BLACK&WHITE

'A DOG'S LIFE' + Afterscreening Drinks!

2010-06-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Mondo Cane is an inspiring, shocking and for sure surprising Italian film that PROVES how we are living a dog's life in a dog's world.

Come and find out the most unexpected things about our planet. Or stay home and continue living a dog's life without knowing it...

MONDO CANE, by Gualtiero Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara & Franco Prosperi (2007)

June 9, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

With this 'shockumentary', BLACK&WHITE says goodbye to Amsterdam and its followers. Is there a better way to do it than with some laughter and a few drinks?? Feel free to bring your own stuff to the screening tomorrow, although afterscreening refreshments are guaranteed!
See you (there)!!

WAKE UP, STUPID!

2010-06-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

Is it possible that half of the world wealth is in the hands of only 400 families? Is it possible that only a 10% of the money in circulation in the world is real? Is it possible that the real banking benefits are of a 16.500%? Tell me, do you believe such a thing is possible?

A silly question: what are the account maintenance costs? Does the bank keep your account in the basement? Does it polish it? Does it feed it? Does someone renew from time to time your account decoration? It doesn't matter if I lie to you, because you don't listen.

Do you know that with all the money you pay for your mortgage, the bank can buy two houses? Do you know that that is exactly what it does?

Robin Hood stole money from the rich to give it to the poor. If he had invested it to five years and a half to a half-yearly convertible compound interest of a 8% and then give it to the poor, he could have bought a cottage too.

Do you want to be a millionaire? Three essential rules. Buy yourself a sunbed. Pay only with big notes. Smile, so that the whole world believe you are having fun. There is a fourth rule. Never ever, under any circumstance, win the great prize in a television contest.

CONCURSANTE, by Rodrigo Cortés (2007)

June 2, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'BA WANG BIE JI' or THE EPIC

2010-05-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here comes the only Chinese-spoken film that has ever won Cannes' Palme d'Or. A story often put on the same level of 'epicness' as Gone With The Wind and with the attraction of being the first Chinese movie BLACK&WHITE has offered so far. It is all oriental appeal... Will you miss it?

BA WANG BIE JI, by Chen Kaige (1993)

May 26, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE' (1993). REVIEW by Diao Ying

2010-05-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Physically we are always located somewhere, but our mind, body and soul are often dislocated. In the Chinese Farewell My Concubine, a top prize winner at the Cannes International Film Festival, the hero -or heroine-, Dieyi, had a dislocated life.

This is an epic movie. The time runs from 1925 to 1977. The setting is Beijing. The film's title comes from a classic Peking opera, where a concubine cut her throat with the sword of the king on the night of his defeat.

The movie is mainly about the love triangle among two famous actors of the opera and a woman. They met as small boys at opera school. In those days women were not allowed to play on stage. Dieyi, a gentle, pretty and fragile boy, was chosen to play the concubine. Xiaolou, the stronger one, played the king.

Dieyi, who devoted to his role as an actress as a kid, was mentally trained as a woman. Throughout his life he was loyal to his first and only love, Xiaolou, the king on the stage, and his fellow boy in real life. Xiaolou, however, was straight. He fell in love with a beautiful prostitute and married her. He treated Dieyi as his brother, unware of his love for him.

But dislocation here is not only personal. Nation, country and the world are often in a state of dislocation. In this movie, the love story also interweaves with the history of China. From the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930's, the surrender of the Japanese at the end of World War II, the rule of the Nationalist Government, the Chinese Civil War, the victory of the communists in 1949 and, finally, the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

The movie is extremely subtle in showing the love, life, and arts related in the story. One is amazed at the pretty costumes, the Peking opera scene and all the fantastic dialogues. But it is also grand in that it displays the long and complex history in two hours in such a clear way.

The movie is full of memorable scenes. The Peking opera performance is beautiful. The training of the boys to be actors and actresses reminds one of the British boys in the fiction of Dickens. In the scenes describing the Cultural Revolution, decent people furiously denounce their friends and loved ones. It shows how dislocation in a society can go extreme, and makes one wonder how fragile people's souls are.

I find the review from New York Times a classic description: "It's a narrative of suicides, miscarriages, betrayals, drug addiction and sorrowful paradoxes: good intentions inevitably go wrong, which could be an observation about the Communist revolution". The last point might explain why, despite its success overseas, the movie was never publicly showed in its home country, China. That is another example of dislocation, isn’t it?

"SHE IS WHITE. SHE IS RACIST. SHE'S GOING TO TURN BLACK!": 'AGATHE CLÉRY' TEASER

2010-05-17T08:40:00.001-07:00

AGATHE CLÉRY, by Étienne Chatiliez (2008)

May 19, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'AGATHE CLÉRY' (2008). REVIEW, by Naouel Abbadi

2010-05-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

Agathe Cléry is a hard-working and modern marketing director from a cosmetics company, specialized in clear skin. Her colleagues find her snob, strict, and they know she is a racist.

But what would be the height of absurdity for a racist? To become as black as those whom she hates. It is what happens one beautiful day to Agathe.

We will witness how she's affected by the Addison's disease, an extremely rare condition which is going to darken her. The racist marketing director of a special cosmetics line for pale skin wakes up one morning - totally black.

Fired by her boss, dumped by her fiancé, turned away in all her job interviews, Agathe finds herself on the other side.
Faced with the reality of becoming a black person, dealing with the same vicious discrimination and taunts she used to dish out so frequently, she struggles to accept her new paradigm in life.

Agathe Cléry is one of those amazingly rare filmmaking achievements that works on nearly every conceivable level. It’s an eccentric musical, acid satire and euphoric comedy all mixed together into a capricious spicy delight.

The film is directed by Étienne Chatiliez, a man who has been acclaimed numerous times in France for his satirical and acid comedies. With co-writer Laurent Chouchan, he manages the handling of the racism issue in a sour way: their character embraces popular French stereotypes of blacks as the only viable solution to her mess. Valerie Lemercier (Agathe Cléry) pulls off the oddball comic and dance sequences with rigor and finesse.

With Chatiliez the caricature does not avoid the reality that it denounces; it is, on the contrary, the fairest expression of it. With a cocktail of music, singing, dancing, humour, but also some truths, Agathe Cléry will make you laugh more than once...

DREAM IS DESTINY

2010-05-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

"The worst mistake that you can make is to think that you are alive"

WAKING LIFE, by Richard Linklater (2001)

May 12, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

Don't forget that with this movie we will have our SPECIAL GEZELLIG EDITION: bring your pillow(s), blanket and/or cover and let's lay back together for extra cosiness!!

And don't miss out Kian's comments on the film below!

'DISLOCATION' CYCLE CALENDAR (at last!)

2010-05-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge!!!

'WAKING LIFE' (2001). REVIEW, by Kian Mintz-Woo

2010-05-09T15:43:00.000-07:00

Waking Life is one of the essential movies for anyone who went to college. It is essentially a collection of philosophical ideas - Kierkegaard and Satre are namechecked - meant for what we philosophers (bizarrely) call 'the folk'. Some of the characters are intriguing, some are mysterious, but all are meant to provoke fundamental questions. By considering levels of dreaming, and what it means to lucid dream, the central filmic metaphor suggests the Allegory of the Cave, Vedanta beliefs and Descartes' dream scenario. Don't think that this makes the film pretentious and dull; it is all done in an engaging and stirring manner.

Furthermore, it is a beautiful film - the technique of rotoscoping, which I will explain in my introduction before the film - is unique to Linklater's work and this was the first full-length rotoscoped movie (a short film that they made to test the method, Snack & Drink was inducted into the permanent collection at MoMA). So for those who haven't seen it, see it for the ideas or the beauty; for those that have, I'm sure that there are characters you don't remember (and you can never watch too much of the libertarian with the bullhorn!).

Bonus: If you loved Before Sunset/Sunrise, as I did, you'll be glad to know that Jesse/Céline makes a (postcoital) appearance.

"Waking Life won the National Society of Film Critics award for 'Best Experimental Film', the New York Film Critics Circle award for 'Best Animated Film', and the CinemAvvenire award at the Venice Film Festival for 'Best Film'. It was also nominated for the Golden Lion, the festival's main award."

Also: Patricia had the brilliant idea of making this a sort of sleep party. So bring pillow(s) or a cover or a beanbag (!) and we can all lay back and enjoy.

CLOSED for Liberation Day

2010-05-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

We run away with the rest, but we'll be back next week to offer you something very, very special...

Poster, calendar and more soon!!!

YOU TURN THE KEY...

2010-04-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

...And we unlock the door of the new cycle Dislocation with "the best Egyptian movie ever", according to the Internet forums: The Yacoubian Building.

Check its trailer now and enter the community...

OMARET YACOUBIAN, by Marwan Hamed (2006)

April 28, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

Stay tuned!!! Full calendar of the cycle veeery soon. Thank you for your suggestions!!

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARWAN HAMED, DIRECTOR OF 'THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING' (2006), by Sarah Al Mojaddidi

2010-04-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

S.M. What was your reaction to launching a blockbuster movie on the silver screen?

M.H. I don’t expect that everyone will like the movie and it was not initiated to be a popcorn film where the viewer would watch it and simply sleep on it. If the movie aggravates or encourages the viewer to think, then the film has served its purpose. The best thing is to watch something that makes you think for a moment. Some people say that it is a rather dark movie with a heightened sense of hopelessness. A lot of people told me that they got depressed. I think we should be depressed.

S.M. Homosexuality was brought up a lot in the film. Do you feel that men in Cairo are aware of it? Was discretion advised on account of it being a serious taboo or was it more a form of satire to express that the average man today lacks gut, steel and masculinity when it comes to standing up for his view or taking responsibilities?

