Oskar Fischinger Retrospective / Nosferatu / David Lynch selects / Albert Maysles / & More
FALL
2014
october / november / December
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La Dolce Vita (p. 33)
La Dolce Vita
ta b l e o f contents 2 Calendar 6 Featured Series Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art & Culture 7 Featured Series Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace 8 artist spotlight Lyn Godley: Behind the Veil 10 programs 12 october 28 november 35 december tickets/box office: Tickets are available at www.ihousephilly.org + 215.387.5125 IHP’s Box Office is open from 1pm – 8pm, Tuesday – Saturday. Purchase your tickets in person or over the phone during these hours and save the processing fee. Unless noted, all IHP screenings are free admission for IHP members; $7 students + seniors; $9 general admission. Cover: Lolita (p. 16)
International House Philadelphia
Nosferatu (p. 15)
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Project Twenty1 6pm (p. 16)
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Project Twenty1 6pm (p. 16)
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IHP Open House 3pm (p. 19)
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Seven Stars of Hinduism 6pm (p. 20)
Design Philadelphia: Lyn Godley Opening 5:30pm (p. 19)
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Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective 7pm (p. 12)
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David Lynch Selects Lolita 7pm (p. 16)
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Archive Fever! 6.0 A Useful Life (La vida Ăştil) 7pm (p. 20)
Directors in Focus Backbone 7pm (p. 14)
Motion Pictures Nosferatu 8pm (p. 15)
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Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace Farah Siraj, featuring spiritchild 7:30pm (p. 17)
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The All-Around Reduced Personality (aka Redupers) The Wall 7pm (p. 21)
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New Middle East Cinema (p. 27)
Scribe American Promise 7pm (p. 24)
New Middle East Cinema (p. 27)
Assemblage 7pm (p. 25)
New Middle East Cinema (p. 27)
Diwali 6pm (p. 26)
New Middle East Cinema (p. 27)
Directors in Focus Backbone 2pm (p. 15)
Paul Strand Redes (The Wave) / Regen (Rain) / A Bronx Morning 7pm (p. 26)
Night of the Philly Dead 9pm (p. 28)
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Family Matinee Witches 2pm (p. 17) The Janus Collection Haxan Witchcraft Through the Ages 7pm (p. 18)
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Family Matinee Coraline 2pm (p. 21) City Series The Great Beauty 7pm (p. 24)
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Exhumed Films 24 Hour Horror-thon 12pm (p. 27)
International House Philadelphia
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Bjรถrk: Biophilia Live 8pm & 10:15pm (p. 28)
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7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (p. 32)
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Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art, & Culture Albert Maysles 7pm (p. 29)
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Scribe HERadventure (An Online, Interactive Film) 7pm (p. 32)
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7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (p. 32)
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Motion Picture The Big Lebowski 7pm (p. 29)
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David Lynch Selects Mon Oncle 7pm (p. 30)
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Family Matinee Sleeping Beauty 2pm (p. 31) The Janus Collection Il sorpasso 7pm (p. 31)
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7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (p. 32)
City of Signs La Dolce Vita 7pm (p. 33)
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7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (p. 32)
Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace Alex Shaw, with special guests FACTS Charter School 7:30pm (p. 33)
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7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (p. 32)
Family Matinee Thief of Bagdad 2pm (p. 34) Paul Strand Que Viva Mexico 7pm (p. 35)
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Reelblack Myra’s Angel 7pm (p. 35)
READING: Jean Genet Un Chant d’Amour / Jean Genet in Chicago 7pm (p. 36)
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Penn Cinema Studies New Authors of Italian Cinema (p. 36)
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover 7pm (p. 37)
David Lynch Short Film Program The Alphabet / Hotel Room (Episode 1: Tricks) / Rabbits 7pm (p. 39)
Penn Cinema Studies New Authors of Italian Cinema (p. 36)
City of Signs The Conformist 7pm (p. 37)
Penn Cinema Studies New Authors of Italian Cinema (p. 36)
Paul Strand Native Land 7pm (p. 38)
Penn Cinema Studies New Authors of Italian Cinema (p. 36)
The Janus Collection / Paul Strand Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta) 7pm (p. 38)
International House Philadelphia
Albert Maysles
F e at u r e d series Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art & Culture This past September, we presented the first in our newly conceived speaker series titled Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art, & Culture, curated and moderated by Anthony Smyrski of Random Embassy and Megawords. Wayfaring will take place once a quarter for a year, and gives members of the arts community a vehicle to discuss the way that travel and multi-cultural experiences have influenced their artistic process. Wayfaring, or the action of traveling from place to place, whether literally or metaphorically, is the journey of life, choices, and experiences. The series will investigate both individual moments and the sum of these experiences in order to determine cultural resonance. This quarter, don’t miss documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles, when he visits IHP to discuss his work. Wednesday, November 5 at 7pm On July 28th, Maysles was awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts. President Obama remarked: “The 2013 National Medal of Arts [goes] to Albert Maysles for rethinking and remaking documentary film in America. One of the pioneers of direct cinema, he has offered authentic depictions of people and communities
across the globe for nearly 60 years. By capturing raw emotions and representations, his work reflects the unfiltered truths of our shared humanity.” Maysles visits IHP this fall to discuss his work, in particular how people, communities, and cultures have influenced his process and the art he documents. Thursday, February 12 at 7pm Marshall Allen, an American free jazz and avantgarde jazz alto saxophone player, will speak at IHP about his life, his music, and his experiences with other cultures. Allen is best known for his work with eccentric keyboardist/bandleader Sun Ra, having recorded and performed with hi since the late 1950s, and has led Sun Ra’s Arkestra since 1993. Critic Jason Ankeny described Marshall as “one of the most distinctive and original saxophonists of the postwar era.” (Complete details to be confirmed) Thursday, April 9 at 7pm For a decade, Philadelphia photographer Zoe Strauss showed her photographic works once a year in a public space beneath an I-95 highway overpass in South Philadelphia. Through portraits and documents of houses and signage, Strauss took a hard look at the economic struggles and lives of residents in her own community and other parts of the United States. Strauss, a self-taught photographer and political activist, will discuss her work as a type of social intervention. (Complete details to be confirmed)
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F e at u r e d series Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace We are pleased to welcome Intercultural Journeys as a programmatic partner and are excited about the diversity that this partnership will bring to our lineup. The inaugural season begins this October, and over the course of the year, will feature five concerts, each showcasing a variety of diverse cultures and faiths, exploring the theme of “Songs for Peace”, with a unique vocalist in each performance. Intercultural Journeys seeks to promote understanding in pursuit of peace amongst people of diverse faiths and cultures through dialogue and the presentation of world-class performances in music, dance, the spoken word, and other art forms. They and we believe that performances, done for the purpose of bringing people together that might otherwise be in conflict, play a part in contributing to world peace. Intercultural Journeys was first founded in 2002 by Philadelphia Orchestra cellist Udi Bar-David, philanthropist Carole Haas Gravagno, Majid Alsayegh, and Sheldon L. Thompson. Together they saw the role that music could play in beginning a dialogue between people that might not otherwise speak to each other. Since then, Intercultural Journeys has held over 160 concerts, partnering with a diverse roster of both local and
international artists, in the Greater Philadelphia area, across the United States, and abroad, in countries such as China, Spain, Italy, and Israel. ‘The season at International House will open with a show by well-known and familiar Intercultural Journey’s artist Farah Siraj, “Jordan’s Music Ambassadress,” in concert with her band The Arabian Jazz Project and with special guest, spiritchild, a self-described ‘freedom singer’ and hip-hop artist. Other performances will include: Alex Shaw, Director of the well-known Alô Brasil and member of the Spoken Hand Percussion Ensemble; Found Sound Nation member, Elena Moon Park; Vermont-based Apple Hill String Quartet; and local favorite, the Liberian Women’s Chorus for Change. The 2014/2015 season for Intercultural Journeys marks a move to a new concert model, one that blends performances at International House Philadelphia with special, community engagement concerts designed to take place within a specific and often underserved community. Intercultural Journeys’ community engagement series will be announced closer to each date. Friday, October 10 at 7:30pm Farah Siraj, featuring spiritchild Friday, November 21 at 7:30pm Alex Shaw, with special guests FACTS Charter School
International House Philadelphia
Among the Cherry Blossoms
ARTIST S P OTLI G H T Lyn Godley: Behind the Veil “My recent fiber optic work is a coming together of a full career and life; merging my early training in fine art, my 30 years as a designer adapting design to user needs, and my 20-year obsession with lighting. My imagery is inspired by nature, drawn from places and things that feed the soul. But more important than what this work means to me is the potential for the audience. During my solo exhibit in Cologne, Germany we witnessed many viewers sit down in the gallery for up to three hours and return multiple times to do the same. They did not want to talk to each other, or the curator; they just wanted to be there, sitting quietly with the work. The calming physiological effect on the audience was unexpected, and I spent the next year researching to find a reason. I found what most of the Arts and Healing community already knows: the healing potential that images of nature, natural fractals, and repeated pattern have on the viewer.
