his much more industrious wife Anna make a living through a combination of improbable good luck and cutting corners wherever they can. After the revolution, the local peasants all decide to form a collective and Khmyr and Anna are invited to joinbut can this committed slacker ever be trusted? Eisenstein among others strongly defended Happiness, but its ambiguity unsettled the authorities, who effectively banned the film until the '60swhen it was re-discovered by new generations of filmmakers and film lovers both in Russia and internationally
one day only
The Cranes Are Flying by Mikhail Kalatozov (1957, 98 min.). No other work more powerfully symbolized the coming of the Khrushchev "thaw" in Soviet culture than Kalatozov's masterpiece, winner of the Golden Palm at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. Like many other Soviet films, it was a tale of wartime love and loss, but here Soviet audiences saw characters who were not model heroes but flawed, contradictory and completely understandable human beings. Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova) and Boris (Aleksey Batalov) are lovers looking forward to a life together. When the war breaks out, Boris heads off to the front while Tatyana stays behind and succumbs to Boris' cousin Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin). Aided by cinematographer Sergei Urushevsky's extraordinarily vibrant camerawork, The Cranes Are Flying achieves an almost mythic dimension, as the story of these star-crossed lovers becomes the story of a nation.
one day only
The Gates by Antonio Ferrera, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Matthew Prinzing (2007, 98 min. video). In 1979, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude proposed one of the largest public art installations in history: a "golden river" of 7,503 fabric-paneled gates in Central Park. The installation was finally completed in 2005, and The Gates chronicles the artists' twenty-six-year commitment to transform winter darkness into a garden of light and color. Featuring meetings and conversations with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, and city officials from the 1970s through 2005, The Gates portrays the artists' unique passion to bring art to the people of New York City. An HBO Documentary Film.
one day only
"As the summer heats up, let Frozen River wash over you; let its bracing drama and the intensity of its acting restore your spirits as well as your faith in American independent film." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Melissa Leo is startlingly good...You feel like you're watching a life, not a performance." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
FROZEN RIVER is the story of Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo), an upstate New York trailer mom who is lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling when she meets a Mohawk girl who lives on a reservation that straddles the US-Canadian border. Broke after her husband takes off with the down payment for their new doublewide, Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila, a smuggler
final showing
Box Office Babies presentation Fri, Sept 5 @ 1:00
“RIVETING. This exhilarating film makes you shake your head in amazement.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released.
Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers, Petit spent eight months in New York City planning the execution of the coup. Aided by a team of friends and accomplices, Petit was faced with numerous extraordinary challe
showing through tuesday
Off the Couch Presentation Tues, Sept 9 @ 7:00 with discussion leader RACHEL SEIDEL, MD
In Woody Allen' latest, two young Americans spend a summer in Spain and meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem) and his beautiful but insane ex-wife (Penelope Cruz). Vicky (Rebecca Hall) is straight-laced and about to be married. Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is a sexually adventurous free spirit. When they all become amorously entangled, the results are both hilarious and harrowing.
dir. Woody Allen, w/ Bardem, Cruz, Johansson, and Hall
final showing
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