M.H. Art should not be measured ethically. Art or drama revolves around characters that some people might consider at fault, guilty or wrongful from the start according to their personal biases and set of beliefs. The movie only nostalgically contrasts between past and current Cairo and folds to what Cairo used to tolerate in terms of different religions, intellect and understanding our differences. We were a very cosmopolitan city at one time. Now we do not tolerate or deal with one another with heart. It reaches a point where hostilities do not brew between Egyptians and foreigners but are initiated among us, which is sad. For example, take a veiled and unveiled girl, a Muslim and a Christian. If we do not adhere and actively seek out solutions for these problems and continue to evade these issues we will fall into a bottomless pit.

S.M. The movie mainstreams a lot of Cairo's past and recent transitions, and it was an ideal location to film it downtown at the Yacoubian Building. Due to the fact it shadowed a community that is small and interconnected to everyone's affairs, do you believe Egyptians judge each other crucially?

M.H. Naturally, our society has greatly changed and the dramatic transition is evident in that area as well. Today, our society crucially judges people from every aspect and from a moral standard of view rather than accepting change and tolerating other people's differences. But our role in society is not 'Godly'. It is not our role to act as our Creator and judge people according to how we believe God will judge us.

"We need to be more open-minded and learn how to deal with each other"

S.M. Are people ready to see roles like Hatem on the silver screen? A lot of uneasy viewers cringed at the mere sight of Hatem's role and others laughed. Care to comment?

M.H. We had no intentions of inducing any comical tones but if a person laughed or cringed it's for the movie's best interest. A person sitting agitated or in complete turmoil during the entire movie is in itself a good effect.

S.M. The ending was enigmatic on account it mainstreamed two different characters of different social classes in holy matrimony. What was the main motif behind the wedding ceremony between Adel Emam's (Zaki) and that of Hind Sabry's (Buthaina)?

M.H. The ending had a strong impact on the movie's fold on account it mainstreamed Egyptians from the lower class and those of bourgeoisie standing together. The concept of the wedding - also known as the 'merger' - served its purpose by pinpointing an important element of social deviations and stressing the fact that we all have to live together! You cannot alienate people due to their social standing. The main motif is to accept and tolerate differences amidst our cultural gaps, religious beliefs, race, colour, etc.

S.M. Zaki's character played by Adel Emam is deeply moved by his country's transition. He is a man deeply rooted to Cairo's glorious past and is very nostalgic. He would often go to an exclusive elite night club at a prestigious hotel to feel the essence of Cairo's pastime glory. Was it your intention to have Yusra play the piano for him seductively, so as to lure Zaki metaphorically and have him travel in time back to his beloved old Cairo when it was still within its prime?

M.H. Zaki feels alienated today. He cannot blend in with modern Cairo and his entire world has changed. He feels the need to be nostalgic because he feels out of place and a stranger in his own home.

S.M. Would this film, with all of its cultural taboos and associations, have been effective 10 years ago or even produced?

M.H. I think the film effectively fits in today's world and strikes a cord rather than being a movie visually perceived in the past. We need these sort of movies now and we feel more connected to them now in comparison to how we might have not been moved by them in the previous years.

S.M. The abuse during the negotiations in the film, when the Egyptian intelligence were cross examining the fundamentalists, was upsetting. The movie was bald, as it portrays a poor boy who was down-sized all of his life and dismissed by the police academy's admittance due to his father's profession of being a door-keeper (bawab). Thus, this misfortune hinders the boy to a world of extremism and surges his despondence of his shattered dreams onto a new extremist faith and later gets abused in jail and avenges his stolen dignity. Do you think this storyline had some light on discussing the true problem that awaits our youth, the problem being religious extremism and terrorism?

M.H. I believe that terrorism in the Middle East or in Egypt has not been tackled correctly. This is not the way to fight terrorism. It has been more than 30 years and terrorism is still being manufactured through despondent hearts and extremist followers who see no beauty in living in a world full with so much corruption and distinctions. You cannot fight terrorism with force or by reducing yourself to barbaric rituals. The quest in which terrorism can be subdued is through opinions, thoughts and voicing out what cannot be said but in a humane manner.

S.M. Adel Emam's character was fixated on Cairo's past and infamous for his promiscuous lifestyle. He never insulted or disgraced a woman and was very cultured when it came to courting ladies and very open about his desires and wants. Do you think Cairo needs to evolve first, to change its mentality when it comes to opposing women's rights or other forms of disrespect?

M.H. How men treat women is not the issue. The real issue lies in respect, in general. We need to respect one another first, respect our fellow peers, citizens, pedestrians on the street first before we tackle the issue of how men treat women. One must treat everyone with respect, especially in your moving vehicles.

'BURMA VJ. REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY': Andreas' invitation

2010-04-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

As the cherry on top for the Reality cycle, this week there will be the screening of the award-winning documentary Burma VJ.

This is what Andreas Schuck has to say about it:

Since I suggested the movie and am very excited about it, I of course hope that many of you will be able to come. I am also happy to announce that we will also have an interesting guest who will join us tomorrow and give an introduction to the movie, ready to answer your questions: Rob Brouwer, filmmaker and head of the audiovisual department of Amnesty International in The Netherlands, whose family stems from Burma and who is a specialist on human rights issues and journalism practice and has longstanding experience in training journalists (also in Burma). He was supposed to be on his way to Thailand tomorrow but thanks to volcano Eyjafjallajökull's activity he will be joining us instead. Thus, I am looking forward to an interesting session, with lots and lots of questions and an interesting, stimulating debate. Hope to see you all!

BURMA VJ, by Anders Østergaard (2009)

April 21, 5.30 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

Remember that next week we start off a new cycle. Its name will be Dislocation to give room to varied approaches on personal disconnection in different social environments.

We need one more proposal to go. C'mon, help your Film Club round off its cycle of four!!

'BURMA VJ' (2009). REVIEW, by Andreas Schuck

2010-04-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ask yourself – what do you know about Burma? Burma VJ goes beyond the occasional news clips from Burma and its oppressive military regime and brings us close to those young video journalists who insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country despite risking torture and life in jail. The tour they are taking us on makes the situation in Burma tangible for us and makes us realize how little we know. 'Joshua', 27, is one of the young journalists, our psychological lens, and in Burma VJ we follow his footsteps, experience the uprising against the regime through his eyes, march with him, run away with him, see what he sees, feel what he feels - and also what we rather would not want to see or feel.

In fact, it does not really get more realistic than seeing dead monks floating down the river or being beaten up on the streets or in their monasteries. Or those very journalists covering the events being arrested and carried away in front of our eyes. However, what is more impressive is the passion and hope in the eyes of those marching through the streets and the courage of those risking their own lives to enable us to get the full picture of what is really going on.

Burma VJ is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Anders Østergaard and won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Hotdocs and the Full Frame Doc Film Festival. Finally, it won the main competition at the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA) here in Amsterdam, where it was awarded the Joris Ivens Award for best feature-length documentary. Last but not least it was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary last year.

Depending on volcano Eyjafjallajökull's activity today and tomorrow we are hopeful to welcome some interesting guests from Amnesty and Free Voice (an NGO promoting freedom of expression) to our movie screening who have been to Burma, know about the situation (and how it has further developed after the release of the movie) and will be ready to answer your questions. Together we will discuss how we can expect the situation in Burma to further develop, what happened to those journalists who made the movie afterwards, but also what is the power and what are the boundaries of journalists in situations such as this.

Thus, come along, bring your friends, and see you tomorrow!

'HOME' (2009)

2010-04-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

Just for this once, we won't use any marketing to try to convince you to come along to this week's screening. Click on the HOME website down here (Home in Figures section is highly recommended) and/or see the reviews below. You'll need nothing else.

HOME, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand (2009)

April 14, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

But don't watch it online, my clever fellas, our big screen will be waiting for ya!!

''HOME', AN ENVIRONMENTAL PICTURE', by Giacomo Ciapponi

2010-04-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

During the last few years, themes like green energy, sustainability or fair trade have shown their prominence. For example, becoming carbon-free is impossible without re-thinking our consumption patterns. Before talking about renewable or nuclear energy we MUST understand that our ('Western') lifestyle is not compatible with our finite world! This necessity of re-thinking our society is also linked to the necessity of filling the gap between the North and the South of the world. This example shows how all these themes are linked: for realizing one we also have to take into account the others! Being indifferent is now nonsense.

We are certainly the green generation. We are, in theory, concerned about the environment and in harmony with the major green principles. However, we are bothered by what it takes for them to be applied. Though familiar with all kind of '-ables' (equitable, durable, reasonable, responsible, bearable, renewable), we remain guilty of inaction. Leaving a clean planet for the generations to come is our lofty goal, but telling is easier than doing.

HOME is a documentary released in June 5, 2009, directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and gracefully narrated by Glenn Close. Arthus-Betrand, French photographer best known for his aerial photographs of the Earth, is a master identifying colours, angles and patterns that show the Earth at its most beautiful.

He delivers us his 'earth from above footage', a feast for the eyes with a strong ecological message. Indeed, he takes the viewer back to the beginning of time and explains how and when life on Earth came about. He also puts us directly onto the facts: 'It is too late to be pessimistic'.

The documentary follows Al Gore's famous environmental movie, An Inconvenient Truth. With the last climate change summit, the COP 15, and its failed slogan 'System change, not climate change', the documentary is completely up to date!

HOME is a beautiful, indispensable and responsible film which won't let you down. When it's over, you leave with its fantastic images floating around in your head, reminding you how beautiful this planet actually is. What can you do to save it? At least, that is the idea.

More opinions?

