Monday, May 19, 2008

[screenings] 1968 (May 23, 24,25)



`This machine kills fascists'

- Woody Guthrie's Guitar Sticker


They like to say – it began in the cinemas. The facts can be debated but the notion is head-over-heels romantic. Quite like- what if Humphrey Bogart ran into Ingrid Bergman in a shopping market alley and not a gin joint over in Casablanca. Which one would you prefer to think of?

It began in the cinemas. It poured out over the barricades. It sloganeered. It rioted. It screamed. It was anarchy. And everybody was going to be released, redeemed. Another romantic notion. But when you light a femme fatale's cigarette and drawl," I traveled 9000 miles to give you a light", you're not really counting the miles.

Everybody was going to be released, redeemed. Could it be achieved? Did everyone really want to be released? Was it lost or was it won? And if so, who lost and who one? When Hunter S Thompson looked out his Las Vegas window and saw the high water mark where the glorious wave broke, did it leave a lasting scar on the shores before it rolled back?

To call the May of 1968 `turbulent' would be an understatement. Tom Wolfe would later describe all of it as `pandemonium with a big grin on'. How much was its success and how much of it failed is a matter of debate. But all who walked out the cinema and on to the barricades have one thing to say- `It was a great time to be alive. It was a great time to be young'.



On its 40th Anniversary of '1968', Bangalore Film Society would like to say,"Cheers"


now dig this….


Friday 23rd May, 2008 Time: 6.30pm





Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) Dir: Agnes Varda

"Boredom is counterrevolutionary"

- 1968 slogan

Director Agnes Varda's first feature length tour de force follows a young pop singer across the streets of Paris from 5 to 7 as she awaits the results of her cancer biopsy. Spontaneous, free-wheeling, sparkling, existential, meditating on mortality and despair, featuring cameos from Godard, Anna Karina and Michel Legrand `Cleo from 5 to 7' announced Varda as one of the most influential directors of the French New Wave and was Nominated for the Palm D'Or at Cannes 62'.



Saturday 24th May, 2008 Time: 6.30pm




Masculin, Feminin (1966) Dir: Jean Luc-Godard

"I love you! Oh, Say it with paving stones"

- 1968 slogan

A film that almost foresaw the spirit of May 68, Godard's iconic `Masculin, Feminin' loosely based on the short stories of Guy de Maupassant, is a series of vignettes that serve as a time capsule of the zeitgeist of the 60s. Bob Dylan, Charlie Parker, Vietnam, Music Stores, Soda Pop, Protests, Revolutions, Instant Photos, Coffee, One Man, One Woman, and an Ocean of Blood, Bridgette Bardot, Swedish art films. Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud as Paul, a young idealist and literary wannabe who falls in love with a pop singer, Godard's `Masculin, Feminin' is a chronicle of the life and love and disillusion and ecstasy of `The Children of Marx and Coca Cola'. Nominated for Golden Bear at Berlin 66'.



Sunday 25th May, 2008 Time: 6.30pm




My Night at Maud's (1969) Dir: Eric Rohmer

"Arise, you wretched of the University"

- 1968 slogan

Auteur Rohmer's third of his `Six Moral Tales' follows three individuals- Jean-Louis- a devout catholic and engineer, Vidal- a philosophy professor and Maud- a rebellious and charming divorcee and their conversations as they reflect on morality and philosophy. `My Night at Maud's' is regarded as a mile-stone in Rohmer's long and highly esteemed career and its highly convoluted, stylized and loopy dialogue was honored and given an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Best Foreign Film. It was also nominated for the Palm D' Or at Cannes 69'.



Venue: Ashirvad, 30, St. Mark's Road cross, Op. State Bank of India

Tel: 2549 2774/ 2549 3705

ADMISSION FOR MEMBERS ONLY. NON-MEMBERS ARE REQUESTED TO ARRIVE 15 MINS EARLY AND REGISTER.
(Members whose membership has expired are requested to kindly renew their membership.)

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