In the Intense Now, by João Moreira Salles
IN THE INTENSE NOW (c) CineMemoire
Los Angeles Filmforum, and Acropolis Cinema present
In the Intense Now, by João Moreira Salles
Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 8:00 pm
At the Downtown Independent, 251 S. Main Street Los Angeles, CA 90012
1968: Visions of Possibilities, part 3
“History made poetic, hypnotic in its provocation.” – Owen Gleiberman, Variety
“Find solace, enlightenment, and surprise in João Moreira Salles’s ‘In the Intense Now.’ – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
In the Intense Now explores the revolutions of 1968 as they unfolded across four different countries and their political environments: France, Czechoslovakia, China, and Brazil. Narrated in first person by the director, the film reflects on that which is revealed by footage of the French students’ uprising in May of 1968; the images captured by amateurs during the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August of the same year, when forces led by the Soviet Union put an end to the Prague Spring; the scenes that a tourist —the director’s mother —filmed in China in 1966, the year of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution; and footage from Salles’ own childhood in Brazil, during the establishment and rule of a repressive military dictatorship.
1968: Visions of Possibilities: Over the course of the year, Filmforum will present a variety of films reflecting the turbulent global events of 1968, films made in that time, and works reflecting on the long-term effects and disappointments of the activist efforts and violent responses. From the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy to the Democratic Convention and 1968 presidential election in the US, to the strikes in France in May and the Prague Spring and Soviet crushing of it, these films of and on 1968 utilize many voices and techniques to show an era that seemed lost but perhaps now cycles back to our consciousness and actions. Series curated by Adam Hyman
INFO: www.lafilmforum.org , 323-377-7238
Tickets: $12 general; $6 students/seniors, Free for Filmforum members. Available in advance at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3461498
Downtown indie info: info@downtownindependent.com, 213.617.1033
LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-in-the-intense-now-review-20180419-story.html
Brazilian documentary filmmaker João Moreira Salles was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1962. and studied economics at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. In 1985 he and his brother Walter Salles founded the production company VideoFilmes, which went on to produce modern Brazilian classics like Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002).
As a director, Salles has maintained a steady output of incisive social documentaries. These include America (1989), which won Best Journalistic Program from the São Paulo Art Critics Association; Blues (1990), which won the Special Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film D’Art in Paris; and Santiago (2007), which won Best Documentary of the Year by the Brazilian Film Academy. Since 2006, Salles has published the monthly magazine piauí, which is devoted to long-form journalism. In the Intense Now is his first release in a decade.
In The Intense Now, Directed by João Moreira Salles, Image (c) Gaumont Pathé Archives
In The Intense Now
Directed by João Moreira Salles; Produced by Maria Carlota Bruno
Brazil, 2017, HD, color, sound, 127 minutes
In Portuguese French and Czech with English subtitles
Director’s Note:
“In the Intense Now is a feature documentary that focuses on certain events of the 1960s. Narrated in first person, the film reflects on that which is revealed by four sets of images: footage of the French students’ uprising in May of 1968; the images captured by amateurs during the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August of the same year, when forces led by the Soviet Union put an end to the Prague Spring; shots of the funerals of students, workers, and police officers killed during the events of 1968 in the cities of Paris, Lyon, Prague, and Rio de Janeiro; and the scenes that a tourist—the director’s mother—filmed in China in 1966, the year of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
“This means that In the Intense Now may be seen as a film about the nature of images of history. Who films them, why, and how? Is there a difference between records created under different political systems? What can the archive reveal of itself without the viewer having to consult its historical context? What sorts of images are born of fear, of rapture, of urgency, of joy? These are questions that the documentary poses to itself, in the belief that images contain truths inherent to themselves.
“This line of reflection extends to the documentary cinema produced in that period, as students and professors spurned sterile theorizing in the classroom for militant action in the streets. In France, they left the libraries and went to the factories in an encounter between classes that would give rise to a cinema in which, for the first time, filmmakers and laborers would collaborate on films about the state of the working class. What came of these initiatives? Apart from the generous impulse that drove them, to what extent did they actually manage to lessen the gap between intellectuals and proletarians? There are two politics at play here – the politics of intention and the politics of the result—and In the Intense Now looks to distinguish one from the other…”-- João Moreira Salles