Check this article out:

The cinematography of this documentary is amazing, even the images of pollution of the environment that humans have caused look remarkably appealing to the eye. But this documentary is much more than a stream of beautiful images from across the world.

The message that the documentary contains is a strong one: unlike our nations, our ecosystem doesn't have any borders. As humans organized in nation states, we spend 12 times as much on weapons to defend ourselves from each other than we spend on aid for the poorest. The effects of the exploitation of our shared ecosystem will affect us all and will hit those who already face the toughest circumstances the hardest. The problems that our world faces cannot be solved by any country alone. Too long have we focused on what separates us as citizens of specific countries, without realizing that we are all bound together as human beings. Without a rapidly growing global awareness of the situation we are facing, we will leave a much harsher environment for our children, in which natural resources on which we all depend will become increasingly scarce.

I am a student in my twenties. The state the world is in today is how my generation will inherit it, before we will have had the chance to have any effect on this trend. Can this really be the inheritance of a generation that dedicated itself to peace, love and happiness? Maybe it's not too late just yet. You might still be a sceptic about the message the documentary tries to convey after reading my comments, but I promise you this: it will be much harder to be sceptic about that message after having watched Home.

'PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL' with us

2010-04-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

Pray the Devil back to Hell is a documentary that focuses on the heroic role of women in ending the 1989-2003 Liberian conflict. Christian and Muslim women united for the first time in the history of the nation to help Liberia recover peace and establish its first female head-of-state.

Rated 100% by Rottentomatoes and winner of the Best Documentary award at Tribeca Film Festival, the documentary directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney is a much-needed attempt to put a moment of history that still inspires in the spotlight.

Powerful, intelligent, outstanding... You need to see it to believe it!

PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, by Gini Reticker (2008)

April 7, 5.30 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL' (2008). REVIEW, by Judy Wanjiku Wanderi

2010-04-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

When the devil takes over your homes, your livelihoods and your countries, what do you do? Whom do your turn to when the world stays silent while the devil rapes and kills? The Liberian women found out the solution...

Pray the Devil back to Hell is a compelling docu-drama that chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women - from different faiths, tribes and ages - who came together to end the bloody civil war that put their country on the brinks of destruction.

Pray the Devil back to Hell is a story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence of heroic women in Liberia who put up a resistance that sent Charles Taylor into exile and helped to bring the first African female president into power.

This is a powerful story on how nonviolent activism from women can bring warlords to their knees and help regaining the elusive peacedeal.

Pray the Devil back to Hell is a must watch!

ITALIAN 'VIVA ZAPATERO!'

2010-03-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with the same spirit, BLACK&WHITE continues its cycle Reality with a famous recent Italian documentary, Viva Zapatero!, directed by the genius comedian Sabina Guzzanti.

Viva Zapatero! is clearly an anathema to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's regime and a real eye-opener about censorship and freedom. The satirist Sabina Guzzanti dares to open a door on a new shameful typical -and exclusive to Italy- anomaly in relation to other neighbouring countries with a satiric tradition: France, Germany, Holland and England.

It is a very necessary, not to be missed documentary. It will make us laugh and think, and maybe also offer us some hope. Come along: same day, same place at a slightly different time this once.

VIVA ZAPATERO!, by Sabina Guzzanti (2005)

March 31, 5.30 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'VIVA ZAPATERO!' (2005). 'A SATIRE ON THE BREACH OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION', by Guia Baggi

2010-03-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

It was October 2002. Silvio Berlusconi was the Italian Prime Minister for the second time. The first, in 1994, lasted only a few months. This time, instead, he governed for five years. In Sofia, Bulgaria, during a press conference, Berlusconi accused two journalists, Michele Santoro and Enzo Biagi, and the satirist Daniele Luttazzi, from the public service broadcasting station RAI. His precise words were: "the use of television, paid with money from tax-payers, that Biagi… -What is the name of the other?- Santoro… -But the other?- Luttazzi have done is a criminal use. And I believe that it is a precise duty of the new management not to allow that to happen anymore". And that is what really happened. The three were fired. The episode remains in the Italian memory as the 'Bulgarian diktat'.

One year after, it was the turn of another comedian, Sabina Guzzanti. Guzzanti's family is publicly known in Italy. Paolo Guzzanti, Sabina's father, is a journalist who went into politics and became a senator for Berlusconi's party till 2008. Sabina's brother, Corrado, and sister, Caterina, are also actors and satirists. They used to work together in comedy shows critic with Italian politics on the public broadcasting service. The first was in 1989. Guzzanti siblings have parodied many politicians and celebrities with success in terms of audience and sharpness ever since. In November 2003, Sabina Guzzanti made her debut on RAI 3 with a new programme. After the launch press conference, the director of the channel communicated the stop of the show. Only the first episode was broadcasted. So Sabina Guzzanti organised a big mediatised event from the Rome Auditorium to broadcast the second on local and satellite television channels, on the Internet and in some theatres. The event gathered together people everywhere in Italy, especially along the network of ARCI's social and political clubs.

Both cases mark a sad chapter about freedom of expression in Italy, and the recent events confirm this has not ended yet. In fact, eight years after the 'Bulgarian diktat' and a temporary two-year government theoretically opposed to Berlusconi's coalition, satire in television is less and less present in the Italy of Silvio Berlusconi. Among the purged RAI professionals in 2002, only Michele Santoro went back to work in RAI in 2006. This month, he has been at the centre of another attempt of silencing critic points of view on the government and especially on the Prime Minister. This time, Berlusconi exercised direct pressures on the Authority of Communications and on the management of the public broadcasting service to stop Santoro's programme because it often talked about his trials and involvement in crimes. The calls were tapped and now allegations of power abuse are pending for Berlusconi and favouritism for a member of the Authority.

Santoro's programme has also been stopped with the excuse of regional elections and measures of fair treatment on political communication, known as 'par condicio'. This year, for the first time, 'par condicio' has been interpreted as the elimination of talk shows from television programming and their substitution with electoral tribunes in the month preceding the elections. Talk shows should start again from the 29^th of March 2010, if April Fools' day does not reserve new surprises.

On the 25^th of March, Michele Santoro replied to the limitations in the programming of the public broadcasting service with a mediatised event, similar in principle to the one mentioned above, called Raiperunanotte. It was a special edition of his programme, Annozero, from the stadium of Bologna and broadcasted on satellite, digital television and the Internet, reaching an extraordinary audience of more than 3 million people.

Viva Zapatero! tells half of this story of breaches in freedom of expression on Italian television. It questions the Italian public broadcasting service system and its tight relationship with politics. The documentary looks at the rest of Europe, at what is considered and allowed as satire abroad, at Zapatero in Spain and his public broadcasting service reforms. The images of the film go from some of Sabina's comic sketches to interviews with politicians, important public figures on the Italian cultural landscape, as Nobel Prize Dario Fo, or popular foreign satirists in France, the UK and the Netherlands.

Sabina Guzzanti shot Viva Zapatero! in 2005 as another reply to her experience of being censored. Viva Zapatero! also suggests the renewal of the Italian public broadcasting service based on the model Zapatero used in Spain. A little book with a specific proposal for a law to reform the public broadcasting service on popular initiative also came together with the DVD.

'THE CLASS' FLYER

2010-03-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

The new BLACK&WHITE cycle, Reality, sets off with The Class (Entre les Murs). A so truthful and engaging film that you will feel as another student sitting at a desk in the room as the events slowly unfold. Its richness resides in its apparent objectivity.

The French docudrama has received critical acclaim, achieving a 97% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Metacritic lists Entre les murs with a rating of 94, making it one of the best reviewed films of that year, according to the website.

Judge by yourself, be intrusive and join The Class.

ENTRE LES MURS, by Laurent Cantet (2008)

March 24, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'ENTRE LES MURS' (2008). REVIEW, by Naouel Abbadi

2010-03-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

The Class, winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2008, plays like the role of a documentary with subtitles. The fiction is so much close to reality that when the bell rings, you feel ready to leave the class as well…

We follow a teacher and his students at a French middle school. There are discipline problems and a complaint about the teacher. Meetings are held. Actions are taken. Somehow they manage to complete the school year.

What you come to realize, however, is that not even the shrewdest or luckiest documentary filmmaker could manage to be always in the right spot when something dramatic is about to occur. In fact, this is a drama, but a drama so close to reality that it has the ring of truth.

The film doesn't fall into the easy clichés of the teacher at the bad school miraculously winning over the kids. The Class is an engaging drama and a chance to see how schooling works in France. It is ultimately a fascinating, sometimes exhilarating movie that seems to make a genuine contact with the classroom, and shows us an educational system struggling, and managing to survive.

BALKAN EVE!

2010-03-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

After last week's dissapointment, BLACK&WHITE wants to compensate its followers with a special evening: two movies for the price of one (which is zero anyway)!

We want you to go East and wave goodbye to the 'Resistance' cycle by experiencing a totally different cinema: Southeastern European adventure through time and space! First, the Yugoslavian movie Virdzina will show us how even the toughest traditions can be resisted. And, second, the Romanian movie Silent Wedding resisting the Communist regime will put an end to this peculiar edition of the Mundus Film Club.

Last but not least, in between the movies the Montenegrin snack 'priganice' with cheese will be served. Feel free to bring your own refreshments as well. Everyone's invited!!

Click to enlarge and see the details!!

'VIRDZINA' (1991). 'A GIRL WHO BECOMES A BOY AND THEN, A WOMAN', by Katica Djurovic

2010-03-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

Virgina tells a story from the end of 19^th century and depicts the life of people who used to live in the area of modern Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Montenegro. Over the centuries, the patriarchal culture was very strong and, as a consequence, there was a widespread belief that the families without male heir were doomed. In order to save themselves from the curse, families without sons would sometimes declare their last born daughter as a son. These girls were called 'virgina' and only their closest family knew the truth about their sex.