But what came as a surprise was when I looked into recent developments in light therapy and discovered that the particular wavelengths of light we were using were the same as are used in much of the therapy currently taking place, resulting in reduction of stress and actual calming of the body. Much has been learned about the benefit of artwork in healing environments: hospitals, churches, or any place we go to relieve suffering. This is proven both in terms of particular types of imagery, as well as in various types of participation. Much artwork focuses on the visual language of imagery; I believe we can go further. We have the research and technology to use light as therapy, incorporated into art installations, hand in hand with the benefits of art to intervene on a deeper level in creating healing environments. Terry K. McGowan, the Director of Engineering for the American Lighting Association, recently stated that “You have to start thinking of light as a drug,” in reference to light’s ability to promote positive physiological change. We have the ability to create interactive engagement with multi-sensory components, incorporating light into artwork for healing environments that use specific therapeutic wavelengths of light to create spaces for our patients, the families, and the caregivers, with the potential to calm, relieve, and heal.
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Into the Cattails “Behind the Veil” is a new series composed by layering multiple photographs of particular themes. My drawings are a multi level exploration. I use a variety of medium for the dimensional quality it offers. I begin with digital photography, manipulating the image in saturation levels and pixilation. I then digitally print the images on heavy watercolor paper and draw upon it in charcoal and pastels. I love the depth it creates and the contrast between the digitally printed image and the charcoal markings; it is the contrast of the artist’s markings over time. The drawings are then pierced with hundreds of tiny holes, through which fiber optic cables are threaded and trimmed. Bundles of the cables are attached to LEDs using Arduino micro-computing behind the drawings to illuminate the fiber optics. They are layers of images, dealing with life and nature...but also playing with the idea of looking deeply, as at first glance you may just see one image, if you look closely you will see much more depth, many layers of the various stages of nature. You will also see someone looking back at you in each piece. These are about the act of deeply observing while someone quietly watches over you. Seeing and being seen, in a world where so many feel simultaneously invisible among the many, yet knowing we are being watched. Watching the world while the world watches us.”
Please join us for an opening reception on Tuesday, October 14 from 5:30-7pm to open Lyn Godley’s “Behind the Veil”. The opening will be followed by an artist’s talk at 7pm. The exhibit will be on view through the end of December 2014, in IHP’s East Alcove on the Main Level. Presented in partnership with DesignPhiladelphia. www.designphiladelphia.org
International House Philadelphia
programs Archive Fever! 6.0 Central to our visual culture, the archive is a repository for personal memories, shared histories, objects, and documents through which we revisit the history of our time. In this series, we explore the myriad ways in which the archive, archival, and found materials are central to the works of film and video artists who are discovering the dynamic possibilities within archives. Thursday, October 16 at 7pm A Useful Life (La vida útil) City of Signs City of signs will travel through history and the films of Rome, the Italian capital, starting with the classic Roberto Rossellini’s Roma, Citta’ Aperta moving on through several other titles including Paolo Sorrentino’s most recent hit La Grande Bellezza, and Samuel Alarcon’s La Ciudad de los Signos, examining how and why this city, in all its various representations, is the Caput Mundi, or capital of the world. Saturday, October 18 at 7pm The Great Beauty Thursday, November 20 at 7pm La Dolce Vita Thursday, December 11 at 7pm The Conformist David Lynch Selects The name David Lynch is now synonymous with cinema’s strangest, most visually arresting imagery and its most memorably quirky characters. Lynch’s morbidly humorous, surrealism-saturated vision was, in part, informed by his time spent in Philadelphia as a student. Yet he has also been inspired by films that left their mark on cinematic history. To coincide with a major exhibition of David Lynch’s artwork at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, International House asked Lynch to select three titles that have been influential on his work as a director. David Lynch film programming is in conjunction with David Lynch: The Unified Field at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), the first major U.S. museum exhibition of PAFA alumnus David Lynch, on view September 13, 2014 to January 11, 2015. Organized in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition features over 90 paintings and drawings from all periods of Lynch’s career. It includes rarely-seen early work
from Lynch’s time in Philadelphia (1965-70), a critical period in his creative development. Follow @ihousephilly @PAFAcademy on social media and join the conversation with #PAFADavidLynch. Thursday, October 9 at 7pm Lolita Friday, November 7 at 7pm Mon Oncle Family Matinees International House Philadelphia entertains families when we open the doors to all ages for our series of family friendly matinees two Saturdays a month. The series brings the big screen to children, inspiring their imaginations, and yours, too! Take this opportunity to encourage a love of film and art from a young age. Audiences of all ages will delight in this carefully curated selection of inspired educational and entertaining cinema from around the world. With a diverse line-up of programming geared towards children, teens, parents, and grandparents, there’s no reason to leave anyone at home! Support provided in part by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
Saturday, October 11 at 2pm Witches Saturday, October 18 at 2pm Coraline Saturday, November 8 at 2pm Sleeping Beauty Saturday, November 22 at 2pm Family Matinee Thief of Bagdad Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace Intercultural Journeys seeks to promote understanding in pursuit of peace amongst people of diverse faiths and cultures through dialogue and the presentation of world-class performances in music, dance, the spoken word, and other art forms. They, and we, believe that performances, done for the purpose of bringing people together that might otherwise be in conflict, give us the opportunity to play a small part in contributing to world peace. Friday, October 10 at 7:30pm Farah Siraj, featuring spiritchild Friday, November 21 at 7:30pm Alex Shaw, with special guests FACTS Charter School
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The Janus Collection Truly one of our national treasures, Janus Films is a vital part of American film culture. International House continues the Janus Collection with titles from their library, all in brand new or restored 35mm prints. Saturday, October 11 at 7pm Haxan Witchcraft Through the Ages Saturday, November 8 at 7pm Il sorpasso Saturday, December 13 at 7pm Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta) Motion Pictures Motion Pictures is a monthly series that focuses on different movements in film culture such as science fiction, city symphonies, and New German Cinema. It has previously featured the films of Georges Méliès, John Ford, Preston Sturges, and Andrei Tarkovsky. Thursday, November 6 at 7pm The Big Lebowski Saturday, October 4 at 7pm Nosferatu (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht) Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art & Culture Wayfaring, a speaking series that takes place once a quarter curated and moderated by Anthony Smyrski of Random Embassy and Megawords, will give members of the arts community a vehicle to discuss the way that travel and multi-cultural experiences have influenced their artistic process. Wayfaring, or the action of traveling from place to place, whether literally or metaphorically, is the journey of life, choices, and experiences, and this speaker series will investigate both individual moments and the sum of these experiences in order to determine cultural resonance. Wednesday, November 5 at 7pm Albert Maysles
PARTNER programs Exhumed FIlms Formed in 1997, Exhumed Films was created to provide a theatrical venue for a much beloved art form that had all but disappeared in the 1990s and is in further decline in the early 21st century: the cult horror movie. Saturday, October 25 at 12pm 24 Hour Horror-thon Reelblack Reelblack promotes discoveries and rediscoveries in African-American films. Tuesday, December 2 at 7pm Myra’s Angel Scribe Video Center Producers’ Forum The Producers’ Forum in-person screening series is a lecture discussion program, that allows Scribe to invite important nationally and internationally recognized media makers to Philadelphia to share their work and talk about their process of creating. Tuesday, October 21 at 7pm American Promise Tuesday, November 11 at 7pm HERadventure (An Online, Interactive Film)
International House Philadelphia
Allegegretto Thursday, October 2 at 7pm Optical Poetry: Oskar Fischinger Retrospective Presented in association with Center for Visual Music Featuring 35mm prints of Fischinger’s classic visual music films, including Allegretto, Study No. 5, 6, 7 and 8, Radio Dynamics, Composition in Blue, Motion Painting No. 1, Kreise, American March, Spirals, Coloratura, Spiritual Constructions, Walking from Munich to Berlin, and others. Most are preserved or new prints. The Fischinger Retrospective has screened at venues worldwide, including Lincoln Center, New York; Whitney Museum, New York; Tate Modern, London; Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley; Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia; Northwest Film Forum, Seattle; EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam; the Annecy Festival, France, and many more. Decades before computer graphics, before music videos, even before “Fantasia” (the 1940 version), there were the abstract animated films of Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), master of “absolute” or nonobjective filmmaking. He was cinema’s Kandinsky, an animator who, beginning in the 1920’s in Germany, created exquisite “visual music” using geometric patterns and shapes choreographed tightly to classical music and jazz. (John Canemaker, New York Times) Images from left to right: Still from Allegretto (1936-1943) © Center for Visual Music Still from Kreise (1933-34) © Center for Visual Music
Kreise (Circles)
[Spirals]
1926, 35mm, b/w, silent, 3 min.
