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Film & Media Culture

Film & Media Culture FMMC

Hirschfield Series - Leviathan

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Film & Media Culture
(Audrey Zvyagintsev, Russia, 2014, 140 minutes) A dispute over land in a remote Russian township becomes a stone that casts cataclysmic ripples through a family and a community. It is a thinly veiled political parable drenched in bitter irony that takes aim against the corrupt, corrosive regime of Vladimir Putin. “The director’s most accessible and naturalistic film, using everyday characters to test how well modern-day Russia is maintaining the social contract with its citizens.”––Peter Debruge, Variety. In Russian with English subtitles.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Lamb

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
When an Ethiopian boy moves in with distant relatives he takes along his pet sheep—but the upcoming holidays spell danger for his beloved friend. “It provides a welcome insider view of a certain element of rural Ethiopian life, influenced in non-demonstrable ways by the country’s turbulent political situation”––Jay Weissberg, Variety. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. (Yared Zeleke, Ethiopia, 2015, 94 minutes) Free

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Jauja

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
Danish Captain Gunnar Dinesen leads a band of men assigned to kill Aboriginals in Argentina’s desert. During his sojourn there, his daughter runs off with a young soldier, causing him to take off in pursuit. “Jauja is a rapturously bizarre movie that resists knowledge. That’s its secret, intoxicating power; the less you understand, the more mesmerized you are”––Bilge Ebiri, Vulture. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. (Lisandro Alonso, Argentina/Denmark, 2014, 109 minutes) Free

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Ida

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
(Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland, 2013, 82 minutes) Poland, 1962. Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), an eighteen-year-old novitiate nun is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation. “Ida is an art film in the finest sense of the term. It is austere technique counterbalanced by emotions that bleed”––Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. Sponsored by the Holocaust Film Fund.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Girlhood

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
(Celine Sciamma, France, 2014, 113 minutes) Fed up with her abusive family situation, lack of school prospects and the “boys’ law” in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang. “A mesmerizing exercise in the enlightenment that can happen when a filmmaker shifts the male cinematic gaze ever so slightly”––Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. In French with English subtitles. Sponsored by the French Department.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Farewell My Concubine

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
(Chen Kaige, China, 1993, 171 minutes) Douzi is a delicate young boy who is dropped by his mother, a prostitute, into the hands of Master Guan, the head of the Peking Opera in 1925. “It is one of those very rare film spectacles that deliver just about everything the ads are likely to promise: action, history, exotic color, multitudes in confrontation, broad overviews of social and political landscapes”––Vincent Canby,The New York Times. In Mandarin with English subtitles.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Closed Curtain

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
(Jafar Panahi, Iran, 2013, 106 minutes) In a secluded house by the sea with the curtains shut, a screenwriter hides from the world with only his dog as company. The tranquility is abruptly broken one night by the arrival of a young woman fleeing from the authorities. Refusing to leave, she takes refuge in the house. But come dawn, another unexpected presence will change everything. “The journey is often challenging, but the rewards—heady, emotional, provocative and invigorating—are endless.”––Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York. In Persian with English subtitles.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Citizenfour

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
(Laura Poitras, USA, 2014, 114 minutes) This Oscar-nominated documentary unfolds the life of Edward Snowden as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the NSA. “Citizenfour is a gripping record of how our rulers are addicted to gaining more and more power and control over us, if we let them”––Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public

Hirschfield Series - Chevalier

Sponsored by:
Film & Media Culture
Six men on a fishing trip aboard a luxury yacht in the Aegean Sea decide to play a game: “The Best at Everything.” When the game is over, only one man receives the victory ring: the Chevalier. “A brilliantly contained and sublimely ridiculous send-up of competitive male egos from a refreshing female perspective”––Ben Nicholson, CineVue. In Greek with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Hirschfield International Film Series. (Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, 2016, 105 minutes) Free

Dana Auditorium (Sunderland Language Center)

Free
Open to the Public