This is the story about a girl who was born as the fourth daughter in a family without sons, and raised as a boy called Stevan in order to save the family reputation. Stevan behaves as any other young boy in the village. He fights, works in the field and consider women as less worth than him. Approaching his puberty, Stevan realizes that something is wrong with him and tries to resist not only to the father but at the same time to 'virdzina''s tradition. Instead of living his life the way it is, Stevan decides to fight for his life and right to be a woman.

Filmed in the vast land, with nothing but rocks, Virdzina describes the harsh life of its people, their culture, tradition and superstitions, that remained the same for centuries. Sometimes it may be hard to understand, but the film is shot without exaggeration.

VIRDZINA, by Srdjan Karanovic (1991)

March 17, 5 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

"Virgina is much like its landscape: chilly, barren and arid, but also quite beautiful in the way of something exotic seen from a great distance. Mr. Karanovic, who wrote and directed the film, tells of Stephen's increasing desperation as she tries, at her father's obsessive bidding, to be something she isn't." -- The New York Times

'NUNTA MUTA' / 'SILENT WEDDING' (2008). REVIEW, by Katica Djurovic

2010-03-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

Communist

Romania

in 1953. A small village is preparing for the wedding of a young couple. As soon as the wedding ceremony is over, militant communists interrupt the celebration declaring a one week period of national mourning due to Stalin's death. Joy, laughter or toasts are not allowed. But, not so affected by Stalin's death, villagers decide to resist the rules and go on with the wedding their way: by having a silent wedding. The solution is as dared as inventive and fun: the feast will go on but everything, including the music, will be in mime.

Silent Wedding is a tragicomedy based on the true story which took place in the 1980s in a small rural village in

Romania

. The film exhibits the fine sense of humor that people have developed to deal with hardships. But how long will they resist celebrating without sound? What will happen when alcohol starts ruling them? And what consequences will it have on their lives?

Entertaining, absurd and surreal, it captures the very essence of the Romanian lifestyle in both funny and tragic ways.

NUNTA MUTA, by Horatiu Malaele (2008)

March 17, 7.30 pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

SALVADOR PUIG ANTICH. Today

2010-03-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Photo: Manuel Huerga

On 2 March 1974, Salvador Puig Antich, a young militant with the Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación (Iberian Liberation Movement), became the last political prisoner to be executed in Spain. Today, BLACK&WHITE presents his story and that of the desperate attempts of his family, colleagues and lawyers to avoid his execution.

SALVADOR, by Manuel Huerga (2006)

March 10, 5pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

READ the interview to Director Manuel Huerga on Salvador (Puig Antich)

LISTEN to a 70's song by Lluís Llach included in the Soundtrack

'SALVADOR' (2006). REVIEW, by Lídia Pedro

2010-03-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

Actor Daniel Brühl learned Catalan and Spanish to play Salvador Puig Antich. The film is a drama about the life of the last person condemned to death by garrotte by Franco, and we first meet the young anarchist in his prison cell after he is accused of shooting a policeman.

From there, he tells the story of how he became a freedom fighter and how MIL (Thousands) —the military group he was involved in— formed, evolved and disappeared.

Some critics argue that the film is too commercial and does not explain the group's true ideals, for which so many people fought and died. However, the aim of the film is not to be a documentary, but to give the audience a sense of the Spanish society desire for change in the early 1970's.

In Salvador, rather than a frenetic rhythm, you will experience tense moments and silences. Do not expect crazy anarchist adventures but a tough piece of reality, full of messages beyond images and words. Silence, tension, love, friendship and ideals are the mix of this film, making it an ideal cocktail for a relaxing Wednesday afternoon.

AFTER 'SOMETIMES IN APRIL'...

2010-03-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

...I have the need to post this again:

A big thank you to all who took part on today's debate, especially to Judy for letting us know a bit more about what cannot be understood.

Now, this comes next.

'SOMETIMES IN APRIL' (2005). FLYER, by Judy Wanjiku Wanderi

2010-03-01T06:52:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in April, 1994. The smell of burning human flesh fills the air. Neighbour turns against neighbour. Friend against friend. Brother against brother. What has been boiling from underneath like a volcano is about to erupt into the most horrific genocide of our modern history. Hutu nationalists take onto killing, raping and maiming their Tutsi countrymen a.k.a 'the cockroaches'. The African state of Rwanda is on fire: over the next 100 days 800,000 people people will be dead.

One man is caught on the wrong side of the war. Whom shall he save? His family? His friends? His foe? Or himself? He was just an ordinary man, faced by an extraordinary situation.

Come watch Sometimes in April, an incredibly powerful and breathtaking film that will show you the ugly head of genocide through the eyes of an ordinary man! If you have watched Hotel Rwanda or are interested in learning more on the Rwandan genocide, then this is the film for you!

PS: Bring along your tissue boxes!

SOMETIMES IN APRIL, by Raoul Peck (2005)

March 3, 5pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

***For those who still feel strong enough to talk about it, there will be a discussion after the screening of this movie, something we also intend to do in the next sessions if we see a positive response! So feel free to stay or to go when the film is over...***

'RESISTANCE' by definition in 'SOPHIE SCHOLL. THE FINAL DAYS'

2010-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

The true story of a young woman who did what few in Nazi Germany dared even think!

SOPHIE SCHOLL, by Marc Rothemund (2005)

February 24, 5pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

Don't miss out Miss Julia Jentsch's (whose face we already acquainted with from The Edukators) master performance as the courageous anti-Nazi legendary heroine & get ready for the upcoming drama we have in store for next week. It will leave you breathless.

'SOPHIE SCHOLL. DIE LETZTEN TAGE' (2005). Synopsis

2010-02-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

The true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine is brought to thrilling life in the multi-award winning drama Sophie Scholl. The Final Days. Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film of 2005, Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the young coed-turned-fearless activist. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl's life: a heart-stopping journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence.

In 1943, as Hitler continues to wage war across Europe, a group of college students mount an underground resistance movement in Munich. Dedicated expressly to the downfall of the monolithic Third Reich war machine, they call themselves the White Rose. One of its few female members, Sophie Scholl, is captured during a dangerous mission to distribute pamphlets on campus with her brother Hans. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to the White Rose, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.

Sophie Scholl. The Final Days received three Lolas (German Oscars) including the Audience Award and Best Actress Award to Jentsch for her brilliant characterization of the title role. The film also won two Silver Bears for Best Director and Best Actress at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

POST-'ANTICHRIST'

2010-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

Still in shock after the screening of Antichrist, we offer you a link that might help with interpretation.

This is pretty much why I felt it was not a misogynist film and not the contrary either, that it had no more meaning than what you actually know intuitively. But, of course, the floor is open...

NATURE IS SATAN'S CHURCH

2010-02-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

ANTICHRIST, by Lars Von Trier (2009)

February 17, 5pm

Bushuis (Room F 0.22)

Kloveniersburgwal 48

'Chaos reigns' in the first featured film of the semester in BLACK&WHITE: Antichrist (2009), by Lars Von Trier, director renowned for his boost to Danish national cinema and one of the fathers of Dogme 95 movement.

Get ready for a spiral fall into madness, sex and blood in a desperate attempt to resist the attacks of fate, nature and guilt.

See the full PROLOGUE to believe that you actually WANT to sink into this genious filmmaking mind...

'ANTICHRIST' (2009). SYNOPSIS, by Nasrin Billie

2010-02-16T12:16:00.000-08:00

Antichrist (2009) is a creepy movie oozing with sex, nudity, violence and craziness but, at the end of the day, it is Lars von Trier at his best!

Bear in mind that Lars Von Trier made this film while battling a depression, and watching this movie is like taking a private tour into the dark sides and corners of the mind of this brilliant Danish director.

Remind you that Lars Von Trier introduced the grainy images and hand-held photography in cinema, which became known as the Dogme concept. Von Trier's used this technique in films such as Breaking the Waves, from 1996, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes. And again in Dancer in the Dark featuring the Icelandic singer Björk, who won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for her performance in the film.

Antichrist is about a couple, played by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsburg, who lose their young son as he falls out the window while they are caught up in a sex act. The mother's grief is so strong that she ends up at a hospital, but her therapist husband brings her home with the intention of treating her depression himself.

To confront her fears, they go to stay at a remote small cabin in the woods, 'Eden', where something untold happened the previous summer. Told in four chapters with a prologue and epilogue, the film unfolds the darker sides of human nature that deal with lust and cruelty, which 'Eden' seems to bring out in the couple.

BLACK&WHITE is back!!!

2010-02-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

Dear followers,

It's been a long wait, but we are glad to inform you that BLACK&WHITE has found a new location in Amsterdam at the Bushuis and is ready to restart!

Whether you were eager on the subject for the next cycle, 'Resistance', or waiting in the queue for showing one of your national films, now it's the time to tell us about your proposals in order to fix a calendar as soon as possible.

We even have the ideas for the subsequent couple of cycles: 'Reporter', with films about journalism, and 'Reality', with documentaries or metafictional films. If you think that your movie suits one of these themes better, just let us know. But, please, be quick, we have to set this up much before next Wednesday, when the first film will be screened!

Relying on your participation and always yours,

BLACK&WHITE

'LE FATE IGNORANTI' + SPECIAL THANKS

2009-12-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

Set in the year in which the Jubilee and the World Pride 2000 split Rome, Özpetek's The Ignorant Fairies challenges gender and class categories within a melodramatic framework. Controversial, original, provocative, unconventional...

