| |
|
|
from the issue of May 1, 2008
|
| |
|
|
| |
Ross 'passport' tour opens May 9
The first two "passport" movies open May 9 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center.
In May, the Ross is showing four films from around the world - "Still Life" from China, "Caramel" from Lebanon, "The Violin" from Mexico, and "Body of War" from the United States.
The four films represent a diversity of cultures and an array of filmmaking styles.
The Ross is selling a "passport" price of $15 for the general public, $10 for students and Friends of the Ross, to admit patrons to all four films. Passports will be available starting May 1 at the Ross ticket counter.
The passport films open with "Still Life" and "The Violin," playing May 9-15.
In "Still Life," filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke captures the human cost of rapid industrilization in modern China.
"Still Life" follows main characters Sanming (Han Sanming) and Shen Hong (Zhao Tao) on a sort of quest, as each searches for absent spouses.
Coal miner Samning's wife left him 16 years ago, and he's only just traveled from his native Shanxi provice to find her. When he reaches her former home in Fengjie - just upstream from the giant Three Gorges Dam project - Samning discovers that the area has been flooded by the reservoir project. He opts to stay and wait for her, taking a job with a demolition crew destroying the city in advance of the floodwaters.
Sanming and his wife find each other by the Yangtze River, and they decide to remarry.
Shen Hong is looking for her husband, who disappeared two years earlier to work in a factory in the Fengjie area. When she eventually finds her husband, she tells him that she has a lover and wants a divorce.
"The Violin," a first feature by writer/director Francisco Vargas, is an evocation of the 1970s Guerrero peasant revolt. The movie opens with insurgents being tortured in a hut.
The protagonist is Plutarco, a one-handed musician played by Don Angel Tavira. The movie flashes from the hut back to Plutarco, his son and grandson as street musicians, playing as a cover for revolutionary activities.
Following an invasion by the Mexican army, Plutarco returns to the occupied town looking for a way to retrieve weapons buried in area cornfields. He finds that the Mexican army's commanding officer has a genuine love for music and a desire to become a musician himself. Playing on the captain's desire, Plutarco engages in a battle of wits that ultimately leads to the opening torture scenes.
For more information, including show times, go to www.theross.org or call 472-5353.
GO TO: ISSUE OF MAY 1
ARTS HEADLINES FOR MAY 1
Veneciano to take Sheldon helm July 1
American Life in Poetry
Annual ceramics sale is May 2-3
May 8 'Free at 6' performance features Athenian Dancers
'Particles to Planets' exhibit opens May 2
Piano prof, mezzo-soprano offer May 3 performance
Ross 'passport' tour opens May 9
Theatre and Film celebration is May 3
University Bookstore hosts May 9 signing
733163S38223X
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|