Art Films and Events

September 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, and 22
October 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 27, and 28
November 3, 11, 17, 21, 23, and 24
December 9, 22, 23, and 27

New Austrian Experimental Cinema
Image before My Eyes
Partisans of Vilna
Paul Mellon: In His Own Words
Edward Hopper
Rockwell Kent
J.M.W. Turner
Other People's Pictures
Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad
French Short Film Festival
In the Beginning was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead
Très bien, merci
The MacDowell Colony
Way Down East
The Merry Widow
Show People
Evangeline and Longfellow Poetry Reading
Lecture: In Search of the Essay Film
Night and Fog
Nobody's Business
The Strange Madame X
Fully Awake: Black Mountain College

***All film programs are held in the East Building Auditorium except where noted***

New Austrian Experimental Cinema

September 1 at 3:00 p.m.
September 2 at 4:30 p.m.

Austria's reputation for dynamic experimental cinema is demonstrated in these recent short avant-garde works combining abstraction and narrative and revealing the filmmakers' distinctive command of their medium. Aquarena (Josef Dabernig, Isabella Hollauf); Being and Nothingness (Bady Minck); Elements (Dariusz Kowalski); A Million in Debt Is Normal, Said My Grandfather (Gabriele Mathes); Planes (Thomas Fürhapter); and Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine (Peter Tscherkassky) are among the selections. (Total running time approximately 85 mins.) Special thanks to the Austrian Cultural Forum.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Image before My Eyes

September 3 at 1:00 p.m.

Joshua Waletzky's landmark documentary, Image before My Eyes, tells the story of Jewish life in Poland between the two world wars, using historical footage of urban and rural life as well as interviews with survivors of the period. Shown in conjunction with Foto: Modernity in Central Europe 1918–1945. (Joshua Waletzky, 1981, 35mm, 90 mins.)
also
Partisans of Vilna
Partisans of Vilna, a valuable record of the World War II era, focuses on a city that for centuries was a center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. Interviews—some rousing (such as the story of Schmidt, an Austrian sergeant who smuggled Jews), some bizarre and incongruous (like the story of Rosenberg, whose scholarly project was titled Jewish Studies without Jews)—are the core of the documentary. (Joshua Waletzky and Aviva Kempner, 1986, 35mm, 130 mins.) Introduction by Aviva Kempner.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Paul Mellon: In His Own Words

September 5 and 12 at 12:30 p.m.

A new biographical film celebrates the spirit, life, and philosophy of Paul Mellon. The narration draws from interviews, speeches, and a variety of writings in which Mellon describes his passions, pursuits, and interests, such as family, art, collecting, horses, and racing. This screening is part of a public celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Paul Mellon's birth on June 10, 1907. Shown in conjuction with Celebrating the Legacy of Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art. (Joseph Krakora for the National Gallery of Art, 2007, high definition, 60 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Edward Hopper

September 16, 2007–January 21, 2008
Monday–Friday, noon–3:00 p.m.
Saturdays, noon–3:00 p.m.
Sundays, 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.
East Building Small Auditorium

Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m.
East Building Auditorium

Narrated by actor and art collector Steve Martin, this film traces Hopper's varied influences, from French impressionism to the gangster films of the 1930s. The documentary uses archival photographs and film, new footage of locations painted by Hopper in New York and along the New England coast, and interviews with artists Eric Fischl and Red Grooms, scholars, and curators. (30 mins.) A short version will be shown continuously in the exhibition. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation. Shown in conjunction with Edward Hopper.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Rockwell Kent

September 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Painter, illustrator, travel writer, and social activist Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) was an American celebrity of sorts in the 1930s and once prompted the New Yorker to quip, "That day will mark a precedent which brings no news of Rockwell Kent." Why, then, was he nearly forgotten only two decades later? This comprehensive film biography, with footage that spans Kent's life, suggests theories to answer that question. Filmmaker and Ohio University professor Frederick Lewis will be present to discuss his film. (2005, 180 mins. with intermission)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

J.M.W. Turner

October 1, 2007–January 6, 2008
Daily, shown continuously
West Building Project Room

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, noon
East Building Auditorium

Narrated by Jeremy Irons and produced in conjunction with the exhibition J.M.W. Turner, this documentary provides an overview of the artist's career and influences, including footage of Wales, Switzerland, and other locales Turner visited. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Other People's Pictures

October 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 1:00 p.m.
November 21 and 23 at 1:00 p.m.
November 24 at 11:00 a.m.

