calendario eventi  :: 

X

30/9/2011

Andrei Ujica

Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria

Andrei Ujică is one of the most remarkable filmmakers to emerge during the current resurgence of Romanian filmmaking. Using existing archival and news footage, he explores the nature of political power and media, and the transformation of his country at the end of the Cold War. His masterpiece to date is the singular three-hour film The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, which has been praised as “transfixing, illuminating and haunting” (Time Out London). Ujică will be the subject of a weekend retrospective at Museum of the Moving Image on October 1 and 2, 2011, including all three of his films—The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu, Videograms of a Revolution, and Out of the Present—each accompanied by a guest speaker, and a personal appearance by Ujică at a panel discussion about his work.

Alongside Ujică, other participants on the October 2 panel discussion include author Ian Buruma (Murder in Amsterdam), a frequent contributor on culture and politics to The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books; film critic Kent Jones, executive director of the World Cinema Foundation; and author Norman Manea, currently writer in residence at Bard College, who writes about daily life in a Communist state, exile, and the Holocaust. The panel will be moderated by David Schwartz, Chief Curator of Museum of the Moving Image.

Romanian-American political scientist and sociologist Vladimir Tismăneanu will introduce The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu on October 1 and Dennis Lim, editor of Moving Image Source, will introduce Videograms of a Revolution and Out of the Present on October 2.

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu is a fascinating, multilayered essay in the form of a collage of official newsreels and home movies. It established Ujică on the international scene as a major director with a unique approach to exploring history. While his films reveal the contradictions and tensions behind the curtain of Soviet-era Communism, they also examine the nature of reality and politics in today’s media-saturated Western world. His 1992 film Videograms of a Revolution, co-directed by Ujică and Harun Farocki, examines the stunning 1989 uprising that led to the capture and execution of Ceausescu. Ujică’s first film, Out of the Present, juxtaposes scenes of a cosmonaut floating in outer space with scenes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which was taking place on the ground at the same time.

The series is presented in collaboration with the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York.

SCHEDULE FOR ‘ANDREI UJICĂ,’ OCTOBER 1–2, 2011

All screenings take place at Museum of the Moving Image (36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, NY). Unless otherwise noted, screenings are included with paid Museum admission.
This schedule is also available online at http://www.movingimage.us/films/2011/10/01/detail/andrei-ujic-2/.

The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
Introduced by Vladimir Tismăneanu
Saturday, October 1, 5:00 p.m.
Dir. Andrei Ujică. 2010, 180 mins. A deftly composed montage, edited from thousands of hours of archival footage—both state-sanctioned and private—documenting the rise and fall of the socialist Romanian leader, and the traumatized nation he left after his execution in 1989. This work is an astonishing study of the intoxicating and corrupting effects of power and the ways that world leaders attempt to stage-manage history. The screening will be introduced by Romanian-American political scientist and sociologist Vladimir Tismăneanu, who is also the director of the University of Maryland’s Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies.

Cinema, History, and the Films of Andrei Ujică: A Panel Discussion with Andrei Ujică, Ian Buruma, Kent Jones, and Norman Manea
Sunday, October 2, 2:00 p.m.
Author Ian Buruma (Murder in Amsterdam) writes frequently about culture and politics for The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. Film critic Kent Jones is the executive director of the World Cinema Foundation. Norman Manea is a prolific and acclaimed author of short fiction, novels, and essays about daily life in a Communist state, exile, and the Holocaust, and is a writer in residence at Bard College. The panel will be moderated by Chief Curator David Schwartz.

Videograms of a Revolution
Introduced by Dennis Lim
Sunday, October 2, 4:00 p.m.
Dir. Andrei Ujică and Harun Farocki. 1992, 106 mins. Using amateur video, footage shot by the state film industry, and excerpts of broadcasts from a demonstrator-controlled Bucharest TV studio in late December 1989, this chronology of the Romanian uprising that overthrew dictator Nicolae Ceausescu shows how media technology not only records but fosters historic change.

Out of the Present
Introduced by Dennis Lim
Sunday, October 2, 6:30 p.m.
Dir. Andrei Ujică. 1999, 96 mins. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev spent ten months aboard the space station Mir, while below him, out of sight, the Soviet Union was disintegrating. Ujică intercuts between the tumult in Moscow and scenes of Krikalev floating in free space to poetically portray a world in transition.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street) - Astoria
Admission: $12.00 for adults; $9.00 for persons over 65 and for students with ID; $6.00 for children ages 3-18
Screenings: Free with Museum admission.

stampa

permanent link