Release date: Oct. 17, 2003
Contact: Sally Corbett, Director of Public Relations, Arts,
at 404-727-6678 or sacorbe@emory.edu

Emory Great Directors' Series Offers Diverse International Films

Emory University celebrates the advancement of film scholarship and research in its film studies department by presenting "Great Directors'," a three-month series featuring the major works of filmmakers from around the world. The series theme dovetails on the popular Akira Kurosawa series that ended in early October.

"Great Directors'" screenings are free and open to the public. Series films will be shown in 35mm in Emory's White Hall 205 on select Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. through Dec. 10. For more information, call 404-727-6761 or go to www.emory.edu/COLLEGE/FILM/.

The screenings are co-sponsored by Emory Cinematheque a joint effort by Emory College and the Department of Film Studies, which provides Atlanta with programs of important international films in a repertory cinema environment.

The schedule follows (Note: Foreign language films have English subtitles.):

Oct. 22: "What Times Is It There?" ("Ni Neibian Jidian," 2001, France/Taiwan, 116 min., color)
Director Tsai Ming-Liang's meticulously crafted look at mundane moments in life becomes a work of quiet transcendence by its end. After the death of his father, Hsiao-kang develops a fixation with watches and time; his mother becomes obsessed with the return of her husband's spirit. Tsai Ming-Liang is a leading figure in the Taiwanese New Wave.

Oct. 29: "Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India" (2001, India, 223 min., color)
One of the most expensive films ever to come out of "Bollywood," this musical, set in central India in 1893, tells of the farmers' revolt against an unjust British land tax, the lagaan. Rather than resorting to violence, the farmers agree to settle the issue with a cricket match. Filmmaker Ashotosh Gowariker is an actor-turned-director who also writes his own screenplays.

Nov. 5: "JFK" (1991, United States, 189 min., color)
Oliver Stone's winner of 1991 Oscars for best cinematography and best editing, "JFK" focuses on New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison as he gathers evidence surrounding the assassination of American's 35th president. Nov. 22 is the 40th anniversary of the president's murder.

Nov. 12: "Landscape in the Mist" ("Topio Stin Omichli," 1988, Greece/France/Italy, 126 min., color)
Theo Angelopoulos is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest living directors. In "Landscape of the Mist" two children decide to run away to Germany where they believe their father is living. Their adventures range from heartwarming, when they're "adopted" by a group of itinerant actors, to harrowing, when they meet up with a callous truck driver. This film won the 1988 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion.

Nov. 19: "Russian Ark" ("Russki Kovcheg," 2002, Russia/Germany, 95 min., color)
Alexander Sokurov broke boundaries with this film, the first feature-length narrative film shot in a single take (on digital video, using a specially designed hard drive instead of tape). Taking the point of view of an unseen narrator, the audience tours the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg and witnesses events from Russian history: Peter the Great abusing one of his generals; Catherine the Great desperately searching for a bathroom; and, in the grand finale, the Great Royal Ball of 1913.

Dec. 3: "Bay of Angels" ("La Baie des anges," 1963, France, 85 min., black and white)
Jeanne Moreau stars as a middle-aged Parisian gambling addict who leaves her husband and children for the roulette tables of Nice in this film by acclaimed director Jacques Demy. There she meets young, handsome Claude, latching on to him in the belief that he's a good luck charm, even when her luck changes. "Bay of Angels" was directed by Demy just before he achieved international fame with his musical films, "Young Girls of Rochefort" and "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg."

Dec. 10: "Point Blank," (1967, United States, 92 min., color)
Based on Donald E. Westlake's novel "The Hunter," this gangster film was mostly overlooked in 1967, but director John Boorman's visual adventurousness and Lee Marvin's amoral and apathetic antihero Walker have made "Point Blank" one of the most interesting and quietly influential films of the late 1960s American cinema. Boorman went on to direct such notable films as "Excaliber" (1980) and "Hope and Glory" (1987).

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