New preservation print.
[Walking from Munich to Berlin] 1927, 35mm, b/w, silent, 3 min.*
An early “diary film” documenting Fischinger’s three week walk between the two cities.
Spiritual Constructions 1927, 35mm, b/w, silent. 7 min.*
Influenced by Fischinger’s childhood observations of his family’s brewery.
Studie Nr. 2
1930, 35mm, b/w, silent, 2 min.*
(originally synchronized to “Vaya, Veronica”)
Studie Nr. 5 (New preservation print) 1930, 35mm, b/w, sound, 3:15 min.
Music: “I’ve Never Seen a Smile Like Yours.” Fischinger’s groundbreaking series of Studies synchronized to music screened in first-run theatres worldwide as shorts before the main features.
Studie Nr. 6
1930, 35mm, b/w, sound, 2.5 min.*
Music: Jacinto Guerrero, “Los Verderones”
Studie Nr. 7
1931, 35mm, b/w, sound, 2.5 min.
Music: Brahms, “Hungarian Dance no. 5”
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Studie Nr. 8
1931, 35mm, b/w, sound, 5 min.
Music: Dukas, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”
Coloratura
1932, b/w, sound, 2.5 min.*
Kreise (Circles) (Tolirag Ad Version)
1933-34, 35mm, color, sound, 2 min.*
Music: Wagner and Grieg. Originally an advertising film for the Tolirag ad agency. Made with a new three-color separation printing process which Fischinger helped develop, GasparColor, Kreise was one of the first color films made in Europe.
Muratti Greift Ein (Muratti Marches On) 1934, 35mm, color, sound, 3 min.
Music: Excerpts from Josef Bayer’s “Die Puppenfee.” Fischinger’s famous and often imitated commercial, featuring waltzing and marching cigarettes.
Muratti Privat
1935, 35mm, b/w, sound, 3 min.*
Music: Mozart
Komposition in Blau (Composition in Blue) 1935, 35mm, color, sound, 4 min.*
Music: Otto Nicolai, “Merry Wives of Windsor Overture.” Whereas each of Fischinger’s previous films had utilized only one basic animation technique, Composition in Blue bursts forth with half a dozen different new techniques - mostly involving pixilation of three-dimensional forms. (William Moritz). Fischinger’s last film made in Germany.
Allegretto, Early Version
1936, 35mm, color, sound, 2.5 min.*
Music: Ralph Rainger, “Radio Dynamics.” Fischinger’s first film work in America, commissioned by Paramount as the opening number for their Big Broadcast of 1937 feature.
Oskar prepared the film, but found Paramount would not pay for the color film stock he’d requested. This early color version was never printed at Paramount, and Oskar resigned.
Allegretto, Late Version
1936-43, 35mm, color, sound, 2.5 min.
Music: “Radio Dynamics” by Ralph Rainger. In 1941, with a grant from The Museum of NonObjective Painting Fischinger bought the film materials back from Paramount, painted new cels and created this version which is the widely distributed, popular version.
Radio Dynamics
1942, 35mm, color, intentionally silent, 4 min.
The beginning loop sequence was restored by William Moritz. An experiment in color rhythm.
An American March 1941, 35mm, color, sound, 3 min.*
Music: Sousa, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Made with partial support from The Museum of Non-Objective Painting (which later became the Guggenheim)
Motion Painting No. 1 1947, 35mm, color, sound, 11 min.*
Music: Bach: “Brandenburg Concerto no. 3.” Made with partial support from The Museum of Non-Objective Painting (Guggenheim Foundation). A film made by painting; a film of a painting. Prints from the collection of Center for Visual Music (www.centerforvisual.music.org). Program notes by CVM unless noted. Prints were preserved by Center for Visual Music, Academy Film Archive (marked with *), and EYE Film Institute (Studie nr. 8), with the support of the Film Foundation, Sony, and private donors. Studie nr. 5 was preserved by CVM with support from EYE. For more about Fischinger: www.centerforvisualmusic.org/Fischinger Center for Visual Music is a nonprofit archive dedicated to visual music, experimental animation and abstract cinema.
International House Philadelphia
Backbone: Vancouver Experimental Cinema 1967-81 Friday, October 3 at 7pm Directors in Focus: Backbone and The Films & The Filmmakers
Backbone: Vancouver Experimental Cinema 1967-1981
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 2013, digital, 58 min.
Courtesy of Moving Images Distribution “Backbone is a one hour documentary examining the films, filmmakers and history of Vancouver Experimental Cinema made between 1967 and 1981. Experimental filmmaking was a significant part of Vancouver’s art scene in the 70s, a fertile period marked by outrageous innovation, unbridled experimentation and outright subversion. This movement flourished for many years, thanks to a visionary and colorful collection of artists, curators, venues and institutions. Some of the films made in this period still see distribution while others remain in vaults and personal archives. Many of the works inform us of an art movement that set the stage for contemporary artists and filmmakers. Re-examining films such as BackBone (Tom Braidwood, 1972) and In Black and White (Michael McGarry, 1979) illuminates this rich past, while expressing a timeless vision that maintains their artistic and social relevancy today. The commentary by the artists serves to put the work into a critical context. The filmmakers included represent a diverse group of artists. Some, like David Rimmer, Al Razutis and Chris Gallagher, still engage in experimental media art. Others, like Patricia Gruben, Sturla Gunnarsson and Tom Braidwood shifted to work in academic realms or the world of independent features - all share a unique relationship to cinematic expression and the world of Vancouver film art.”
Seeing in the Rain followed by
The Films & The Filmmakers This compilation of 10 short films, created by Vancouver filmmakers between 1967 and 1981, was curated by Richard Martin. As a Vancouver youth in that era, it was the work of these artists that inspired him to become a filmmaker.
Canadian Pacifici dir. David Rimmer, 1974
Lumiere’s Train (Arriving at the Station) dir. Al Razutis, 1979
The Central Character dir. Patricia Gruben, 1977
Eclipse
dir. Peter Lipskis,1979
Seeing in the Rain dir. Chris Gallagher, 1981
A Day Much like the Others dir. Sturla Gunnarsson, 1977
Far From Quebec dir. Kirk Tougas, 1971
Backbone
dir. Tom Braidwood, 1972
Steel Mushrooms dir. Gary Lee-Nova, 1967
In Black and White dir. Michael McGarry, 1979
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Backbone: Vancouver Experimental Cinema 1967-81 Saturday, October 4 at 2pm Directors in Focus: Backbone and Four Short Films by Richard Martin
Backbone: Vancouver Experimental Cinema 1967-1981
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 2013, digital, 58 min.
Courtesy of Moving Images Distribution followed by Four Short Films by Richard Martin
Diminished
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 1979, digital, 7min.
Mixed Signals
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 2005, digital, 8min.
Apart
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 2010, digital, 7.5 min.
Overview
dir. Richard Martin, Canada, 2010, digital, 9 min.
