Fall 2016
Profiled
Wednesday, September 7
Presented by: Frank Dobson, Associate Dean of Students; Director, Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center; Faculty Head of Gillette House, The Ingram Commons
USA (2016) Dir: Kathleen Foster
Director Kathleen Foster knits the stories of mothers of Black and Latin youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S. English subtitles. 52 minutes. DVD.
Presented in collaboration the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center.
The Martian
Friday, September 16 6:30
Presented by: Tracie Prater, Ph.D. 2012 (Mechanical Engineering), Aerospace Engineer at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; David Weintraub, Professor of Astronomy; and Rick Chappell, Research Professor of Physics.
USA (2015) Dir: Ridley Scott
In the post-screening discussion, Prater and others discuss the science of the popular science fiction space adventure starring Matt Damon. English. Rated PG-13. 144 Minutes. Blu-ray. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Victoria
Thursday, September 22
Presented by: Lutz Koepnick, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of German, Cinema and Media Arts
Germany (2015) Dir: Sebastian Schipper
Four local Berliners recruit a thrill-seeking Spanish woman to be their getaway driver for a bank robbery. One seamless shot. English, German, Spanish with English subtitles. 140 Minutes. Blu-ray. Presented in collaboration with the Department of German and Slavic Languages, and the Cinema and Media Arts Program.
He Named Me Malala
Wednesday, September 28
Presented by: The Vanderbilt Chapter of She’s the First, with Shazia Kanwal and Lal Kumar, Pakistani fellows in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program.
Germany (2015) Dir: Davis Guggenheim
After the Taliban tries to kill her for speaking out on behalf of girls’ education, Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai emerges as a leading advocate for children’s rights and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. English. Rated PG-13. 88 Minutes. DVD. Presented in collaboration with the Vanderbilt Chapter of She’s the First, and the Hubert H. Humphry Fellowship Program.
Pina: A Film for Pina Bausch
Wednesday, October 5
Presented by: Matthew Congdon, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Germany (2011) Dir: Wim Wenders
“Dance, dance, or we are lost.” Pina Bausch’s statement provide the inspiration for acclaimed Wim Wenders’ breathtaking tribute to the legendary choreographer. Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal elevated dance into brilliantly subversive new expressive realms, and in this exhilarating film Wenders captures the raw, heart-stopping intensity of the movement and transforms it into a transcendent cinematic experience. Ger/Eng/Fr/It/Port/Rus/Slovenian/Kor/Sp, English subtitles. Rated PG. 106 Minutes. 35mm. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy.
My Mother’s Courage
Monday, October 10
Presented by: The Holocaust Lecture Series
Germany, UK, Austria, Ireland (1995) Dir: Michael Verhoeven
“A stunning adaptation of Hungarian author George Tabori’s autobiographical, somewhat surreal novel. Shifting between Nazi-occupied Budapest and present-day Berlin, the film artfully depicts the story of how Tabori’s mother Elsa escaped deportation to Auschwitz.” National Center for Jewish Film. English/German. Rated R. 35mm. 99 Minutes. Presented in collaboration with the Holocaust Lecture Series
The Mill and the Cross
Wednesday, October 19
Presented by: Robert L. Mode, Professor of Art, Emeritus
Poland/Sweden (2011) Dir: Lech Majewski
The director brings the viewer inside the painting The Way to Calvary with immersive period detail and extraordinary digital effects. The daily life of 16th-century Flanders is rendered with astounding vividness, from the routine of the windmill caretaker to the crusading Spanish militia, who abuse Protestants with brutally violent tactics. Rutger Hauer plays artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, touring inside his own canvas and discussing the origin of his work while his wealthy patron bemoans the state of his disintegrating country. English, Spanish, Flemish. Unrated. 96 minutes. Blu-Ray.
Monday, October 24
Presented by Katherine Drotos Cuthbert, Student Wellbeing Coordinator
USA (2015) Dir: Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern.The film explores identity and legacy in an African-American family as Grammy award-winning rapper Che ‘Rhymefest’ Smith and his long-lost father reconnect and try to build a new future in Chicago’s South Side. The film offers a probing take on memory and identity as it tracks Che and father’s shared journey to create a new legacy for themselves, their community and the next generation of family. English. Rated R. 93 Minutes. Blu-ray. Presented in collaboration with the Center for Student Wellbeing.Tattooed Under Fire
Wednesday, Nov 2
Presented by: Kenneth MacLeish, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health, & Society
USA (2008) Dir: Nancy Schiesari
Set at River City Tattoo, just outside the US Army’s Fort Hood, the documentary centers on the military ritual of getting inked. It interweaves the stories of several soldiers and their relationships to the war in Iraq with the visual expressions of their tattoos. The film is an intimate, character-driven portrait of Iraq-bound and returning U.S. soldiers professing their hopes and ambitions, sharing their secrets, and confessing their fears as they go under the tattoo needle. What emerges is an evocative, poignant and highly personal look at the human and cultural cost of war. English. 56 Minutes. DVD. Presented in collaboration with Medicine, Health, & Society.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibit Samurai: The Way of the Warrior, at the Frist Center for Visual Arts, November 4, 2016—January 16, 2017.
Yojimbo
Wednesday, November 9
Presented by: Yoshikuni Igarashi, Associate Professor of History.
Japan (1961) Dir: Akira Kurosawa
The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic samurai story. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily master-less samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage. This exhilarating genre-twister remains an influential and entertaining film. Japanese with English subtitles. 110 Minutes. Unrated. Blu-ray. Presented in collaboration with the Frist Center for Visual Arts.
Simha
Wednesday, November 16
Presented by: Gregory Melchor-Barz, Professor of Ethnomusicology and Faculty Head of North House, The Ingram Commons France
France (2014) Dir: Jerome Blumberg
Simha Arom is French-Israeli ethnomusicologist who deciphered the polyphonies of the Pygmies of Central Africa. The film follows his fieldwork and personal life. French with English subtitles. Unrated. 82 minutes. DVD. Presented in collaboration with North House: The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons.
River of Grass
Wednesday, November 30
Presented by: Jesse Montgomery, graduate student in the department of English
USA (1994) Dir: Kelly Reichardt
This darkly funny debut feature, brought the writer/director back to the setting of her adolescence, the suburban landscape of southern Florida, where she grew up with her detective father and narcotics agent mother. Shot on 16mm, the story follows the misadventures of disaffected house-wife, and an aimless layabout. Described by Reichardt as “a road movie without the road, a love story without the love, and a crime story without the crime,” the film introduced viewers to a director already in command of her craft and defining her signature style. English. 100 Minutes. Blu-ray. Presented in collaboration with the Department of Cinema and Media Arts.
Circus
Wednesday, December 7
Presented by: Jason Strudler, Mellon Assistant Professor of Russian
USSR (1936) Dir: Grigori Aleksandrov
An American circus artist who, after giving birth to a black baby, immediately becomes a victim of racism and is forced to stay in the circus. She finds refuge, love and happiness in the USSR. Her black son is embraced by friendly Soviet people. The movie climaxes with a lullaby being sung to the baby by representatives of various Soviet ethnicities taking turns. Russian with English subtitles. 94 Minutes. Unrated. DVD.Presented in collaboration with the Department of German and Slavic Languages.