April 3, 2003
Contact: George Yatchisin
(805) 893-3494
e-mail: yatchisin-g@ sa.ucsb.edu
UCSB Arts & Lectures Spring Cinema 2003
features 9 evenings of film from around the globe
Summary Facts:
- UCSB Arts & Lectures Spring Cinema 2003
- A series of 9 international films, including 5 Santa Barbara premieres
- Friday, April 4 through Sunday, June 1
- All screenings at 7:30 pm, except for 8 Mile, which will be shown at 7:30 and 10 pm, Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time, which will be shown at 7:30 and 9:30 pm, and Jazz Films with Mark Cantor, which will be shown at 3 pm
- All screenings in UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public: $6 / UCSB students: $5
- Ticket prices for Queen of the Gypsies, a Portrait of Carmen Amaya and for Jazz Films with Mark Cantor: General public $10 / UCSB students: $8
- Tickets may be purchased in advance at the UCSB Arts & Lectures Ticket Office and at the door, if available, beginning at 6:30 pm
- For tickets and information, phone UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
UCSB Arts & Lectures Spring Cinema 2003, a series of nine evenings of film, features five Santa Barbara area premieres. Two special events highlight this schedule. On Thursday, May 22 Indian director Jagmohan Mundhra will present his powerful drama Sandstorm (Bawandar). On Sunday, June 1 archivist Mark Cantor returns to UCSB after his crowd-pleasing fall 2002 presentation to host another exciting screening of Jazz Films.
The series begins on Friday, April 4 with 8 Mile, the big screen debut of notorious rapper Eminem. Named after the road which separates Detroit from its white suburbs, 8 Mile, according to Rolling Stone, is charged with Eminem’s “intensity to rival James Dean’s.” Eminem stars as Rabbit, hoping to escape his self-described “white trash” life through the power of the rapped word. Directed by Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential, Wonder Boys) with a keen-eye for gritty realism and vivid performances, 8 Mile is a rousing look at young dreams in a multiracial hip-hop America. With Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy and Mekhi Phifer. (2002, 111 minutes)
The series moves from the urban hell of Detroit to the verdant Tuscan paradise of Heaven, which screens Monday, May 5. Written by the late Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski and his longtime collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz as the first part of an envisioned Divine Comedy (to follow up their opus The Decalogue), Heaven is directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). Cate Blanchett plays a widowed Englishwoman, frustrated by the Italian legal system, who decides to kill the drug dealer she feels is responsible for her husband’s overdose. Her plans for vengeance go horribly wrong, but lead her into a tender romance with an Italian police translator played by Giovanni Ribisi. The New York Times says Blanchett “gives the most compelling performance of her career” in this meditation on guilt, love, chance, coincidence and transcendence. In English and Italian, with English subtitles as necessary. (2002, 96 minutes)
On Thursday, May 8 A&L presents the final installment in Godfrey Reggio’s Qatsi trilogy Naqoyqatsi. This film, whose title is taken from the Hopi term for “war as a way of life,” is a non-narrative feast of fast-flying images set to Philip Glass’s pulsating score and features solo cello by Yo-Yo Ma. Reggio has considerably altered stock footage from newsreels, military and instructional films, corporate videos and commercials by speeding them up or slowing them down, tinting or coloring, distorting or re-animating, among other forms of digital manipulation. The result is a powerful condemnation of our mad modern world that’s utterly compelling; Wired magazine says, “Prepare yourself for kaleidoscopic beauty.” (2002, 89 minutes)
As complementary programming to its Ravi & Anoushka Shankar concert at the Arlington Theatre on May 1, Arts & Lectures will screen the inspiring documentary Ravi Shankar: Between Two Worlds on Monday, May 12. Widely recognized as India’s greatest living musician, Ravi Shankar is master of the sitar and a key influence on artists as diverse as Satyajit Ray, John Coltrane, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison and Philip Glass. This fascinating film brings together for the first time archival footage spanning seven decades of Shankar’s performing life, chronicling his musical and spiritual journey. (Mark Kidel, 2001, 90 minutes)