Saturday, October 4 at 8pm Motion Pictures
Nosferatu (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht) dir. Werner Herzog, France, 1979, DCP, English, German, Romany w/ English subtitles, 107 min.
Werner Herzog’s remake of F.W. Murnau’s original vampire classic is at once a generous tribute to the great German director and a distinctly unique vision by one of cinema’s most idiosyncratic filmmakers. Though Murnau’s Nosferatu was actually an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Herzog based his film largely on Murnau’s conceptions–at times directly quoting Murnau’s images–but manages to slip in a few references to Tod Browning’s famous version (at one point the vampire comments on the howling wolves: “Listen, the children of the night make their music.”) Longtime Herzog star Klaus Kinski is both hideous and melancholy as Nosferatu (renamed Count Dracula in the English language version). As in Murnau’s film, he’s a veritable gargoyle with his bald pate and sunken eyes, and his talon-like fingernails and two snaggly fangs give him a distinctly feral quality. But Kinski’s haunting eyes also communicate a gloomy loneliness; the curse of his undead immortality, and his yearning for Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) becomes a melancholy desire for love. Herzog’s dreamy, delicate images and languid pacing create a stunningly beautiful film of otherworldly mood, a faithful reinterpretation that by the conclusion has been shaped into a quintessentially Herzog vision. – Sean Axmaker Special thanks to Joseph A. Gervasi of www.LoudFastPhilly.com for help with this screening.
International House Philadelphia
Monday, October 6 at 6pm & Tuesday, october 7 at 6pm
Project Twenty1
21-Day Filmmaking Competition 2014 World Premiere Join us for two evenings of original short comedy, drama, sci-fi, action, horror, and thriller films and animations, created as a part of the annual 21Day Filmmaking Competition. Vote for your favorite projects, meet the filmmakers, and get involved in future productions. Rated R. Times, full film descriptions, and screening off-site after-party locations on ProjectTwenty1.org.
Thursday, October 9 at 7pm David Lynch selects
Lolita
dir. Stanley Kubrick, US/UK, 1962, 35mm, b/w, 152 min.
“Staggeringly great performances, direction, writing and mood.” – David Lynch Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of Vladimir Nabakov’s controversial novel remains one of the director’s finest films. The story of a middle-aged professor who becomes obsessed with a young, precocious teenage girl spirals toward a tragic conclusion where seduction overcomes the all rational thought.
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Friday, October 10 at 7:30pm Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace
Farah Siraj, featuring spiritchild The first in a five-concert series, Farah Siraj starts Intercultural Journey’s 2014/15 season off with a bang! Named Jordan’s “Musical Ambassadress,” Farah Siraj’s music blends Middle Eastern influences with flamenco, jazz, bossa, and pop. Farah and her diverse Arabian Flamenco band, have performed across the Middle East, India, Europe and the United States. Farah has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious platforms including, the United Nations, Nobel Prize Hall, the World Economic Forum, and in September 2014 for the TEDMED conference taking place at the J.F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. During this concert, Farah and her band will perform numerous songs, including selections from her new album Dunya (“World”) and past albums Nomad (2011) and The Arabian Jazz Project (2012). This performance features a special guest appearance by hip-hop artist spiritchild, a New York-based and self-identified “freedom singer.” $8 Students; $10 IHP Members; $15 General Admission
Saturday, October 11 at 2pm Family Matinee
Witches
dir. Nicolas Roeg, USA, 1990, digital, 91 min.
From the great Muppet creator Jim Henson comes this classic bursting with enchantment and adventure. Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston stars as the Grand High Witch in this fable of a nine-year-old boy who must foil the plans of a society of witches to turn the world’s children into mice. It won’t be easy: they’ve already transformed him into one. Free to IHP Members; $5 Adults + Children
Saturday, October 11 at 7pm The Janus Collection
International House Philadelphia
Haxan Witchcraft Through the Ages
dir. Benjamin Christensen, Denmark, 1922, 35mm, b/w, Danish w/ English subtitles, 87 min.
Grave robbing, torture, possessed nuns, and a satanic Sabbath: Benjamin Christensen’s legendary film uses a series of dramatic vignettes to explore the scientific hypothesis that the witches of the Middle Ages suffered the same hysteria as turn-of-the-century psychiatric patients. But the film itself is far from serious— instead it’s a witches’ brew of the scary, gross, and darkly humorous. Tuesday, October 14 at 3-7pm
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IHP Open house You’re invited to IHP’s Open House! This is a fantastic opportunity to explore all that IHP has to offer, including our residential facilities, arts and cultural programming, conference center and theater event spaces, and language programs. You will have the opportunity to meet with staff and current residents in a festive environment, while sampling our award-winning arts program with the opening reception and artist talk for the Design Philadelphia partner exhibit by Lyn Godley. This is a unique chance to tour the House, find out how to get involved, and learn more about our history and current programming. For complete details, schedule, and to RSVP, visit www.ihousephilly.org/openhouse Free admission
Tuesday, October 14 at 5:30pm
Design Philadelphia: Lyn Godley Opening “Behind the Veil’ is a new series composed by layering multiple photographs of particular themes. My drawings are a multi level exploration. I use a variety of medium for the dimensional quality it offers. I begin with digital photography, manipulating the image in saturation levels and pixilation. I then digitally print the images on heavy watercolor paper and draw upon it in charcoal and pastels. I love the depth it creates and the contrast between the digitally printed image and the charcoal markings; it is the contrast of the artist’s markings over time. The drawings are then pierced with hundreds of tiny holes, through which fiber optic cables are threaded and trimmed. Bundles of the cables are attached to LEDs using Arduino micro-computing behind the drawings to illuminate the fiber optics.” – Lyn Goldey Please join us for an opening reception on Tuesday, October 14 from 5:30-7pm to open Lyn Godley’s “Behind the Veil”. The opening will be followed by an artist’s talk at 7pm. The exhibit will be on view through the end of December 2014, in IHP’s East Alcove on the Main Level. Presented in partnership with DesignPhiladelphia. www.designphiladelphia.org
Wednesday, October 15 at 6pm
International House Philadelphia
Seven Stars of Hinduism Reception begins at 6pm followed by the presentation. In advance of our annual celebration of Diwali, The Festival of Lights, International House Philadelphia presents “Seven Stars of Hinduism” - a unique and enjoyable presentation by Dileep Thatte which will be preceded by a complimentary reception and followed by an informative Q&A session. The Seven Stars program does not proselytize Hinduism, but educates the audience on the core beliefs of the religion, with particular focus on its secular nature, humanitarian aspects, and built-in environmental sensitivity. The program is geared to ages 15 and up and typically runs 60-90 minutes depending up on the follow up Q&A. Dileep Thatte has made over 200 presentations of “Seven Stars of Hinduism©” across the world in the USA, Canada, Australia, India and Europe. He was born and raised in India, and is a registered Professional Engineer with an MS in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. He currently works at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. An ardent student of Hinduism, Mr. Thatte has also been involved in teaching Indian languages (Hindi & Marathi), Culture, and History to youth in USA and Canada, and was one of the lead teachers at The Indian Cultural Association of Pittsburgh (ICAP) for several years. Free admission.
Thursday, October 16 at 7pm Archive Fever! 6.0
A Useful Life (La vida útil)
dir. Federico Veiroj, Uruguay/Spain, 2010, b/w, Spanish w/ English subtitles, 67 min.
After twenty-five years, Cinemateca Uruguay’s most devoted employee, Jorge (real-life Uruguayan critic Jorge Jellinek), still finds inspiration in caring for the films and audiences that grace the screen and seats of his beloved art-house cinema. But when dwindling attendance and diminishing support force the theater to close its doors, Jorge is sent into a world he knows only through the lens of art—and suddenly is forced to discover a new passion that transcends his once-celluloid reality. Stylishly framed in black-and-white with brilliantly understated performances, Federico Veiroj’s sly and loving homage to the soul of cinema is a universally appealing gem and knowing charmer about life after the movies.