The serious collecting of amateur snapshots is a relatively new pursuit in America. On location at New York's Chelsea Flea Markets, the documentary Other People's Pictures trails nine collectors as they track down their one-of-a-kind ephemeral images. Show in association with The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson. (Lorca Shepperd and Cabot Philbrick, 2004, 16mm, 53 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad

October 14 at 4:30 p.m.

Michael Lesy's 1973 book of vintage photographs and vignettes about a strange and deadly calamity that consumed the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, in the late nineteenth century was adapted to film in the late 1990s. Using documentary reportage, reenactments, and period images, Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad recounts the tale of a town that literally went mad with rampant murder, suicide, and occult fanaticism. Shown in conjunction with The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson. (James Marsh, 1999, 35mm, 76 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

French Short Film Festival

October 21 at 4:00 p.m.

A selection of French shorts from the Festival de Cannes and the annual Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival includes a group of award-wining works from 2005 through 2007, many set in North Africa and Asia. Among the titles screened are Bonne nuit, Malik, La Leçon de danse, Les Volets, Bonsoir Monsieur Chu, and Ming d'Or. Shown in association with C'est Chic: A Festival of French Film. (approximately 120 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

In the Beginning Was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead

October 27 at 3:00 p.m.

Legendary 1960s British counterculture figure Peter Whitehead was one of the first filmmakers to record Allen Ginsberg, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix, and such phenomema as student rebellions at Columbia University and Robert Kennedy's campaign tour. Whitehead, however, has also been a publisher, investment banker, artist, and falconer who saved a species from extinction. Now, as the brilliant and biting raconteur of an engaging new documentary, he reflects on art, nature, collecting, and countless other spheres. "Visuals from his own drool-worthy archives enliven the non-stop flow of tantalizing observations"—Lisa Nesselson. (Paul Cronin, 2006, digital beta, 196 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Très bien, merci

Washington premiere
Emmanuelle Cuau in person
October 28 at 4:30 p.m.

Office worker Gilbert Melki can no longer abide the silly absurdities of the modern cosmopolitan routine. Even the Métro police annoy him. Staging a quiet rebellion, he finds himself suddenly enmeshed in a series of Kafkaesque contretemps until he must either lose what's left of his life or find a way to beat the system. Director Cuau is present to introduce the Washington premiere of her acclaimed new tragicomic portrayal of contemporary French life. Shown in association with C'est Chic: A Festival of French Film. (Emmanuelle Cuau, 2007, 35mm, French with subtitles, 106 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

The MacDowell Colony

November 3 at 3:30 p.m.

In celebration of the centennial of The MacDowell Colony—the oldest creative artists' residency program in the United States—this program opens with the Washington premiere of Seasons of MacDowell, an hour-long film that features four short works by Michael Almereyda, George Griffin, David Petersen, and Elisabeth Subrin. Selected films by other MacDowell fellows—including shorts by Jane Aaron, Louise Bourque, Meredith Holch, Aviva Kempner, Kakyoung Lee, Christa Parravani, Stacey Steers, Michael Wilson, and others—follow the premiere. (Total running time approximately 160 mins., with intermission)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Way Down East

Andrew Simpson on piano
November 11 at 4:00 p.m.

D.W. Griffith adapted his epic melodrama from a popular Victorian stage play. Lillian Gish, tricked into a bogus marriage, is abandoned by her "husband" when he discovers a child is on the way. Celebrated for its dramatic climax—a rescue on an ice floe during a blizzard—Way Down East was one of the silent cinema's most commercially successful endeavors. This 35mm print is a tinted restoration from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. (D.W. Griffith, 1920, silent with live accompaniment, 145 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture. Special thanks to Christel Schmidt.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

The Merry Widow

November 17 at 2:00 p.m.

