Aug
28
|
La
Commune
Directed by Peter Watkins
Los Angeles premiere!
PLEASE
NOTE THE START TIME IS 2:00 PM for this six-hour film. There will be three
intermissions, including one long one for a meal and it should end around
10:30 pm.
$10 general; $6 students & seniors; free for Filmforum members
(Price raise for this show only; we’ll be back at our normal $8
with our next show)
In conjunction with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the American
Cinematheque, Filmforum hosts a screening of Peter Watkins's six-hour
epic La Commune as part of The
Films That Got Away series.
La Commune is the name given to the French revolutionary government established
by the people of Paris during the Franco Prussian War (1870-1871). For
the film La Commune we travel back in time to 1871. A journalist
for Versailles Television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events
while a Commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the
Paris rebels. On a stage-like set, more than 200 actors interpret characters
of the Commune, especially the Popincourt neighborhood in the XIth arrondissement.
They voice their own thoughts and feelings concerning the social and political
reforms. The telling of this story rests primarily on depicting the people
of the Commune, and those who suppressed them. Deliberately, this film
is an attempt to challenge existing notions of documentary film, as well
as the notions of 'neutrality' and 'objectivity' so beloved by the mass
media today. For Peter Watkins, to make a film is to question his own
work as a filmmaker. La Commune represents an uncompromising
challenge to modern media and a penetrating critique.
The Films That Got Away
Every year, there are dozens of superb American and foreign films that
fail to be shown commercially in the United States. Ironically, it's usually
precisely because these movies are unique and special that distributors
avoid the challenge of trying to sell them. The result this summer was
moviehouses full of concepts that were mostly sequels, remakes or adaptations
of television series, and an audience that stayed away from these "presold"
titles in droves. Fear not, cinema fans. The L.A. Film Critics Association,
in association with Filmforum and the American Cinematheque, has polled
its membership and programmed a festival completely comprised of their
picks of "films that got away" -- but which shouldn't have.
Bold, visionary, sexy, shocking and indescribable. These are the titles
the best critics in town pass among themselves like rare jewels. Well,
the treasure box is now open to all, with overlooked gems plus in-person
discussions with some giants of independent film and other indescribably
rare treats!!
Tape courtesy of First
Run/Icarus Films; screening on Beta SP (the only available format)
|
|