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The All-Around Reduced Personality Friday, October 17 at 7pm November 9, 1989 is recognized as the day the Berlin Wall officially fell. Throughout the Cold War, the Wall signified the opposition between Western popular democracy and Eastern totalitarianism. Yet the story was more complex; the triumph of neoliberalism and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet empire are not as easily, nor as neatly articulated 25 years later. Even so, the Wall remains a powerful spectre—a blank canvas on which history is continually reimagined. This program presents two works from an era when the Berlin Wall’s shadow loomed large and artists were most eager to confront its presence.
The All-Around Reduced Personality (aka Redupers) dir. Helke Sander, West Germany, 1977, 16mm, b/w, German w/ English Subtitles, 98 min.
A divided city becomes the subject matter for a struggling photojournalist and single mother, played by Sander herself. Print courtesy of Goethe-Institut Boston. Preceded by:
The Wall
dir. Gordon Matta-Clark, US, 1976-2007, 16mm transferred to video, 15 min.
This newly assembled work is a rare document of a 1976 Matta-Clark performance in Berlin. The film records Matta-Clark as he stencils ‘Made in America’ on the Wall, affixes commercial advertisements over graffiti, and has a run-in with the police. A remarkable record of a little-known Matta-Clark performance, this work is also a historical time capsule of a political and physical landscape that no longer exists.
Saturday, October 18 at 2pm Family Matinee
Coraline
dir. Henry Selick, USA, 2009, DCP, 100 min.
Combining the visionary imaginations of two premier fantasists, director Henry Selick (The Nightmare before Christmas) and author Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Coraline is a wondrous and thrilling, fun, and suspenseful adventure that honors and redefines two moviemaking traditions. It is a stop-motion animated feature – and, as the first to be conceived and photographed in stereoscopic 3-D, unlike anything moviegoers have ever experienced before. Free to IHP Members; $5 Adults + Children
International House Philadelphia
PLEASE HELP ADVANCE THE MISSION OF INTERNATIONAL HOUSE PHILADELPHIA BY DONATING TODAY! • Your gift is an investment in the global leaders of tomorrow – IHP resident members from more than 95 countries including the US. While at IHP, residents participate in programs and activities that expose them to American experiences and global perspectives. United cultures, shared experiences, and lifelong friendships formed at IHP give our residents a unique outlook that will one day help them to solve issues of hunger, homelessness, disease, and political conflict. • Your gift also ensures the production of hundreds of IHP’s compelling and thought provoking arts and culture programs and events. World-class artists, authors, filmmakers, musicians, and audiences participate in a critically important dialogue of multiculturalism and inclusion. IHP programs are attended annually by over 30,000 people. Please use the enclosed envelope to make a gift.
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Become a Member OF IHP!
As a member-supported organization, IHP depends upon member contributions to present our signature contemporary arts and cultural programs, and to continue providing a warm and welcoming environment for the thousands of people who come from around the world and call IHP home year after year. Please help IHP continue to serve its century-long mission by becoming a member today! Flip through the pages of this magazine, look at all the events taking place at IHP, and consider the variety of subjects covered, the ensuing conversations and dialogue, and the way in which this unique programming engages the local and international community. It only happens at International House Philadelphia. With your membership, you will receive free and discounted admission to films, concerts, and lectures in International House’s Ibrahim Theater, as well as discounts on language classes and other events and programs presented at IHP. Join today! Please use the enclosed envelope to become a member. FOR INFORMATION ON membership, visit www.ihousephilly.org/membership or call 215.387.5125 ext.2
International House Philadelphia
Saturday, October 18 at 7pm City of signs
Tuesday, October 21 at 7pm Scribe
The Great Beauty
American Promise
For decades, journalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the glittering nightlife of Rome. Since the legendary success of his only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and elite social circles. But on his sixty-fifth birthday, Jep unexpectedly finds himself taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the lavish nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome itself, in all its monumental glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty. Featuring sensuous cinematography, a lush score, and an award-winning central performance by the great Toni Servillo, this transporting experience by the brilliant Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is a breathtaking Felliniesque tale of decadence and lost love.
Co-directors and co-producers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson in attendance.
dir. Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2013, 35mm, Italian w/ English subtitles, 142 min.
This program is presented in conjunction with the Cinema Studies Program and the Center for Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
dirs. Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson, USA, 2013, 135 min.
American Promise spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, middle-class AfricanAmerican parents in Brooklyn, N.Y., turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through Dalton, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys’ divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity. An Official Selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. A co-production of Rada Film Group, ITVS and POV’s Diverse Voices Project. Part of American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, made possible by CPB. $5 Scribe + IHP Members; $7 Students + Seniors; $10 General Admission
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Wednesday, October 22 at 7pm Assemblage Philadelphia Premiere! dir. Richard Moore, US, 1968, 16mm transferred to video, color, 58 min.
Special introductory presentation by Andrew Uroskie, followed by a conversation between Ursokie and Rebecca Clemen. Co-presented with Bowerbird. Assemblage is a recently rediscovered lost film featuring Merce Cunningham and his early dance company: Carolyn Brown, Sandra Neels, Valda Setterfield, Meg Harper, Susana Hayman-Chaffey, Jeff Slayton, Chase Robinson, and Mel Wong. A collaboration with director and former dancer Richard Moore, Assemblage features Cunningham dancing with his company in a public happening in San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square in November 1968. Cunningham’s riveting performance– conceived from the beginning as a dance staged for the camera–is amplified by Moore’s astonishing special effects and a soundtrack by John Cage, David Tudor, and Gordon Mumma. Rediscovered after Cunningham’s death, Assemblage was transferred from 16mm and colorized by artist and filmmaker Charles Atlas, himself a longtime collaborator of Cunningham’s. Cunningham and his company spent three weeks rehearsing and filming on location in fall 1968, creating what Moore described as “movement modules.” From these sequences, Moore and film editor Bill Yahraus crafted a motion picture collage of overlapping movements and moments, which occur sometimes in fragmented film windows, sometimes within ingenious superimposed planes. To create the breathtaking hallucinatory collision of filmed dances, Moore used extensive optical
illusion and process photography; dancers were filmed as silhouettes and superimposed on different backgrounds. Assemblage serves as a testament to Cunningham’s groundbreaking investigations of dance and movement within the virtual spaces of film. Andrew V. Uroskie is Associate Professor of Modern & Contemporary Art, and Director of the Doctoral Program in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism at Stony Brook University in New York. Broadly speaking, his work explores how durational media have reframed traditional models of aesthetic production, exhibition, spectatorship, and objecthood. He has published in numerous journals and anthologies in the US, England, Italy, Spain, and Brazil, in English and in translation. His first book, “Between the Black Box and the White Cube: Expanded Cinema and Postwar Art,” was recently published by the University of Chicago Press. Rebecca Cleman is the Director of Distribution of Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). She has programmed special projects for such venues as the New York Underground Film Festival, the Museum of Art and Design, Anthology Film Archives, and Andrea Rosen Gallery, and organized many events for EAI, including a panel discussion on the films of David Wojnarowicz, and a conversation between Hilton Als and The Wooster Group’s director and co-founder Elizabeth LeCompte. This program has been supported by a grant from the Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation
International House Philadelphia
Redes (The Wave) Thursday, October 23 at 6pm
Diwali
Be a part of our Indian Cultural Festival when International House Philadelphia brings together various colors, candles, and lights, with traditional food, music, and dance, in observance of Diwali! Featuring live dance and musical performances, embrace the spirit of India in the heart of Philadelphia. Free IHP residents; $8 IHP members; $10 general admission.
Friday, October 24 at 7pm Paul Strand
Redes (The Wave)
dirs. Emilio Gómez Muriel, Fred Zinnemann, Mexico, 1936, 35mm, b/w, Spanish w/ English Subtitles, 56 min.
Introduced by Amanda Bock, Horace W. Goldsmith Curatorial Fellow in Photography, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Produced for the Mexican government, Redes, Strand’s first feature-length film, is a poignant and dramatic presentation of Alvarado fishermen who organize for better wages. Famously called “the most beautiful strike ever filmed,” Redes is as much a political statement as it is a poetic and cinematic exploration of daily life in a Veracruz fishing village. It will be shown alongside two short films admired by Strand by Leyda and Ivens, filmmakers with whom Strand would later collaborate in the New York film collective, Frontier Films. Preceded by:
Regen (Rain)
dir. Joris Ivens, Netherlands, 1929, 16mm, b/w, silent, 12 min.