LE FATE IGNORANTI, by Ferzan Özpetek (2001)

December 16, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

With this unusual Italian film we wave goodbye to the "grey brutal architectonical room" that has given us shelter for exactly three months now and to Denmark, the country that will always be BLACK&WHITE's home and heartland.

The Mundus Film Club continues in Amsterdam in February. Until then, special thanks to all of you who have contributed in some way or another to make possible this idea of getting to know each other's cultures better through the artistic expression of our national cinemas: Inger, Anna, Roman, Sofia, Jennifer, Rabea, Judy, Kresten, Carol, Vinicius, May, Namitha, Rashmi, Nasrin, Katica, Guia, our loyal and not-so-loyal followers and Torsten and the Chinese janitor, whose technical skills have helped us out of trouble so many times...

Remember our e-mail box stays open for suggestions, Christmas cards or secret love letters during holidays. Consumism isn't everything!

mundusfilmclub@gmail.com

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & Viva El Amor!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqvid_BRUz8

'THE QUEER WORLD FROM A MIDDLE CLASS WOMAN POINT OF VIEW', by Guia Baggi

2009-12-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Death usually shocks people's lives but it might also push them to widen their knowledge of a person they loved and, through the discovery of his/her past, find a bit more about themselves.

This is the case of Antonia, the main character of the third film by the Turkish director Ferzan Özpetek, The Ignorant Fairies (Le Fate Ignoranti). Unexpectedly, Antonia finds herself alone by the accidental death of her partner. In the sorrow for the loss of her husband, Antonia discovers a second life she never imagined Massimo might have had.

Death and gender are again in The Ignorant Fairies the main motives in Özpetek's production, after The Turkish Bath - Hamam (1999) and before Facing Window (2003) and Saturn in Opposition (2007).

In her research of the truth, Antonia risks to take her husband's place in the strange family with whom he used to stay when for her he was at the stadium or at some conferences. It is a warm lively family very different from Antonia's normal middle-class life. To the point that she and her husband's lover, Michele, might fall in love with each other.

Unfortunately, looking more deeply into characters and their psychology, many stereotypes from which some sensibilities could take offense emerge: from Antonia's housemaid behaviour to Michele's infatuation for Antonia and, of course, his friends' features.

Özpetek's female characters are detached but determinate in struggling with their lives, while men are drawn complex, in crisis but strong at the same time. Sexuality is described in Özpetek's films especially from men's perspective but the main characters of his films are usually and sometimes involuntarily women.

Özpetek is some kind of Italian-Turkish Almodóvar. He was born in Turkey but studied at the Silvio D’Amico Drama Academy in Rome, and his works often combine his double culture. An emotional Margherita Buy plays Antonia's role, while Stefano Accorsi interprets Michele. The Ignorant Fairies was awarded with three Italian Silver Ribbons and with the prize as best feature at the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

'HEAD ON' FLYER

2009-12-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

After France and Spain, let's meet another strong woman from Germany. Head-On by Fatih Akin is a film which strikes hardly; a total electroshock led by a duo of brilliant actors with exceptional and effective music. The film heroine, Sibel, is rebellious, outspoken, and sexy.

Come along to enjoy a powerful movie, between suicide and sensuality: a contradictory love in the punk atmosphere of the streets of Hamburg!

GEGEN DIE WAND, by Fatih Akin (2004)

December 9, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

'HARSH, STRONG, ALMOST PUNK: 'HEAD ON'', by Naouel Abbadi

2009-12-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

The first German film to win a Golden Bear in Berlin in 2004, Fatih Akin's Head-On is a desperate fable about a wild love and a current romantic tragedy rocked by oriental chants. It is the story of two human beings, taken in the hurly-burly of life.

Alcoholic since the accidental disappearance of his wife, Cahit Tomruk (performed by the sensational Birol Ünel) tries to commit suicide during a drunkenness night. At the hospital, he meets Sibel, a young lady quite determined to do what she likes pretty freely. Oppressed by her very traditional family, she dreams to gain her independence. But to get it, it is necessary that she marries a Turk. Cahit should do the trick but the love is well sure to oppose their plans, inviting itself inconveniently in the fictitious wedding. Little by little, both flat-mates become more sociable, they learn to live side by side, even if the sex remains a taboo subject: "if we make love together, we shall be then a husband and a wife", murmurs Sibel. For a long time restrained, the passion eventually bursts in broad daylight and the trajectories of both lovers will be changed for ever.

Fatih Akin's remarkable film is many things: an exploration of Turkish culture in Germany, a comedy, a tragedy, and above all, a romance. The punk Cahit is a sad-eyed, worn-out soul who, as the film rages on, realizes that he wants to hang tenaciously onto life for as long as he can. Sibel Kekilli, in her feature film debut, gives a heart-breaking performance. Erratic, vibrant, extreme, occasionally out of her mind, Sibel is a woman who can change a man.

Not only is Head-On visually beautiful, but it also relies heavily on musicality. Without music, the film loses a certain emotional strike and Akin is the first to admit the importance of it: "Film is a two-dimensional thing, but when you add music it becomes three, four, even five-dimensional".

A tragedy of two lonely souls, the film opens with Cahit driving his car head-on into a brick wall: the first and most transparent realization of the threat stated in the title. But despite all the film's griminess and doom, bad behaviour and bad luck, it is hope that engines Head-On. These characters are intimately exposed; feelings of both genuine pleasure and pain bared wide open on the screen. Head-On is positively gripping.

'THE NEW POSTMODERN WOMAN IN 'MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS'', by Patricia López Villalón

2009-11-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

The irruption of Pedro Almodóvar in the 80's brought an internationally accepted icon of the new democratic and liberated Spain. But many reviewers had accused him of being acritical and ahistorical. Until his emergence as a filmmaker and with the exceptions of Luis Buñuel and Carlos Saura, most of the Spanish directors were immersed in the ghosts of the Civil War.

With his new postmodern frivolous comedies, Almodóvar was establishing a new model of auteur, breaking with the French traditional perception set up in the former decades. 'In the 50's and 60's, Spain experienced a kind of neo-realism which was far less sentimental than the Italian brand and far more ferocious and amusing. I’m talking about the films El cochecito and El pisito. It is a pity that the line has not been continued', said Almodóvar in 1986. He tried to do just this, but converting it into an original way of experiencing Spanish life, never avoiding the past but unifying the old and the new, tradition and modernity, and building, as a result, a skilful portrait of the society of the time and, specially, of its women.

Madrid, and, in general, the big city is seen as the ideal development place for this new woman. Madrid itself represents the traces of time and history in its buildings, its streets and its people. So there is no need to talk about past anymore, since it is inherent to everyday stories.

Precisely, the Spanish director starts from a Francoist idea about relationships: the woman frustrated as a wife, lover or mother becomes a matriarch, harridan, or hysteric. So she is condemned to solitude, which is the price of liberty. However, we soon notice it is not a bitter solitude anymore: women can now look for a sense in their own. But first, Carmen Maura, as Pepa, has to get rid of the Francoist-style machismo (misogyny) that Iván (Fernando Guillén) shows in his relationships with women, which, this way, become battles of the sexes.

Like many other Spanish directors before him, Almodóvar writes his scripts and outlines his characters following the internalized tradition of Spanish black humour, esperpento, defined and developed by Spain's greatest modern author, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán (1866-1936). In his masterpiece Luces de Bohemia, his alter ego Max Estrella states 'The tragic sense of life can be rendered only through an aesthetic that is systematically deformed' because 'Spain is a grotesque deformation of European civilisation'.

Esperpento points out to the absurdly anomalous abyss between Spain’s magnificent tradition and its tough reality. Almodóvar, however, reinvents this sort of humour in a very postmodern style, turning it to an optimistic, humanized, way of living modern life. This is particularly remarkable in her female characters. While esperpento tradition regards people as mere human marionettes, exposed to misunderstandings and confusion, women in Mujeres al borde… still find a way out to that chaos, unlike the plain, simple male characters that remain incapable to evolve.

In Luces de Bohemia, nobody seems to care about anyone and everything, even death, looks insignificant. That is what Mujeres suggested at the beginning but, on the contrary, Almodóvar's women are the only ones having compassion and giving real support and understanding to the others, while men still think selfishly.

Even evil female characters are deeper, and the director portrays them as heroines out of a Spanish Golden Age picaresque novel: they do not deserve any compassion. Once more, the "Spanishness" behind Almodóvar’s depiction of the new liberated woman (but still suffering the consequences of the immediate previous period) makes misfortune look tragicomic. 'Spain is an absurd country', wrote Ganivet. 'Absurdity is its nerve and mainstay. Its turn to prudence will denote its end'.

'ALMODÓVAR AND WOMEN DURING FRANCOISM', by Patricia López Villalón

2009-11-30T07:11:00.000-08:00

Spain is still a divided country. Not only directly because of the rupture the Civil War (1936-1939) produced in Spaniards' consciousness, but also because of the consequences it brought to every single aspect of their lives. The hegemony of the Catholic Church teaching model during the forty years of Franco's regime spread a distorted image about gender, positioning females as second class citizens and creating a sensation of guiltiness related to sexuality. Almodóvar will invert this Catholic ideological pattern through irony in his films to establish a harsh criticism.

Sexual ambiguity under Francoism was unthinkable and, therefore, fought. The clash between the then considered male attitudes and the figure of a woman, for instance, was solved underlining "feminine" qualities, and vice versa. The radical separation between sexes and the rarefying of social and sexual relationships (the popular dichotomy ‘a woman is a virgin or a whore’ – love separated from sex - is especially significant) led to the materialization of anxieties and complexes also illustrated in cinema. The "sexy Spanish comedy" of the 70’s depicted the typical Iberian macho, perpetually horny and agitated with the idea of having sex at any expense. Of course, he never succeeded, in line with the deep conservatism nature of these films.

