International Film Series Will Represent Three Continents, Eight Countries at University of Richmond
January 18, 2002
Eight films representing the cinema of eight countries in Africa, Asia and Europe comprise the spring schedule of the 13th annual International Film Series at the University of Richmond, beginning Jan. 24.
Two of the movies won international prizes, and one, "Himalaya" by director Eric Valli, received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film of 1999. One screening will feature introductions and discussions of his documentaries on strife in Indonesia, Rwanda and Albania by Italian director Paolo Landi, who is a visiting professor at the university this year.
The series is free and open to the public. Each title except Landi's documentaries will be shown three times, on Thursdays and Sundays, 7:30 p.m., at Jepson Hall 118 and Fridays, 3 p.m., at Boatwright Library's Adams Auditorium.
The South Korean film "Chunhyang" kicks off the spring season Jan. 24, 25 and 27. Filmmaker Im Kwon Taek uses pansori, a Korean operatic style of performance, to tell the story of young lovers of different social class who marry in secret, only to have the wife summoned to be a concubine of a tyrannical governor.
"The Way We Laughed," Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and 3, won the top prize at the 1998 Venice Film Festival. The Italian film, set in 1950s and '60s Italy, focuses on Sicilian brothers who emigrate to Turin during the postwar poverty. One succeeds in becoming a ruthless, manipulative businessman and surrogate father of his devious, squandering sibling, creating the sense that massive economic change can be both liberating and destructive.
Landi will present his documentaries on Feb. 8 and 10. In addition to his cinematic accomplishments, he is a distinguished theatre director who has staged plays in Italy, Russia, France, Latvia and the United States. His work as a television producer and journalist has resulted in an array of reportage, documentaries and cultural programs filmed in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
"Faat-Kine" is a warm, humorous film by Senegal's Ousmane Sembene, widely regarded as Africa's greatest living filmmaker. Showing Feb. 14, 15 and 17, her slice-of-life drama scrutinizes personal and political independence through a single mother and gas station manager in Dakar. The woman rules the gas station, but struggles with an overbearing mother and two spoiled teens at home. Critic Jonathan Rosenbaum says the film "…gives a feeling of hope about Africa's future, which might even be saved by its stubborn women."
Winner of a 2000 Golden Globe, "The Widow of Saint-Pierre" is drama of passion, horror and courage set in the 19th century by director Patrice Leconte. It plays Feb. 21, 22 and 24. A loyal, strong-willed woman follows her soldier-husband to a tiny island off Newfoundland. When a local fisherman is sentenced to be guillotined for participating in a murder, the husband and wife must grapple with the difficult choices of crime and justice, guilt and redemption, and love and sacrifice.
Oscar-nominee "Himalaya" runs March 14, 15 and 17. Exquisitely filmed with wide frames and panoramic angles, the movie captures the breathtaking beauty and lonely grandeur of Nepal's majestic mountains in a simple story of conflict between ancient customs and modern ideas. Villagers divide behind rival leaders - one old, one young - seeking to head the annual winter journey to trade salt for grain. Each group must not only race the other, but also battle treacherous passes, harsh winds, sub-zero temperatures, blinding snows and oxygen-thin air.
The German film "The Princess and the Warrior," showing March 21, 22 and 24, follows the developing relationship between two people living on the edge of the law. Writer-director Tim Tykwyr's characters cross paths again and again in a bank robbery, traffic accident, insane asylum and other circumstances. Whether coincidence or destiny, the woman believes the events have led her to the love of her life. The man, however, does not feel the same about her.
"Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine," a dark comedy written, directed and starred in by Iranian filmmaker Bahman Farmanara, runs March 28, 29 and 31. It is a melodramatic self-portrait of a movie director coming to terms with death in present-day Iran. Barred from making films for more than 20 years, the director - at age 55 - receives an offer from a Japanese television company to make a documentary on Iranian burial rites. A series of bizarre accidents causes him to reflect upon his country, its corruption and oppression, and his own mortality.
For more information about the International Film Series, visit http://www.richmond.edu/is/library/mrc/ifilm.html. For directions to the university, a campus map and parking information, visit http://www.richmond.edu/visitors/.