A Bronx Morning
dir. Jay Leyda, US, 1931, 16mm, b/w, silent, 11 min. This screening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photograph, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from October 21, 2014 to January 4, 2015.
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The Patience Stone Saturday, October 25 at 12pm Exhumed Films
Monday, October 27 – Thursday, October 30
To celebrate the joyous Halloween season, Exhumed Films proudly presents the seventh annual 24 Hour Horror-thon: a full 24 hour marathon of nonstop horror mayhem! As always, the lineup of films is being kept secret–people who come to the show will only find out what the features are as they unspool onto the screen. The show will feature some of the biggest horror titles of the last 30 years mixed with some really rare gems. Plus, we’ll run tons of classic trailers, shorts, and other oddities, all projected on 16mm or 35mm film.
The Cinema Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Program, the Middle East Center, and the Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Department at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival and International House Philadelphia, present the 2013 edition of New Middle East Cinema.
24 Hour Horror-thon
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New Middle East Cinema
Recently released feature films, which represent a large number of countries in the region, have been selected as the best to be presented and discussed to further the understanding of current Middle Eastern societies and cultures through cinema. Free admission.
International House Philadelphia
Friday, October 31 at 9pm
NIght of the Philly Dead with DJ SKEME RICHARDS Come out to IHP on the undead’s favorite day of the year, Friday, October 31st, to celebrate Halloween with the launching of a new, annual event, NIGHT OF THE PHILLY DEAD: BREWS AND BRAINS! Brew Crew Events and IHP are teaming up to bring the first Halloween craft beer and cocktail party to the Philadelphia region. Join us for a zombie themed dance-party, paying homage to the cult-classic movies, while taking the Night of the Living Dead series in an all-new, frightening direction, with scary-good catering provided by TV Chef Barbie Marshall, craft beer, and themed cocktails included in your cost of admission. Night of the Philly Dead is particularly psyched to have DJ Skeme Richards bringing the music until 2am. Hailing from Philadelphia and a DJ for the world-famous Rock Steady Crew, Skeme digs and spins everything from Funk & Soul, Classics, Hip Hop, Breaks, and all things funky. Costumes are encouraged (there will be a competition!), but if you don’t want to go all out, #NightofthePhillyDead will have Makeup Artistry by NickieRenee and team on hand to zombify you by appointment. Don’t miss the creepiest, most bone-chilling party in town on October 31st – join the Philly Dead for world-class DJ Skeme Richards, craft beer, cocktails, and ghoulish snacks that will get your spine tingling all night long. For tickets and info, visit: www.ihousephilly.org/phillydead $40 IHP Members; $50 General Admission
Saturday, November 1 at 8pm & 10:15pm
Björk: Biophilia Live
dirs. Nick Fenton, Peter Strickland, UK, 2014, DCP, 98 min.
Biophilia Live is a concert film by Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland that captures the human element of Björk’s multi-disciplinary multimedia project: Biophilia. Recorded live at Björk’s show at London’s Alexandra Palace in 2013, the film features Björk and her band performing every song on Biophilia and more using a broad variety of instruments - some digital, some traditional and some completely unclassifiable. The film has already been hailed as “a captivating record of an artist in full command of her idiosyncratic powers” (Variety) and “an imaginative stand-alone artwork” (Hollywood Reporter) and is a vital piece of the grand mosaic that is Biophilia. “There are not many artists who can combine the lifecycle of a jellyfish with a breakbeat and make it work. But this is an extraordinary piece, perhaps more an opera, where Björk and drummer Manu Delago are at their virtuosic best. It’s utterly bonkers yet moving – especially a strange love song set to a mutating virus. It should be mandatory viewing for anyone about to dam a glacial river to facilitate aluminium smelting.” - The Guardian
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Wednesday, November 5 at 7pm Wayfaring: Conversations on Travel, Art, & Culture
Albert Maysles
Moderated by Anthony Smyrski of Random Embassy and Megawords On July 28th, Maysles was awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts. President Obama remarked: “The 2013 National Medal of Arts [goes] to Albert Maysles for rethinking and remaking documentary film in America. One of the pioneers of direct cinema, he has offered authentic depictions of people and communities across the globe for nearly 60 years. By capturing raw emotions and representations, his work reflects the unfiltered truths of our shared humanity.” Maysles visits IHP this fall to discuss his work, in particular how people, communities, and cultures have influenced his process and art he documents. $5 IHP Members; $8 Students + Seniors; $10 General Admission
Thursday, November 6 at 7pm Motion Picture
The Big Lebowski
dirs. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA, 35mm, 117 min.
The Coen brothers’ irreverent cult hit. This hilariously twisted comedy-thriller stars Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and Julianne Moore. Join the “Dude” and his bowling buddies on their journey that blends unforgettable characters, kidnapping, a case of mistaken identity and White Russians. Enter the visually unique and entertaining world from the creative minds of the Coen brothers and remember: the Dude abides.
International House Philadelphia
Friday, November 7 at 7pm David Lynch Selects
Mon Oncle
dir. Jacques Tati, France, 1958, 35mm, English language version, 115min.
“Exquisite, extreme, French 50’s with the big heart and humor of Jacques Tati.” – David Lynch Slapstick prevails when Jacques Tati’s eccentric hero Monsieur Hulot is let loose in the ultramodern home of his brother-in-law, and in an antiseptic factory that manufactures plastic hose. Tati directs and stars in the second entry of the Hulot series, a delightful satire of mechanized living.
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Saturday, November 8 at 2pm Family Matinee
Saturday, November 8 at 7pm The Janus Collection
dir. Clyde Geronimi, USA, 1959, digital, 75 min.
dir. Dino Risi, Italy, 1962, DCP, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles, 105 min.
Sleeping Beauty
Princess Aurora is named after the Roman goddess of the dawn “because she fills her father and mother’s lives with sunshine.” While still an infant, she is betrothed to the equally-young Prince Phillip (their parents want to unite their respective kingdoms under a marriage between Aurora and Phillip). At her christening, the good fairies Flora (dressed in red), Fauna (in green) and Merryweather (in blue) arrive to bless her. Flora gives her the gift of beauty, which is described in a song as “gold of sunshine in her hair” and “lips that shame the red, red rose.” Fauna gives her the gift of song. At this point, Maleficent, the film’s villain and mistress of all evil, appears on the scene. Claiming to be upset at not being invited to Aurora’s christening ceremony, she curses the princess to die when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel’s spindle before the sun sets on her sixteenth birthday. Fortunately, Merryweather has not yet blessed Aurora, so she uses her blessing to change Maleficent’s curse, so Aurora will not die when she pricks her finger; instead, she will fall asleep until she is awakened by True Love’s Kiss. Knowing Maleficent is extremely powerful and will stop at nothing to see her curse fulfilled, the three good fairies take Aurora to live with them in the woods, where they can keep her safe from any harm until she turns sixteen and the curse is made void. To fully protect her, they even change her name to Briar Rose to conceal her true identity. Free to IHP Members; $5 Adults + Children
Il sorpasso
The ultimate Italian road comedy, Il sorpasso stars the unlikely pair of Vittorio Gassman and Jean-Louis Trintignant as, respectively, a waggish, freewheeling bachelor and the straitlaced law student he takes on a madcap trip from Rome to Tuscany. An unpredictable journey that careers from slapstick to tragedy, this film, directed by Dino Risi, is a wildly entertaining commentary on the pleasures and consequences of the good life. A holy grail of commedia all’italiana, Il sorpasso is so fresh and exciting that one can easily see why it has long been adored in Italy.