From the early 50's on, progress and material development forced a moral and mental change in Spain, but all it provoked was a superficial modernization. Flamenco idol Manolo Escobar affirmed in the hit movie Pero… ¡en qué país vivimos! (1967): ‘If you ask me, a woman who doesn’t go into the kitchen, doesn’t sew and doesn’t even pray isn’t a woman… She’s a Civil Guard.’ According to the historians Carr and Fusi, ‘by the 70’s Spain had become a curious mixture of traditional – largely Catholic - values and the behaviour thought prosper for a consumer society.’ Despite economic achievements, Spaniards were still different.

By the death of the "Caudillo", in 1975, the "sleeping" Spain became noticeable, and dual dynamics begun to rule the country. The negotiated nature of the Spanish democratic transition resulted in politicians from the dictatorship overlying with those who started working in that lapse of time. Gender roles were renovated, but the old mentality died hard: transformations were more realistic in legislation that in ordinary life. And not to mention the power Catholic Church theoretically lost but actually maintains at least in the popular imaginary. This way, altogether with its historical economic sub-development, Spain is swallowed in a cultural and social set of incongruities from which, with his unique subversive vision, Pedro Almodóvar cannot (or do not wish to) escape.

'WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN' TRAILER

2009-11-30T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's a romance, but it's not about love.

It's a comedy, but not everyone's laughing.

It's a place where the one you can expect is the unexpected.

WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN

From internationally acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar comes a deliriously deranged comedy that follows no rules.

MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS,
by Pedro Almodóvar (1988)

December 2, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

'A PASSIONATE LOOK INTO THE HISTORY OF A LARGER-THAN-LIFE CHANTEUSE', by Naouel Abbadi

2009-11-24T05:13:00.000-08:00

La Môme tells the life story of legendary French songstress Edith Piaf, how her youth influenced her reckless adulthood and how it all led to her place as one of France's most enduring symbols.

She was not an ordinary singer. She lived her life at a fever pitch, driven by demons from her horrific childhood, and cruel twists of fate that together drove her to an early grave.

No ordinary bio-pic would do to capture the essence of what Piaf was. One of the film's saving graces is the music of Piaf used whole or re-recorded to mold and propel the story.

The film stars Marion Cotillard who, as the 'Little Sparrow', delivers a vigorous performance. She plays Piaf from vibrant adolescence to her frail, but no less vivid, forties. The impudence, the pride, the wariness are all there. When she puts her hands on her hips and begins to lip-synch to Piaf's voice, she is channeling more than the gestures, she is living the entire life of the singer.

Olivier Dahan knows here his redemption by revealing the creative strength of a visionary which we did not suspect him. By his complex editing and in great delicacy, and his incredible sense of stage, he makes us attend the revival of a popular cinema which we considered lost.

Through a fate more incredible than a novel, discover the soul of an artist and the heart of a woman. Strict, intense, fragile and indestructible, devoted to her art until the sacrifice, Edith Piaf is the most immortal of singers.

'LA MôME' FLYER

2009-11-24T01:42:00.000-08:00

A work. Personal and intimist. Tragic and romantic. Popular and universal. In a word: magnifique! Ne regretez rien and come to join us, come to meet a myth, a staggering star. Here is the most immortal of singers...

LA MôME, by Olivier Dahan (2007)

November 25, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

NEW CYCLE: 'WOMEN' !!!

2009-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

-Click to enlarge!!!

'MONSOON WEDDING' (2001). INVITE, by Rashmi Vasudeva

2009-11-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

This Wednesday evening you are invited to take part in a lush, colourful big bad fat Indian wedding. Hooting, cheering, dancing, and booing is most welcome. Like a typical Indian dish, Mira Nair's acclaimed 2001 movie Monsoon Wedding has several ingredients - family intrigue, sexual politics, wry humour and quirky characters - which all slosh into each other to make quite a palatable treat. What's more, there is just that right sprinkling of Bollywood masala over it, so that despite its serious undertones, it is a true-blue feel-good Bollywood movie at heart.

Decidedly a film made with Indian sensibilities for an international audience, Monsoon Wedding chronicles all the little banters, anxieties, loves, hatreds and jealousies that spring up when families get together to celebrate a grand wedding. It is an honest film that explores the grey side of Indian family life and its eccentricities while taking care to be true to the genuinely warm culture and undercurrents of strong bonding that is typical of such large Indian (specifically Punjabi - North-Western and some parts of North Indian -) families.

It is monsoon and rains, which are a symbol of rejuvenation and hope in India, only add atmosphere to Delhi's many crowded alleys and huge bungalows - the setting for the movie. Members of an extended Punjabi family from all over the globe arrive to take part in the arranged marriage. Amidst hectic preparations, family skeletons fall out of the cupboard, old rivalries resurface and new loves are discovered. All in the span of a week or so. The skillful director has managed to extract realistic performances from all the artists, especially veterans like Naseeruddin Shah, who plays the father of the bride, to the crude but adorable marigold-munching wedding contractor P. K. Dubey, played superbly by Vijay Raaz.

The vitality of Indian weddings and the live-life-kingsize philosophy associated with the Punjabi race is portrayed quite naturally and they are juxtaposed with some ugly secrets that indeed might be discovered in any family. And that really is the secret of this movie's success. It manages to draw in the audience right from the start and makes you feel part of the proceedings. Plus, the music is extremely hummable.

So come along to the wedding this Wednesday and be sure to do the Balle! Balle!

MONSOON WEDDING, by Mira Nair (2001)

November 18, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

MAKING OF 'ALICE'. Marco Martins' comments

2009-11-09T03:05:00.000-08:00

In Alice, I wanted to explore the idea of obsession and I wanted to change for once and for all the idea of Lisbon as an old-fashioned city. That is why I created Mario, someone who lost his daughter (the main character but, at the same time, absent from the whole movie) and who, feeling powerless to react in a world that seems to be giving up, designs a parallel way of living, apart from the society that surrounds him.

It is, therefore, between Mario and the city that most of the film dialogues are established, silent and mysterious dialogues. In the evening, once back home, we observe in his footage the anonymous crowd, in its slow and blurred pace, and we no longer know if those images are real or just a creation of Mario's fantasy - one face after another, one day after the other.

The city becomes a place of abstraction where Mario tries to hang on to the image of the missing child, the image of that blue dress that will haunt him forever.

'ALICE' (2005). REVIEW, by Sofia Cerqueira

2009-11-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

Join the solitary journey of a father looking for a missing child. Alice's plot might be written in one line but no words would be enough to describe the twirled emotions one will share once we jump into the obsessive and heart-breaking journey of Mario, a normal guy from Lisbon, looking for his 4-year old girl.

Every day, Mario repeats the exact same routine he did the day he lost Alice. Then he collects the several tapes he has placed all over the city, which he scans methodically, in order to catch a glimpse of his missing daughter. Through his mechanical actions, we are dragged down into a spiral of grief, anxiety and despair, among a city that ignores the dramas of its individuals, absorbed by the pointless routine of modern lives.

Alice casts a grey and slow-paced perspective over Lisbon, filmed as it has never been filmed before. Few words, sublime acting, beautiful photography and heart-touching music (composed by the Portuguese pianist Bernardo Sassetti) complete this nostalgic and powerful portrait of a man shattered by the overwhelming feeling of loss.

The debut work of the young director Marco Martins clearly raised the bar in the Portuguese movie scene, with its perfection when it comes to film-making, conquering audiences in Cannes festival and several other contests. A must-see, that will certainly touch even the coldest hearts.

ALICE, by Marco Martins (2005)

November 11, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

We're going on HOLIDAYS!

2009-11-02T17:56:00.000-08:00

BLACK&WHITE will be closed for holidays during this week. But we will be back with the skates on in November 11 to offer you the sublime portuguese drama Alice.

Thanks for being there week after week!! Vi ses!

CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN with BLACK&WHITE!

2009-10-28T00:32:00.000-07:00

Premonitory dreams, a creepy holiday resort, a group of four good-looking twentyish boys and girls looking for fun, ghostly child friendship bonds, strange incidents and unmentionable presences!! BLACK&WHITE has saved this explosive mix of the classic elements in horror films by the hand of the Filipino movie Villa Estrella to celebrate a special Halloween edition with you!

Bring your popcorn or sweets and we promise a goose-pimply evening that will make you jump on your seat!!

VILLA ESTRELLA, by Rico Maria Ilarde (2009)

October 28, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

ABOUT VINICIUS de CARVALHO

2009-10-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Dr. Vinicius de Carvalho was lieutenant of the Brazilian Army. He served for two years in the Mountain Infantry Brigade, doing technical services (teaching at the Military Academy, working with music and research on military subjects) beyond those inherent in military life. On two occassions he was on missions with troops and the Intelligence Service in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Nowadays, he is a Lector of Brazilian Studies at the University of Aarhus.

'ELITE SQUAD' (2007). SYNOPSIS, by Caroline d'Essen

2009-10-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

One of the most notorious releases in the history of Brazilian cinema, Jose Padilha's Elite Squad exposes the rampant corruption plaguing Rio de Janeiro from a policeman's point of view. The only problem is that, in Rio, the police are as corrupt as the criminals themselves, creating a ferociously violent atmosphere. Even the BOPE squad, an elite police force called in when the regular units are out of their league, resort to tactics that border on fascist procedures.