Matinee idol John Gilbert and the "girl with the bee-stung lips," Mae Murray, star in a black comedy based on Franz Lehár's operetta. Erich von Stroheim's second film for MGM studios proved critically and commercially successful for this Austrian-born director, whose continental sensibilities were popular with American moviegoers. At the time, Photoplay Magazine described the film as "the most sophisticated love story ever presented on the screen." (Erich von Stroheim, 1925, 35mm, 137 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Show People

November 24 at 1:00 p.m.

Released at the end of the silent era, Show People is King Vidor's side-splitting spoof of Hollywood's fledgling film business and a clever hurray-for-Hollywood tribute to movie-making. Comedic charmer Marion Davies does her legendary (both on and off screen) impressions of the cinema's biggest luminaries while a number of other stars, including Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, make cameo appearances. (King Vidor, 1928, 35mm, silent with music track, 82 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Evangeline and Longfellow Poetry Reading

Layne Longfellow, Joanna Seaton, and Donald Sosin in person
November 24 at 3:30 p.m.

On the occasion of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's bicentennial, his descendant Layne Longfellow will read excerpts from Longfellow's poetry, accompanied by live piano and voice. Ann Hutchinson Guest, Longfellow's oldest living direct descendant and current matriarch of the family, will attend this special event.

One of several Hollywood adaptations of Longfellow's epic, Evangeline tells the tale of a young French-Canadian woman (Mexican actress Dolores del Río was cast in the part) severed from her arcadian home and forced to search for her lover in the American wilderness. (Edwin Carewe, 1929, 35mm, silent with piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin, 86 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Lecture: In Search of the Essay Film

Phillip Lopate in person
December 9 at 2:00 p.m.

Distinguished essayist and poet Phillip Lopate, author of American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents until Now, develops his ideas on the cinematic essay, a form that foregrounds ideas rather than character or plot. Although a well-established genre and at times even a commercially successful one, the essay remains the most elusive of film forms.
also
Night and Fog and Nobody's Business
Two essay films follow the lecture: Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955, 31 mins.), a masterful cinematic study of the Holocaust, and Nobody's Business (Alan Berliner, 1997, 60 mins.), a work that, similar to Night and Fog, reflectively interweaves past and present—in this case, a portrait of the filmmaker's father. This program is made possible by funds given in memory of Rajiv Vaidya.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

The Strange Madame X (L'Étrange Madame X)

December 22 at 2:30 p.m.

Director Jean Grémillon is an artist who, together with Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, Jacques Becker, and a few others, made the French cinema the most distinguished in the world before and after World War II. With touches of poetic realism and boulevard theater, L'Étrange Madame X tells a bittersweet tale of a double life. Irène (Michèle Morgan), wife of a wealthy publisher and lover of a naive cabinetmaker, discovers she must endure the disenchantment of the real world. "From a rare category of films which echoes the grandeur of the monumental classics and presages the emergence of the auteur"—James Travers. (Jean Grémillon, 1951, 35mm, French with supertitles, 90 mins.) Critic Jay Carr introduces the film. Special thanks to CNC and Il Cinema Ritrovato.
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College

December 23 at 2:00 p.m.
December 27 and 28 at 1:00 p.m.