International House Philadelphia
Tuesday, November 11 at 7pm Scribe
Wednesday, November 12 – Sunday, November 16
HERadventure (An Online, Interactive Film)
7th Annual Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
Director Ayoka Chenzira in person
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF) is back, and better than ever with their largest program to date!
dirs. Ayoka Chenzira, HaJ, USA, 2014
HERadventure is an online interactive film that interweaves sci-fi fantasy, live action, and a first-person game to create a unique storytelling experience. There is a linear film section where you first meet the characters followed by a game section where you (the player) explore an environment and complete simple tasks to advance the storyline. HERadventure is a coming-of-age story that follows the journey of HER, a reluctant female warrior-in-training from a dying planet. When HER accidently falls to earth, she discovers the secret of what has been slowly destroying her planet. The journey takes her from being a young woman afraid to take a stand to becoming a superhero. $5 Scribe + IHP Members; $7 Students + Seniors; $10 General Admission
Founded in 2008 to showcase films by and about Asian Americans for audiences in the Greater Philadelphia region, PAAFF is a nonprofit organization that presents captivating programs that engage, inspire, and connect the community. While PAAFF offers year round programming at various venues across Philadelphia, their marquee celebration is the annual festival hosted each November at International House and elsewhere throughout the city. Featuring over 40 film screenings, speaker panels, receptions, and special events - PAAFF’14 promises to be the most successful yet! Many of this year’s events will feature guest appearances from today’s most popular Asian American filmmakers, as well as actors and directors from around the world. Full program details will be announced during the October 17th Preview Party at Philadelphia City Hall, after which program guides will be available in the International House lobby. For more information visit www.paaff.org and www.facebook.com/paaff
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Thursday, November 20 at 7pm City of signs
La Dolce Vita
dir. Federico Fellini, Italy, 1960, 35mm, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles, 178 min.
Introduction by Leonard Guercio, Temple University. Marcello is a gossip columnist, and is searching for a way to become a serious writer. He’s fully involved in Rome’s ‘dolce vita’. He’s flirting with an aristocrat who’s always looking for new emotions. He has a partner, Emma, and feels oppressed by her jealousy; she attempts to commit suicide. He woos Sylvia – a very popular and explosive movie star – to no avail. Sylvia bathes in the Trevi Fountain and is very sexy. Two children invent a fake vision of the Virgin Mary and he meets a sophisticated intellectual, Mr. Steiner. Marcello admires his family and his apparently ideal life style. Mr. Steiner, however, kills his own children and then commits suicide. Marcello’s old father comes to see him and gets ill, Emma abandons him, and other events follow one another. After another orgy occurring during the night, at dawn the tired and dazed participants find the carcass of a sea monster stranded on the beach.
Friday, November 21 at 7:30pm Intercultural Journeys: Songs for Peace
Alex Shaw, with special guests FACTS Charter School
Specializing in the rich musical heritage of AfroBrazilian culture, percussionist and vocalist Alex Shaw will be presenting new work featuring his contemporary interpretation of traditional rhythms and songs of northeastern Brazil. Director of renowned Brazilian ensemble Alô Brasil, and longtime section leader in Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra, he has been performing and cultivating the region’s Brazilian music scene for many years. In recognition of Black Consciousness Day in Brazil, this program will pay special homage to the musical tradition of Capoeira Angola, an ancient Afro-Brazilian martial art with an enduring legacy of social justice and cultural resistance. A small ensemble of students from FACTS Charter School in Chinatown, Philadelphia, will also join this performance as a culmination of an eight-week teaching artist residency. $8 Students; $10 IHP Members; $15 General Admission
International House Philadelphia
Saturday, November 22 at 2pm Family Matinee
Thief of Bagdad
dirs. Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, UK, 1940, digital, 106 min.
Legendary producer Alexander Korda’s marvel The Thief of Bagdad, inspired by The Arabian Nights, is one of the most spectacular fantasy films ever made, an eye-popping effects pioneer brimming with imagination and technical wizardry. When Prince Ahmad (John Justin) is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu (the incomparable Sabu, in his definitive role) to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess (June Duprez). With its luscious Technicolor, vivid sets, and unprecedented visual wonders, The Thief of Bagdad has charmed viewers of all ages for decades. Free to IHP Members; $5 Adults + Children
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Saturday, November 22 at 7pm Paul Strand
Tuesday, December 2 at 7pm Reelblack
dir. Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet Union/Mexico, 1932/1979, video, b/w, 90 min.
dirs. Skye Dennis, Hakim Hudson, 105 min.
Que Viva Mexico
Paul Strand was a great admirer of Eisenstein’s films. In 1935 he traveled to the Soviet Union, where he showed Eisenstein prints of Redes and devised plans (never realized) to collaborate with him on a film project. Strand’s indebtedness to Eisenstein’s film technique is most apparent in a comparison of their two Mexican films: Strand’s Redes and Eisenstein’s never-completed cinematic masterpiece, Que Viva Mexico! This screening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photograph, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from October 21, 2014 to January 4, 2015.
Myra’s Angel
Fresh off its debut at the American Black Film Festival, Reelblack is proud to host the Philly Premiere of Myra’s Angel, from area filmmakers Skye Dennis (The Underground Kings) and Hakim Hudson. The filmmakers and members of the cast will be on hand for a post-film Q&A. A film about a man’s journey for redemption, as he tries to clear his name of robbery he didn’t commit.
International House Philadelphia
Un Chant d’Amour Wednesday, December 3 at 7PM READING: Jean Genet Co-presented with Institute of Contemporary Art
Un Chant d’Amour
dir. Jean Genet, France, 1950, 16mm, b/w, silent, 26 min.
Followed by:
Jean Genet in Chicago
dir. Frédéric Moffet, US/France, 2006, video, 26 min.
Un Chant d’Amour (“A Song of Love”) is the only film by French writer and political activist Jean Genet. Initially banned for its explicit homosexual imagery, the film zeros in on the tenderness and cruelty of longing for human contact between a voyeuristic guard and two prisoners. Of the evening’s second short feature, media artist Frédéric Moffet calls Jean Genet in Chicago “a queer rewriting of the events surrounding the 1968 National Democratic Convention.” In addition to the night’s screenings, artist Moyra Davey will be at IHP to talk about the use of a text by Genet in her current work, followed by “readings” of that passage by special guests. This program is co-hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the exhibition Moyra Davey: Burn the Diaries, and is part of a new programmatic thread “READING” that looks at contemporary culture through the acts of reading, writing, and publishing. Free admission.
Thursday, December 4 – Sunday, December 7 Penn Cinema Studies
New Authors of Italian Cinema The Cinema Studies Program and the Center for Italian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia, N.I.C.E. New Italian Cinema Events, and International House Philadelphia present the 2013 edition of New Authors of Italian Cinema. This four-day festival has been curated by Nicola M. Gentili (Penn, Cinema Studies) and aims to promote new Italian Cinema abroad. Recently released feature films directed in the past two years by Italy’s most promising filmmakers will be presented and discussed by Penn’s Italian Ph.D. students. The final remarks will be addressed by Stefania Benini, Professor of Italian Cinema at the University of Pennsylvania. Free admission.
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Wednesday, December 10 at 7pm
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
dir. Peter Greenaway, UK, 1989, 35mm, 124 min.
Introduction by Da Corte, Musson and ICA curator Kate Kraczon. Co-presented with Institute of Contemporary Art Greenaway’s lavish 1989 film was chosen by artists Alex da Corte and Jayson Musson to be screened in conjunction with their exhibition Easternsports, on view this September 19 – December 28, 2014 at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania (www.icaphila.org). A Jacobean revenge allegory for Thatcherite Britain, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’s mise en abyme conceit includes long, choreographed takes by legendary cinematographer Sacha Vierny set to Michael Nyman’s pulsing score. Actors Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, and other Royal Shakespeare Company alumni are costumed in elaborate designs by couturier Jean Paul Gaultier, whose sculptural clothing changes colors as characters move from room to room on set. Violent, scatological, and sexual, the film’s distributor, Miramax, self-selected NR for its full, uncut US theatrical release— presented here on film— though poorly edited R-rated VHS copies were standard in the US rental market for many years. Free admission.
Thursday, December 11 at 7pm City of Signs
The Conformist
dir. Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy, 1970, DCP, Italian w/ English subtitles, 111 min.
This story opens in 1938 in Rome, where Marcello has just taken a job working for Mussolini and is courting a beautiful young woman who will make him even more of a conformist. Marcello is going to Paris on his honeymoon and his bosses have an assignment for him there. Look up an old professor who fled Italy when the fascists came into power. At the border of Italy and France, where Marcello and his bride have to change trains, his bosses give him a gun with a silencer. In a flashback to 1917, we learn why sex and violence are linked in Marcello’s mind.
International House Philadelphia
Friday, December 12 at 7pm Paul Strand
Native Land
dir. Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand, US, 1942, 16mm, b/w, 80 min.