Elite Squad follows the lives of a BOPE captain, Nascimento, and two potential BOPE officers and childhood friends, Neto Gouveia and André Matias, and their experiences revolving the visit of the Pope John Paul II to Rio de Janeiro. Based on the book Tropa de Elite by sociologist Luiz Eduardo Soares, André Batista, and co-screenwriter Rodrigo Pimentel, Padilha's controversial glimpse into Rio's nightmarish criminal world will challenge and disturb viewers. The film won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival.

NEW CYCLE 'CITIES' SETS OFF!!

2009-10-18T16:22:00.000-07:00

BLACK&WHITE is proud to announce the titles of the films that will form its second cycle 'Cities'. This time we will be able to travel all around the world in a single-ticket trip, from the troubled favelas of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to a mysterious vacational villa in the Philippines, all the way up to a festive Dehli out of the Indian alternative movie scene and, to finish with, a desperate search through the 'bairros' of Lisbon in Portugal.

Everything in a whole new format: the starting time of the screenings will be 4pm instead of 5pm to make the access to the Danish School of Journalism easier for all (yay!) and allow a space for discussion after the screening, at request of many of you. This week session will include the inestimable contribution of Vinicius de Carvalho, a former member of the elite forces in Brazil, who will share his first hand experiences with us.

All told, 'Cities' calendar will look as follows:

TROPA DE ELITE, by José Padilha (2007)

October 21, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

VILLA ESTRELLA, by Rico Maria Ilarde (2009)

October 28, 4pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

MONSOON WEDDING, by Mira Nair (2001)

ALICE, by Marco Martins (2005)

NOTICE: TIME CHANGE!!

2009-10-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

The screening of the German film The Edukators has been rescheduled to 4.30pm instead of the original 5pm... Sorry for the inconvenience!!

DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI, by Hans Weingartner (2005)

October 14, 4.30pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

GOOD BYE, 'INEQUALITY IN SOCIETY'!

2009-10-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

BLACK&WHITE wants to bid farewell to its cycle 'Inequality in society' in style. That is why we are so glad the revolutionary (in its broader sense!) German film The Edukators came in the way with the gorgeous and forever engagé Daniel Brühl in it...

DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI, by Hans Weingartner (2005)

October 14, 4.30pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

This is the end of one stage. But the next will be full of surprises and changes with your requests, suggestions and, of course, participation!! Drop us an e-mail at our new account (on the top right) and let us know your thoughts! The new cycle 'Cities' will be taking off next week NOT at the same time. Stay tuned, thanks and see you all at The Edukators!!

'THE EDUKATORS' – 'DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI' (2005). SYNOPSIS, by Rabea Ottenhues

2009-10-12T07:41:00.000-07:00

Young and full of antipathy to the system they live in, flatmates Jan and Peter have their own way of fighting social injustice.

At night, they break into mansions in Berlin's rich neighborhoods, not stealing or destroying things, but disarranging the furniture and leaving nothing but a mess and a note saying ‘You are too rich’ or ‘The years of plenty are gone’. Their aim: leaving the residents with a feeling of insecurity and giving them food for thought about their wealth.

After a car crash, Peter's girlfriend Jule has to pay off her debt to a wealthy manager, whose car she ran into. That exactly is where the very same manager and owner of a villa, Hardenberg, comes into play. While Peter is on holiday, Jule and Jan begin a romance and, in an unreasonable, carefree mood, decide to break into Hardenberg's mansion.

Moments later, you find the three of them, Peter, Jule and Jan, sitting at a table in an Alps hut, smoking a joint - with Hardenberg, who they kidnapped after being caught off guard in his house and who now reminisces about his time as a revolutionist, practicing free love and knowing people like the leader of the student revolt, Rudi Dutschke.

But this, for sure, is not the happy end of the story. Things get more and more complicated, with Hardenberg among the three of them.

In the end, The Edukators is more than a well-played movie (those of you who watched Inglorious Basterds will surely recognize Daniel Brühl) that is certainly deeply critical of society, but in a new, sometimes even funny way, that at least left me with the feeling of wanting to change the world.

'FRESA Y CHOCOLATE' (1994). SYNOPSIS, by Jennifer Roig

2009-10-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

Fresa y Chocolate is based on a short story by one of the most important Cuban screenwriters alive. The feature film tells the story of three ordinary people, Diego, David and Nancy. Despite their differences, they start a friendship that is going to demand sacrifices from all of them in the hard times of 'el quinquenio gris' ('the gray five years' period).

It is a story of friendship, loyalty, freedom, emigration and love.

Fresa y Chocolate is one of the most polemical Cuban films ever. Produced in 1994, in the hardest times of the economic crisis, it tells the story of a darker previous period in the history of Cuban Revolution. Since the late 60s, the impact of Soviet Union clashed with the different positions of many intellectuals, professionals and workers in the island. Most of those who disagree with the new status quo were sent to production camps in the countryside, and kept isolated from their families and friends. The nature of emigration changed. Those who were leaving Cuba were not looking for more properties or richness but for freedom of thought, expression and sexual identity.

The 90s were no easy times for Cubans either. The film was a hit but most of the people who went to the theaters thought it was about a current issue. The film brought to discussion homosexuality discrimination, a reality that was unexplainable in a country where everybody was supposed to be equal.

4TH SCREENING tomorrow: A TASTE OF CUBA!

2009-10-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

BLACK&WHITE will be one month old tomorrow!! And to celebrate it, we invite you to a strawberry & chocolate ice-cream. Yes, it might be freezing outside, but we will keep it warm with Fresa y Chocolate, this week's Cuban film by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea & Juan Carlos Tabío.

It is a friendship story between a gay and a straight Communist in the 1970s. Among freedom and oppression, the right of being different and the right for artistic creation, the film stands as a clear-eyed critique of the revolution's treatment of gay Cubans. The tale's particular context adds freshness and political alertness, resulting in a charming piece of work with a quasi-hopeful message. Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry & Chocolate) is as refreshing as its title suggests. Come have a taste of it! Do not miss this funny colourful film, but above all, a call for tolerance, deftly executed by a director for whom the personal and the political were indivisible.

The experience will be, in sum, a thoughtful, sensual pleasure.

FRESA Y CHOCOLATE, by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea & Juan Carlos Tabío (1993)

October 7, 5pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

OLEKSANDR DOVZHENKO

2009-10-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

A note about our Ukranian filmmaker in view of the second alternative screening...

Born in a peasant family as one of its 14 children, Dovzhenko however managed to get enough education to pursue his dream, a teacher’s career. Little is known about Dovzhenko’s life during perilous war and revolution times. We know, however, his vain and hectic attempts to obtain higher education, his participation in Ukrainian movement for which he was incarcerated in a concentration camp and faced several executions by firing squad, one done with blank-fire and several eventually cancelled, luckily. After Bolsheviks won the civil war, friends helped him to get a position in Soviet Ukrainian Embassies in Europe where he also got to know Western culture. He used his knowledge when back in Ukraine, as painter and cartoonist, but mainly as a one of the world’s first filmmakers. In late 20s he shot several films that became popular and respected abroad, especially his classical 'Ukraine trilogy' (Zvenyhora, Arsenal, Earth). They became the heights of Ukrainian Renaissance, subsequently called 'Executed Renaissance' (thousands artists shot; hundreds left art; the rest – dozens – became loyal to party and lost their artistic individuality), a modernist interbellum movement dominated by grotesque romanticism, obsessed by matters of life and death and formal experiments.

Dovzhenko was too well-known abroad to simply be shot. So he was the one who tried to be loyal and suffered from censorship. Several of his projects were suspended and never done. He himself had to move to Moscow; entering Ukraine was under the ban for him. However, he developed a kind of personal relationship with Stalin, having become a sort of confessor for the Soviet tyrant; he was often called in the night to the Kremlin when Stalin had insomnia. Homesickness and dreadful moral dubiousness of his position made Dovzhenko suffer, and that was mirrored in his brilliant and blood-chilling diary. This immensely gifted filmmaker lived in depression and made almost no films since the 1930s. He died relatively young a few years after Stalin, in the process of working on a new film.

FLYER

2009-09-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

20th century European expressionism enters BLACK&WHITE with the striking war silent film Arsenal, by the Ukranian filmmaker Oleksandr Dovzhenko (add him in Facebook - yes, Facebook - here). This 'vintage' movie is a must-see of all times and momentarily breaks the Mundus Film Club trend of portraying contemporary society by taking us back to its roots. Power to the people!

ARSENAL, by Oleksandr Dovzhenko (1923)

September 30, 5pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

AND last but not least, BLACK&WHITE would like to make a call for arms to everyone wanting to contribute with a film for the next cycle we have in mind, 'Cities'. Start thinking! More about the subject VERY VERY soon...

'DOVZHENKO'S 'ARSENAL': AN ULTIMATE WAR MOVIE', by Roman Horbyk

2009-09-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

Just for change after all complicated contemporary movies, let’s take a turn to the past when people did not pretend they were living, but truly lived, when everything – love, hate, life, death – was a bit more real. Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to inform you next time on our Mundus movies list we have Arsenal (1928) by Oleksandr Dovzhenko, one of the most powerful examples of absolute cinema ever – and an absolute must-see for all interested in war and conflict. This visually rich, striking and often shocking masterpiece influenced by German expressionism of the 1920s (Dovzhenko studied and worked in Berlin for several years) and preceeding later French existentialism, unfolds a grotesque and laughably tragic story of the Ukrainian revolution and civil war of 1917 – 1921.

Shortsighted Ukrainian officer in funny early 20th century glasses, apparently a recent bookworm, points out to a Bolshevist rebel with a gun barrel and says, “Turn yourself face to wall, so that I can execute you”. The Bolshevik in a stylish scarf obeys at first, but in a moment turns back and slowly, step by step comes closer, extends his hand and takes the pistol away. “Why can’t you do it looking into my face, bastard, but I can do this with you?”, he says a second before a shot.

