2004 Special Event Films
This year, these four Labor films were shown in addition to the regular Fall
Labor Film Series.
SUNDAY, 1 February. 8 p.m.
LA COMMUNE (PARIS 1871)
(Peter Watkins, France 2001, 345 min., video, French with subtitles) With copious
historical research and hundreds of actors, venerable documentarian and
media critic Watkins created this amazing feature
on the revolutionary Paris Commune of 1871, mixing elaborate reenactments
of the ground-level dramatic events with the anachronistic device of
government TV news reporting. Join us on Super Bowl Sunday for this
exciting alternative event — the super bowl of class struggle.
(J. Hoberman of the Village
Voice called this the best film of 2002). Part I will be shown at 1 p.m.; there
will be a one hour intermission at 4 p.m.; Part
II will begin at 5 p.m.
FRIDAY, 26 March. 8 p.m.
Rochester Premiere. ROSETTA (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgium 1999, 95
min.) Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the Dardennes
brothers (The
Son, La Promesse) deliver a fiercely realistic, almost documentary style
study of a poor teenaged girl looking to escape her grim life. When she finds
a job in a waffle stand, Rosetta learns she is not prepared to deal with the
working world. This deeply affecting drama has moved audiences all over the
world and has even influenced child labor laws in Belgium. Sponsored by the
Rochester Labor Council. This program is also made possible with the support
of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of
Culture.
FRIDAY, 14 May. 8 p.m.
Rochester Premiere. MONDAYS IN THE SUN (LOS LUNES AL SOL, Fernando Leon
de Aranoa, Spain 2002, 113 min., Spanish with subtitles) Javier Bardem
stars in this powerful story about
shipyard workers in northern Spain. Laid off as a result of industrial
restructuring and waterfront gentrification, they try to make ends
meet and struggle to recover identities defined by work.
The third feature by Leon de Aranoa confirms the director as one of Spain's
brightest young talents. The producer of this Best Foreign Film Oscar
nominee is Elias Querejeta, the man
responsible for introducing audiences to Victor Erice and Carlos Saura.
Sponsored by the Rochester Labor Council.
FRIDAY, 30 July. 8 p.m.
MODERN TIMES (Charles Chaplin, US 1936, 87 min.) As
a big city factory worker, the Little Tramp confronts the mechanized
world in what may be Chaplin's finest and funniest film. The perfectly
crafted physical humor has delighted audiences for decades, while
Chaplin's vision of the common man adjusting to a newly industrialized
and urbanized world makes this one of the most thought-provoking motion
pictures of the depression era. Sponsored by the Rochester Labor
Council. Newly restored 35mm print!
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