In 1936 Strand was a founding member of the collective, Frontier Films, a group that sought to produce politically-progressive and aestheticallyinnovative films. Their masterpiece was Native Land, the group’s only feature-length film. Codirected by Strand and Leo Hurwitz, the film is a dramatized account of civil liberties violations uncovered by the Senate Civil Liberties Committee in the 1930s, and was a groundbreaking effort in the history of documentary filmmaking. This screening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photograph, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from October 21, 2014 to January 4, 2015.
Saturday, December 13 at 7pm The Janus Collection / Paul Strand
Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta)
dir. Roberto Rossellini, Italy, 1945, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles, 100 min.
Introduction by Peter Barberie, Brodsky Curator of Photographs, Alfred Stieglitz Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art. This was Roberto Rossellini’s revelation, a harrowing drama about the Nazi occupation of Rome and the brave few who struggled against it. Though told with more melodramatic flair than the other films that would form this trilogy and starring some well-known actors—Aldo Fabrizi as a priest helping the partisan cause and Anna Magnani in her breakthrough role as the fiancée of a resistance member—Rome, Open City (Roma, città aperta) is a shockingly authentic experience, conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II, with immediacy in every frame. Marking a watershed moment in Italian cinema, this galvanic work garnered awards around the globe and left the beginnings of a new film movement in its wake. This screening is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Paul Strand: Master of Modern Photograph, on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from October 21, 2014 to January 4, 2015.
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Wednesday, December 17 at 7pm David Lynch Short Film Program
The Alphabet
dir. David Lynch, US, 1968, video, color, 4 min.
A disturbing early animation that displays Lynch’s penchant for dark humor, The Alphabet stars the director’s wife Peggy and combines live action and animated sequences.
Hotel Room (Episode 1: Tricks)
dir. David Lynch, US, 1993, video, 30 min.
Written by frequent Lynch collaborator Barry Gifford, Hotel Room was a short lived HBO series long before the television renaissance of recent years. Lynch directed two of the three episodes. Set in 1969, Tricks follows the tense meeting of two men and a prostitute in the titular location.
Rabbits
dir. David Lynch, US 2002, video, 43 min.
A collection of disturbing episodes featuring a cast of rabbit/human hybrids, the result is somewhere between a television sitcom and a work of absurdist theater. Portions of Rabbits also appear in the film Inland Empire.
Summer Semester Registration Monday, June 30 – Thursday, July 10 (Monday - Friday 10am – 5pm) Summer Semester July 14 – August 29 To learn more contact us: 215.895.6592 • languages@ihphilly.org www.ihousephilly.org
Housing available FOr SUmmer & Fall Flexible short and long-term leases Apartments • Efficiencies • Single rooms • Private rooms Apply i n per son: i n ternat ional house phi l a de l phi a 3 701 ch estn u t st re e t or onli n e at www.ihouse phi l ly.org
International House Philadelphia:
A Unique Location for Your Next Event or Meeting! Whether you are planning a business conference, an intimate soiree, an executive meeting, or a large social event, International House Philadelphia has the space and services to meet your needs and make your event a success. Located in the heart of Philadelphia’s University City, IHP has over 8,500 square feet of available space with the capacity to meet the needs of groups as small as 10, or as large as 600. To inquire about hosting your event in IHP’s Ibrahim Theater or any of our other wonderful event spaces, please email events@ihphilly.org or call 215.895.6539.
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getting here International House Philadelphia is located at 3701 Chestnut Street, in the University City neighborhood, one block south of Market Street and one block north of Walnut Street.
Public Transportation: It’s a short walk from either of the Green Line’s 36th Street stops or the Market-Frankford El’s 34th Street stop. From Center City, take the 21 bus west on Walnut Street to 37th Street. From West Philly, take the 21 bus east on Chestnut to 37th.
Parking: It’s easy to park in University City! Discounted parking for International House patrons is now available at the Science Center Parking Garage, located at 3665 Market Street. There is a special rate of $5.00 per vehicle when you bring your parking stub to the International House Box Office or Front Desk to be stamped when attending events. Monday–Friday: 6:00am – 8:00pm (discounted rate after 4:00pm) Saturday & Sunday: 6:00am – 3:00pm Any cars not retrieved by the end of parking hours will remain in the garage until the following morning. There are two other parking lots just a short distance away. These are located at 38th & Walnut, and 36th & Chestnut. Plenty of street parking is also available on Chestnut and Market Streets, as well as throughout University City. Street parking is free after 8pm.
Contact Us:
General Information
215.387.5125 or info@ihphilly.org
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Executive Office Tanya Steinberg, President + CEO Clara Fomich, Executive Assistant + Office Manager Development Elina Cher, Manager of Individual Engagement Jessamyn Falcone, Development Services Manager Lauren Fenimore, Foundations Research Manager Bryan Leib, Corporate Relations Manager Arts, Communications + Events William Parker, Director of Arts, Communications + Events Robert Cargni-Mitchell, Associate Director of Arts + Senior Curator Sarah Christy, Conference Center Manager Sasha Dages, Marketing + Communications Manager Patrick DiGiacomo, Arts, Communications + Events Office Manager Cory Espinosa, Junior Graphic Designer Jim Fraatz, Production + House Manager Justin Miller, Graphic Designer Jesse Pires, Program Curator Farah Siah, Language Program Manager Admissions, Resident + Alumni Services Glenn D. Martin, Director of Admissions + Resident Life Michael T. Beachem IV, Associate Director of Resident Life Edwin Garcia, Admissions Coordinator Emily Martin, Admissions Coordinator Yun Joon Park, Front Desk Coordinator Marlon Patton, Cashier + Front Desk Manager Business Office Lina Yankelevich, Director of Finance Angela Bachman, Finance Manager Anna Wang, HR + Finance Coordinator Human Resources & Services Scott Drinnan, Director of HR + Services Moshe Caspi, Security Services + Systems Manager Deborah Sara Houda, Customer Service + Facilities Manager Larry Moore, Lead Security Guard Raj Persad, Building Operations Manager Alexander Rivkin, Information Systems + Technology Manager Althelson Towns, Facilities Supervisor Facilities, Maintenance + Security Services Ronald Persaud Ammar Abdulkadhim Sylvie Hoeto Mirjana Janic Ron Smith Giora Azvolinsky Yefim Klurfeld Linda Stanton Badiaa Bahama Vipin Maxwell Abubeker Tahir Reginald Brown VIoleta Mehmeti Robert Wooten Phillip Carter Lulzim Myrtaj Joseph Clinton Amar Persad David Kodzo Gasonu
International House Philadelphia
International House Philadelphia:
THE NEXUS BETWEEN INTERNATIONAL CULTURE AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
The generous support of our Members, Friends, and Benefactors allows International House Philadelphia to continue the tradition of offering lifelong learning through Arts, Culture, and Humanities to an increasing number of people each year. Alpin W Cameron Foundation, Arcadia University, Berwind Fund LLC, CETRA Language Solutions, Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, Dilworth Paxson, LLP, Dole Food Company, Drexel University, Drexel University Office of International Programs, Elliott-Lewis Corporation, eXude Benefits Group, Inc., Graboyes Commercial Window Company, Independence Blue Cross, Institute of Contemporary Art, International House New York, Joesph S. Smith Roofing, Inc., Laura Solomon and Associates, Moore College of Art & Design, Morgan Stanley, National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Petrobras, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, PNC Bank, Progressive Business Publications, Prometrics, Inc., Provincial Foundation, Samuelle and Company, Inc., The Jerome M. and Anne Zaslow Family Fund, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Tiagha & Associates Ltd., University of Pennsylvania, University of the Sciences, Wells Fargo Bank, Windstream, Zipcar We are also thankful for the support of our in-kind donors and our many generous members and annual donors.
JOIN TODAY! International House Philadelphia is a multicultural residential center, a source of distinctive programming, and the embodiment of an ideal. It has a critical three-fold mission: to maintain a diverse and welcoming community for scholars from around the world, while introducing them to the American experience; to broaden the horizons of its residents and the Greater Philadelphia community through high quality international arts and humanities programs; and to encourage understanding, respect, and cooperation among the people of all nations.
IHP is an independent, member supported non-profit.