This memorable scene is a perfect answer to questions about Ukrainian nationalism ninety years ago and its incapacity of gaining the upper hand in a struggle for independence. It’s simply 'if you’re too weak to kill, it’s you who’ll get killed'. And this is also a universal truth about any clash in a globalised world almost a century later, for the nature of conflict remains (and most probably will remain) unchanged despite all up-to-date trends.

Some history to quickly look through

After last Russian tsar abdicated in February 1917, Ukrainian community which was oppressed for centuries formed a national assembly and a government that first claimed autonomy and then complete independence. However, Lenin and his Bolshevist party considered even devastated by the WWI Ukraine to be an important human, agricultural and industrial base for future Soviet empire, and the war broke out again.

As a result, in 1918 – 1921 several armies fought on Ukrainian land committing extensive war crimes. However, despite massive initial support from rural population (90 per cent of overall population), Ukrainian government lost due to bad organization, lack of political experience and initiative, poor army supplies and, last but not least, indifference from the international community. Arsenal uprising was a minor episode of war when workers on military plant instigated by the Bolshevist propaganda revolted against Ukrainian government. The uprising was suppressed, but it forced the Ukrainian military to draw the best units back from the front; road to Kyiv was left defended by just 300 schoolboy volunteers and, finally, Ukrainian capital surrendered.

What makes it more difficult is the recently discovered fact that Dovzhenko himself enlisted for the army of Ukrainian liberal-nationalist government and served in the units which oppressed the pro-Bolshevist workers uprising on the Arsenal plant in Kyiv. Eleven years later, a well-established film-maker did a movie about those developments from politically relevant, that is now Bolshevist, point of view. Although it does not affect artistic and aesthetic brilliancy of this classical piece of leftist avant-garde cinema, we should keep in mind while watching the famous final scene of the execution that in real life Dovzhenko was probably one of the firing squad that executed rebellious workers. This adds another layer on the complicated and extravagant text of the film, where officially acclaimed pro-Communist appearance meets a bitter epilogue to Ukrainian national revolution and sarcastic anger towards national leaders who failed to win a war for freedom.

Soldier corpses with smiling faces, horses that can speak and bullet-proof naked bodies, nervous and disturbing macabre music which accompanies this silent movie… For those who watch Dovzhenko’s works for the first time they often become once-in-a-lifetime experience. His distinguishable, fractured story-telling manner when you see One Big Story in a dozen of small and non-repeating ones is something you’ll never forget. So, if you want to enjoy some vintage and still actual classical motion picture, if you are interested in war at a broad philosophic angle or you just want to discover Ukrainian culture, please do come at 5pm on Wednesday, September 30 to Lille Auditorium at the Danish School of Journalism. See you there!

+ Info about Dovzhenko

+ Info on Arsenal (or here)

+ Info on the war in Ukraine

MAKING OF TE DOY MIS OJOS. Icíar Bollaín's comments

2009-09-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

"After Flores de otro mundo, I wanted to make a more concentrated movie, less choral, and probably because of it more straightforward and intense. The co-scriptwriter, Alicia Luna, and I had been thinking over the topic of domestic violence for a long time and saw that, though it is a constant theme in mass media, there were many questions that we could not answer.

Why a woman endures an average of ten years together with a man she's being thrashed by? Why doesn't she go away? Why not only she doesn't go away but even assure she is still in love as some of them do? Economic dependence reasons do not explain the fact that one of every four women in Europe and the United States affirm they have gone through some violent relationship in their life.

As we were doing research, we discovered that one of the basic reasons was that they keep hoping the man will change. So our character is a woman who keeps waiting at the door every day for the man with whom she fell in love... But who is this man? Why a profile of the batterer hardly exists? And why these men ill-treat for years who they claim to love with all their heart?

There are physically violent men, there are others that are violent also psychologically and these are probably the ones who cause more damage. Some are really cruel and there are some others who are also victims of themselves, cannot solve their conflicts if it is not by means of violence, need to control the person they love and are very scared... And that is the man in our film, someone who has the chance of seeing himself and change.

Te Doy Mis Ojos tells Pilar and Antonio's story but also that of whom surround them: a mother who consents, a sister who does not understand, a son who looks and keeps quiet, a few friends, a society and a city as Toledo, which, with its artistic brilliance and its historical and religious weight, adds one more dimension to this story of love, fear, control and power.

The actors

For the character of Pilar we tested many marvellous actresses. It was a long process. This character possesses the enormous difficulty of not knowing who she is. Pilar neither says what she thinks nor what she feels because she doesn't know it. She is a woman who is not herself. How do you tell an actress to play that? In addition, she is a woman who evolves, because she begins completely lost and ends re-composed and blooming.

Laia Marull can seem to be very fragile and be strong at the same time, can appear shattered or utmost beautiful, as if lightened from within, and is a very solid actress who can combine experience with emotion constantly on the surface.

Luis Tosar's character is also very difficult. He has given him many things. He goes from being very brutish and not understanding anything to establishing himself in another level. He can be tender and change in a second, growing dark and becoming unpredictable... Luis gives Antonio's character an infinity of shades. I believe that they are two very brave actors who really dove into the scenes.

Candela Peña brings her intensity and a great tenderness to a character that represents those who want to help but do not to know how, because deep down we don't understand. With all her good faith, Ana doesn't manage to help her sister because she doesn't understand her, because she tries to simplify something very complex. We are all a bit like Candela.

Rosa Maria Sardá carries out with generosity the ungrateful labour of giving life to a character who silences the problem and who therefore consents, as it has been done for so many years."

AFTERMATH

2009-09-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

Reactions so far after La Haine...

-"It's like Guy Ritchie's films but more socially concerned", says Roman.

If you were there, post your own comments down below!!

If not, tick your reason for not coming:

1. "I have already seen it!".
2. "I have to cook/attend a dinner with friends/flatmates".
3. "The day has been very long and I'm too tired".
4. "I need to go home now but I'll be right there!".

Well, before Te Doy Mis Ojos (Take My Eyes) screening next week, a few possible solutions:

1. See it again!
2. Bring them along! Eating in front of the screen is totally OK.
3. Don't forget your pillow and you'll be ready for a real relaxing evening...
4. Hmmm, there's nothing we can say to beat that except for... Move your bum from the sofa to the seats!

Te Doy Mis Ojos, by Icíar Bollaín (2003)

September 23, 5pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

Stay tuned for more info on this striking Spanish drama...

'LA HAINE*, A POWERFUL PUNCH IN THE STOMACH', a review by Naouel Abbadi

2009-09-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

So far, everything's fine... We are in the Cité, a HLM in the suburbs of Paris, France. It's just morning, but there's tension in the air already. The youngsters of the hood have spent all night rioting in the streets, burning down buildings and wrecking everything.

Set in 24 hours, La Haine follows three mates as they wander aimlessly through the city. Vinz (Cassel) is a Jewish Travis Bickle, boiling with anger. North African Saïd (Taghmaoui) is a personable loudmouth, keen to get himself laid. Black boxer Hubert (Koundé) is a more thoughtful presence and his frustration, the most deeply buried. During the course of a day and night, they meditate on the death of an Arabic friend at the hands of the police, and stumble across a cop's lost pistol.

Mathieu Kassovitz dissects a crisis situation of racism and social exclusion in modern Paris, with lucidity but also anger and brutality. Released to both controversy and acclaim in 1995, La Haine ranks among the most incendiary European films of the decade. Furious, funny, intelligent and tense, its treatment of racial violence, issues of the French-style system of integration, disenfranchisement and suburban poverty, introduced audiences to aspects of French life rarely seen on film - specifically police brutality and Le Pen's National Front.

In style and intent, the film occupies a position somewhere between Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing.

Atmospherically shot in black and white and infused with the sounds and style of French hip-hop, Kassovitz's direction has the urgent authenticity of documentary footage. He's also an effective stylist and uses Paris as a striking backdrop. With nowhere to go, the boys slope through deserted public spaces - empty streets, vacant trains, a shopping mall at four in the morning - locations that echo their own sense of estrangement. 'The world is yours' runs the slogan on an advertising billboard. Saïd gets his pen out and alters it to the bitterly ironic - or is it desperately hopeful? - 'The world is ours'.

Powerfully but naturally acted, La Haine's great strength is that it's so fully engaged with the world it depicts. Vital and visceral yet sympathetic to its flawed protagonists, it's Kassovitz's own writing from the start of the film that best conveys his characters' rage at their impotence and isolation, and La Haine's own grimly fatalistic tone. "Heard about the guy who fell off a skyscraper?" asks Hubert. "On his way down past each floor, he kept saying, to reassure himself, 'so far so good... so far so good... so far so good'. How you fall doesn't matter. It's how you land."

Writer-director Kassovitz's great triumph is the way he allies outright polemic with intensely powerful drama. In fact, so effective is his handling of the issues that the French Cabinet were reported to have watched the film in the hope that it would help their understanding of the country's ethnically diverse young poor.

*The Hate

INTRO

2009-09-14T18:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, guys, this is moving forward!

Welcome to BLACK&WHITE, the Mundus Film Club.

We have an exquisite appetizer to start our four dish cycle titled 'Inequality in society', the raw French movie La Haine, by Mathieu Kassovitz (1995).

This amazing masterpiece will make up our first screening in history and stands as a great opportunity to get deeper into French postmodern culture, so don't miss it out!!!

LA HAINE, by Mathieu Kassovitz

September 16, 5pm

Lille Auditorium (Room 234)

Danish School of Journalism

If I didn't convince you, let Vinz have a try...