Forces of Nature: Harpur Cinema is pleased to present five films that explore our very human responses to the environment—urban and rural, tamed and unleashed, fictional and documentary. In two special programs, filmmakers Monteith McCollum and Chris Sullivan will appear to introduce and answer questions about their films.
2/22 & 2/24 Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, 2012, USA. 93 min.) In the all-but-forgotten bayou community of Bathtub, a six-year-old girl named Hushpuppy faces the catastrophes of an ailing father and a sinking home with optimism and extraordinary imagination until her faith in the balances of the natural world is tested. Benh Zeitlin's directorial debut is an adaptation of Juicy and Delicious by his collaborator Lucy Alibar but it is the surprising and delightful Quvenzhané Wallis that has drawn audiences to this magical film. Winner: Grand Jury Prize, Sundance; Camera d'or, Cannes, 2012.
3/1 & 3/3 Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011, Finland/France/Germany, 93 min.), Harbors are traditional points of departure and arrival and Finnish director Kaurismäki, uses the port of Le Havre to stage a political fairy tale about Marcel Marx, a genial bohemian whose wife becomes seriously ill at the same time that Idrissa, an illegal immigrant boy from Africa arrives. With skill and good humor the aptly named Marx sets about protecting the boy and a boat-load of other hopeful migrants from the authorities. A.O. Scott writes: "Le Havre" has something of the flavor of a children's book, with a warm, quiet glow of reassurance in every frame." Winner: International Film Critics Prize, Cannes, 2011; nominated Academy Award, 2011.
3/8 & 3/10 Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold, Great Britain, 2011, 129 min.) Those who have seen Fish Tank will know how important environment is to Andrea Arnold's filmmaking. True to form, she contrasts the passionate forces of Emily Brontë's brooding novel with the desolate moors and threatening weather of the Yorkshire countryside. As striking is her casting of the first actors of color to play Brontë's "dark outsider" Heathcliffe (Solomon Glave and James Howson). Peter Bradshaw writes in The Guardian: "Arnold achieves a kind of pre-literary reality effect. Her film is not presented as another layer of interpretation...but an attempt to create something...something on which the book might have been based...the effect is thrilling." Winner: Golden Oscella (cinematography) and Golden Lion (Director), Venice Film Festival, 2011
3/15 & 3/17 A Different Path (Monteith McCollum, USA, 2010) Harpur Cinema is pleased to present a film by a member of our own Cinema Department. In A Different Path sidewalk activist Senior, a Critical Mass trumpeter, city Kayak-er, and others, use ingenuity and humor to solve their modern mobility dilemmas in an automobile-centric environment. Combining animation, cinematography and original music composed by McCollum and performed by Michael Louis Johnson, this film is an artistic and poetic treatment of personal struggle and environmental concern over livable cities. "A gripping, soulful film," writes June Chua, Toronos Rabble.ca. Special note: Monte McCollum will introduce the film on Friday 3/15 and will answer questions after the screening. Premiered at South by Southwest in 2010 and was nominated for the Pare Lorentz Award of the International Documentary Association.
4/5 & 4/7 Consuming Spirits (Chris Sullivan, USA, 136 min.) Over 15 years, collaborating with friends and family, Chris Sullivan created his dark and exhilarating exploration of family secrets with pen-and-ink drawings, cut-outs, and miniature models. Weaving allusions to film history, with mordant observations that explore the "realms of memory and fantasy." A.O. Scott continues: "Consuming Spirits weaves a complicated, intoxicating spell and...the fact that these realms are represented in exaggerated, often comical pictures does not make them less disturbing...[it creates] a sense of enchantment that turns bad feelings inside out. This movie is...a wonder." Special note: Chris Sullivan will introduce the film on Friday 4/5 and will answer questions after the screening. Official selection: Tribeca Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Raindance, 2012
4/12 & 4/14 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 2011, 157 min.) It seems like a cut and dried case of murder in a rural area outside the town of Keskin. But as police commissar Naci and Doctor Cemal investigate, they find that things are not quite that simple. Basing his story on real events, Ceylan fills the wind-swept and wide open spaces of Turkish steppes with speculations both intimate and cosmic as the mystery slowly unravels. Winner, Grand Prize, Cannes, 2011.
Fridays and Sundays at 7:30 PM in Lecture Hall 6
$4 Single Admission; Harpur Cinema Membership: $22 for General Public; $20 for students and senior citizens.
Memberships are available at the door before each screening or in the Cinema Department Office, SW-203B.
Programmer: Professor Joyce Jesionowski
For questions or Information, call 607-777-4998 or email nwlostow@binghamton.edu