On Thursday, May 15 the series looks at an unusual artist with the intimate Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time. A small crew spent 70 days over the course of a year with Goldsworthy, gathering 30 hours of film of this Scottish landscape sculptor whose unique creations—composed of icicles, leaves, sticks, rocks, etc.—are often swept away by the next tide or wind gust. The Village Voice dubs Goldsworthy “a winter-fleeced philosopher of evanescence” and calls Rivers and Tides “sensitive and stimulating.” This winner of the Best Documentary Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and the 2002 San Francisco International Film Festival has a haunting score by Fred Frith. (Thomas Riedelsheimer, 2000, 105 minutes)
The series moves from cool contemplation to fiery passion with a screening of Queen of the Gypsies, a Portrait of Carmen Amaya on Monday, May 19. Legendary Gypsy dancer Carmen Amaya (1913-1963) brought the grit, passion and duende (soul) of Flamenco puro to the international stage. The film examines Amaya’s life through interviews with family and friends, and traces her rise from a poverty-stricken childhood in Barcelona to stardom in Spanish cinema, Broadway and Hollywood. The Boston Phoenix praises “the phenomenal dancing excerpts from Amaya’s films” insisting the documentary makes clear why newspapers called Amaya the “Human Vesuvius.” In Spanish, French and English, with English subtitles as necessary. (Jocelyn Ajami, 2002, 80 minutes)
On Thursday, May 22 the series features a film and filmmaker event. Indian director Jagmodhan Mundhra presents a screening of Sandstorm (Bawandar), a hard-hitting drama based on the life of Bhanwari Devi, a lower caste woman who fought for justice after being gang-raped by upper caste villagers in Rajasthan. Mundhra will introduce the film and answer questions afterward. Sandstorm stars Nandita Das (Fire and Earth) as a woman who maintains her dignity and courage while struggling against a judicial system corrupted by sexism, feudalism and political opportunism. In an interview Mundhra has said, “Bawandar is much more than a film to me. It was a mission. The woman on whose life the work is based lost the case. However, I wanted her to win in the court of public opinion. The film will do its bit for women’s empowerment.” In Hindi and Rajasthani with English subtitles. (2001, 125 minutes)
On Thursday, May 29, Arts & Lectures presents Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa’s masterful reinterpretation of Macbeth, starring Toshiro Mifune as the power-crazed protagonist Washizu. The Baltimore City Paper asserts, “Shrouded in mists and rain and beautifully photographed, Throne of Blood is that rare Shakespeare take memorable for its onscreen images: the eerie Noh ghost who stands in for the play’s three witches; the forest on the march (never captured better on film); and Washizu’s inevitable end, the warrior besieged by flights of arrows that seem to materialize instantly, out of nowhere, to close off any hope of escaping his fate.” A&L will screen a restored print with new subtitles. In Japanese with English subtitles. (1957, 110 minutes)
On Sunday, June 1 the series concludes with an encore visit by jazz historian, archivist and raconteur Mark Cantor who will present an afternoon of jazz on film featuring some of the greatest names in jazz in rarely seen footage. This two hour program, plus intermission, will feature greats like Dinah Washington, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, plus a set of astounding jazz dance films, featuring some of the stars of the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. “Cantor’s collection is an extraordinary treasure trove,” enthuses the Los Angeles Times. “In a just world, it would be available to jazz fans on a frequent and regular basis.... A dedicated archivist, he is also an entertaining host, providing detailed information as well as insightful, often humorous anecdotes about the many clips he presents.”
All film screenings take place in UCSB Campbell Hall. Most film screenings begin at 7:30 pm, except for: 1) 8 Mile, which features a second screening at 10 pm; 2) Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time, which features a second screening at 9:30 pm; and, 3) Jazz Films with Mark Cantor, which screens at 3 pm. Tickets for all films are available in advance at the UCSB Arts & Lectures Ticket Office (805-893-3535) and may be purchased in person or charged by phone. Tickets can also be bought at the door, if available, starting at 6:30 pm. All tickets are $6 for the general public and $5 for UCSB students, except for Queen of the Gypsies, a Portrait of Carmen Amaya and Jazz Films with Mark Cantor, which cost $10 for the general public and $8 for UCSB students.
Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, these films are sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent, KCSB Radio 91.9 FM, Blue Agave and The Daily Nexus. Ravi Shankar: Between Two Worlds is co-presented by Raagmala. Queen of the Gypsies, a Portrait of Carmen Amaya is co-presented with the UCSB MultiCultural Center.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.