Fully Awake: Black Mountain College combines archival photographs and interviews to focus on the college's influential role in the development of American art of the twentieth century. The geodesic dome, John Cage's first happening, and countless other events are part of this institution's legacy. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg from the National Gallery of Art and Related Collections. (Cathryn Davis and Neeley House, 2007, digital beta, 53 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Art Films and Events list

Film Programs | Film Series | Art Films and Events | Children's Films

	Art Films and Events September 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, and 22 October 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 27, and 28 November 3, 11, 17, 21, 23, and 24 December 9, 22, 23, and 27 New Austrian Experimental Cinema Image before My Eyes Partisans of Vilna Paul Mellon: In His Own Words Edward Hopper Rockwell Kent J.M.W. Turner Other People's Pictures Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad French Short Film Festival In the Beginning was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead Très bien, merci The MacDowell Colony Way Down East The Merry Widow Show People Evangeline and Longfellow Poetry Reading Lecture: In Search of the Essay Film Night and Fog Nobody's Business The Strange Madame X Fully Awake: Black Mountain College *****All film programs are held in the East Building Auditorium except where noted* New Austrian Experimental Cinema September 1 at 3:00 p.m. September 2 at 4:30 p.m. Austria's reputation for dynamic experimental cinema is demonstrated in these recent short avant-garde works combining abstraction and narrative and revealing the filmmakers' distinctive command of their medium. Aquarena (Josef Dabernig, Isabella Hollauf); Being and Nothingness (Bady Minck); Elements (Dariusz Kowalski); A Million in Debt Is Normal, Said My Grandfather (Gabriele Mathes); Planes (Thomas Fürhapter); and Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine (Peter Tscherkassky) are among the selections. (Total running time approximately 85 mins.) Special thanks to the Austrian Cultural Forum. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Image before My Eyes September 3 at 1:00 p.m. Joshua Waletzky's landmark documentary, Image before My Eyes, tells the story of Jewish life in Poland between the two world wars, using historical footage of urban and rural life as well as interviews with survivors of the period. Shown in conjunction with Foto: Modernity in Central Europe 1918–1945. (Joshua Waletzky, 1981, 35mm, 90 mins.) also Partisans of Vilna Partisans of Vilna, a valuable record of the World War II era, focuses on a city that for centuries was a center of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. Interviews—some rousing (such as the story of Schmidt, an Austrian sergeant who smuggled Jews), some bizarre and incongruous (like the story of Rosenberg, whose scholarly project was titled Jewish Studies without Jews)—are the core of the documentary. (Joshua Waletzky and Aviva Kempner, 1986, 35mm, 130 mins.) Introduction by Aviva Kempner. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Paul Mellon: In His Own Words September 5 and 12 at 12:30 p.m. A new biographical film celebrates the spirit, life, and philosophy of Paul Mellon. The narration draws from interviews, speeches, and a variety of writings in which Mellon describes his passions, pursuits, and interests, such as family, art, collecting, horses, and racing. This screening is part of a public celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of Paul Mellon's birth on June 10, 1907. Shown in conjuction with Celebrating the Legacy of Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art. (Joseph Krakora for the National Gallery of Art, 2007, high definition, 60 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Edward Hopper September 16, 2007–January 21, 2008 Monday–Friday, noon–3:00 p.m. Saturdays, noon–3:00 p.m. Sundays, 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. East Building Small Auditorium Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. East Building Auditorium Narrated by actor and art collector Steve Martin, this film traces Hopper's varied influences, from French impressionism to the gangster films of the 1930s. The documentary uses archival photographs and film, new footage of locations painted by Hopper in New York and along the New England coast, and interviews with artists Eric Fischl and Red Grooms, scholars, and curators. (30 mins.) A short version will be shown continuously in the exhibition. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation. Shown in conjunction with Edward Hopper. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Rockwell Kent September 22 at 2:00 p.m. Painter, illustrator, travel writer, and social activist Rockwell Kent (1882–1971) was an American celebrity of sorts in the 1930s and once prompted the New Yorker to quip, "That day will mark a precedent which brings no news of Rockwell Kent." Why, then, was he nearly forgotten only two decades later? This comprehensive film biography, with footage that spans Kent's life, suggests theories to answer that question. Filmmaker and Ohio University professor Frederick Lewis will be present to discuss his film. (2005, 180 mins. with intermission) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list J.M.W. Turner October 1, 2007–January 6, 2008 Daily, shown continuously West Building Project Room Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, noon East Building Auditorium Narrated by Jeremy Irons and produced in conjunction with the exhibition J.M.W. Turner, this documentary provides an overview of the artist's career and influences, including footage of Wales, Switzerland, and other locales Turner visited. This film was made possible by the HRH Foundation. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Other People's Pictures October 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 1:00 p.m. November 21 and 23 at 1:00 p.m. November 24 at 11:00 a.m. The serious collecting of amateur snapshots is a relatively new pursuit in America. On location at New York's Chelsea Flea Markets, the documentary Other People's Pictures trails nine collectors as they track down their one-of-a-kind ephemeral images. Show in association with The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson. (Lorca Shepperd and Cabot Philbrick, 2004, 16mm, 53 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad October 14 at 4:30 p.m. Michael Lesy's 1973 book of vintage photographs and vignettes about a strange and deadly calamity that consumed the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin, in the late nineteenth century was adapted to film in the late 1990s. Using documentary reportage, reenactments, and period images, Wisconsin Death Trip: How a Town in Wisconsin Went Mad recounts the tale of a town that literally went mad with rampant murder, suicide, and occult fanaticism. Shown in conjunction with The Art of the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E. Jackson. (James Marsh, 1999, 35mm, 76 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list French Short Film Festival October 21 at 4:00 p.m. A selection of French shorts from the Festival de Cannes and the annual Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival includes a group of award-wining works from 2005 through 2007, many set in North Africa and Asia. Among the titles screened are Bonne nuit, Malik, La Leçon de danse, Les Volets, Bonsoir Monsieur Chu, and Ming d'Or. Shown in association with C'est Chic: A Festival of French Film. (approximately 120 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list In the Beginning Was the Image: Conversations with Peter Whitehead October 27 at 3:00 p.m. Legendary 1960s British counterculture figure Peter Whitehead was one of the first filmmakers to record Allen Ginsberg, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix, and such phenomema as student rebellions at Columbia University and Robert Kennedy's campaign tour. Whitehead, however, has also been a publisher, investment banker, artist, and falconer who saved a species from extinction. Now, as the brilliant and biting raconteur of an engaging new documentary, he reflects on art, nature, collecting, and countless other spheres. "Visuals from his own drool-worthy archives enliven the non-stop flow of tantalizing observations"—Lisa Nesselson. (Paul Cronin, 2006, digital beta, 196 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Très bien, merci Washington premiere Emmanuelle Cuau in person October 28 at 4:30 p.m. Office worker Gilbert Melki can no longer abide the silly absurdities of the modern cosmopolitan routine. Even the Métro police annoy him. Staging a quiet rebellion, he finds himself suddenly enmeshed in a series of Kafkaesque contretemps until he must either lose what's left of his life or find a way to beat the system. Director Cuau is present to introduce the Washington premiere of her acclaimed new tragicomic portrayal of contemporary French life. Shown in association with C'est Chic: A Festival of French Film. (Emmanuelle Cuau, 2007, 35mm, French with subtitles, 106 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list The MacDowell Colony November 3 at 3:30 p.m. In celebration of the centennial of The MacDowell Colony—the oldest creative artists' residency program in the United States—this program opens with the Washington premiere of Seasons of MacDowell, an hour-long film that features four short works by Michael Almereyda, George Griffin, David Petersen, and Elisabeth Subrin. Selected films by other MacDowell fellows—including shorts by Jane Aaron, Louise Bourque, Meredith Holch, Aviva Kempner, Kakyoung Lee, Christa Parravani, Stacey Steers, Michael Wilson, and others—follow the premiere. (Total running time approximately 160 mins., with intermission) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Way Down East Andrew Simpson on piano November 11 at 4:00 p.m. D.W. Griffith adapted his epic melodrama from a popular Victorian stage play. Lillian Gish, tricked into a bogus marriage, is abandoned by her "husband" when he discovers a child is on the way. Celebrated for its dramatic climax—a rescue on an ice floe during a blizzard—Way Down East was one of the silent cinema's most commercially successful endeavors. This 35mm print is a tinted restoration from the Museum of Modern Art, New York. (D.W. Griffith, 1920, silent with live accompaniment, 145 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture. Special thanks to Christel Schmidt. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list The Merry Widow November 17 at 2:00 p.m. Matinee idol John Gilbert and the "girl with the bee-stung lips," Mae Murray, star in a black comedy based on Franz Lehár's operetta. Erich von Stroheim's second film for MGM studios proved critically and commercially successful for this Austrian-born director, whose continental sensibilities were popular with American moviegoers. At the time, Photoplay Magazine described the film as "the most sophisticated love story ever presented on the screen." (Erich von Stroheim, 1925, 35mm, 137 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Show People November 24 at 1:00 p.m. Released at the end of the silent era, Show People is King Vidor's side-splitting spoof of Hollywood's fledgling film business and a clever hurray-for-Hollywood tribute to movie-making. Comedic charmer Marion Davies does her legendary (both on and off screen) impressions of the cinema's biggest luminaries while a number of other stars, including Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, make cameo appearances. (King Vidor, 1928, 35mm, silent with music track, 82 mins.) Presented in association with the Library of Congress and the publication of Peter Kobel's Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Evangeline and Longfellow Poetry Reading Layne Longfellow, Joanna Seaton, and Donald Sosin in person November 24 at 3:30 p.m. On the occasion of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's bicentennial, his descendant Layne Longfellow will read excerpts from Longfellow's poetry, accompanied by live piano and voice. Ann Hutchinson Guest, Longfellow's oldest living direct descendant and current matriarch of the family, will attend this special event. One of several Hollywood adaptations of Longfellow's epic, Evangeline tells the tale of a young French-Canadian woman (Mexican actress Dolores del Río was cast in the part) severed from her arcadian home and forced to search for her lover in the American wilderness. (Edwin Carewe, 1929, 35mm, silent with piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin, 86 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Lecture: In Search of the Essay Film Phillip Lopate in person December 9 at 2:00 p.m. Distinguished essayist and poet Phillip Lopate, author of American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents until Now, develops his ideas on the cinematic essay, a form that foregrounds ideas rather than character or plot. Although a well-established genre and at times even a commercially successful one, the essay remains the most elusive of film forms. also Night and Fog and Nobody's Business Two essay films follow the lecture: Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955, 31 mins.), a masterful cinematic study of the Holocaust, and Nobody's Business (Alan Berliner, 1997, 60 mins.), a work that, similar to Night and Fog, reflectively interweaves past and present—in this case, a portrait of the filmmaker's father. This program is made possible by funds given in memory of Rajiv Vaidya. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list The Strange Madame X (L'Étrange Madame X) December 22 at 2:30 p.m. Director Jean Grémillon is an artist who, together with Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, Jacques Becker, and a few others, made the French cinema the most distinguished in the world before and after World War II. With touches of poetic realism and boulevard theater, L'Étrange Madame X tells a bittersweet tale of a double life. Irène (Michèle Morgan), wife of a wealthy publisher and lover of a naive cabinetmaker, discovers she must endure the disenchantment of the real world. "From a rare category of films which echoes the grandeur of the monumental classics and presages the emergence of the auteur"—James Travers. (Jean Grémillon, 1951, 35mm, French with supertitles, 90 mins.) Critic Jay Carr introduces the film. Special thanks to CNC and Il Cinema Ritrovato. Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Fully Awake: Black Mountain College December 23 at 2:00 p.m. December 27 and 28 at 1:00 p.m. Fully Awake: Black Mountain College combines archival photographs and interviews to focus on the college's influential role in the development of American art of the twentieth century. The geodesic dome, John Cage's first happening, and countless other events are part of this institution's legacy. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Let the World In: Prints by Robert Rauschenberg from the National Gallery of Art and Related Collections. (Cathryn Davis and Neeley House, 2007, digital beta, 53 mins.) Calendar of Events \| Art Films and Events list Film Programs \| Film Series \| Art Films and Events \| Children's Films
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