PCI FILM SERIES 2013-2014
The Postcolonial Film Series (starting Dec 3, 2013)
On December 3, 2013, the Postcolonial Initiative PCI Utrecht starts its fourth postcolonial film series with a selection of films that draw on a variety of different contexts in our postcolonial world. The series is organized annually and invites all interested in our European postcolonial present and the representation of its political, cultural and aesthetic realities and challenges. We want to explore, through visual representations and cinematographic narratives, how these realities are analyzed and re-imagined in contemporary film. Each film will be introduced briefly by scholars connected to the PCI
The postcolonial film series 2013 screens on
The Postcolonial Film Series (starting Dec 3, 2013)
On December 3, 2013, the Postcolonial Initiative PCI Utrecht starts its fourth postcolonial film series with a selection of films that draw on a variety of different contexts in our postcolonial world. The series is organized annually and invites all interested in our European postcolonial present and the representation of its political, cultural and aesthetic realities and challenges. We want to explore, through visual representations and cinematographic narratives, how these realities are analyzed and re-imagined in contemporary film. Each film will be introduced briefly by scholars connected to the PCI
The postcolonial film series 2013 screens on
Introduced by Sandra Ponzanesi
January 7: Elia
Suleiman, Divine Intervention (UK, 2011, 124 min)
Introduced
by Babs Boter
February
11: Jack Hill, Coffy (USA, 1973, 91 min)
Introduced by Doro Wiese
March
4: Ari Folman, Waltz with Bashir (Israel, 2008, 87
min)
Introduced by Susanne
Knittel
March
25: Rachid Bouchareb, Hors-La-Loi (Outside the Law) (France, 2010, 138 min)
Introduced by Emmanuelle
Radar
May 6: Mira Nair, Monsoon Wedding (India, 2001, 114 min)
Introduced by Marta Zarzycka
TIME:
18.00
LOCATION:
Drift 21, room 32
For more information see: http://www.postcolonialstudies.nl
Or contact s.ponzanesi@uu.nl
Considered to be
a film about doomed love sets against the background of terrorism and female involvement
in combat Dil Se is a powerful film on
nationalism and the call of god set in stunning outdoor locations (Kashmir,
Assam, Ladakh, Kerala, Delhi, Buthan). Since becoming a crossover success in
Hindi with NAYAKAN ("Boss," 1987, a dubbed version of his
award-winning Tamil film starring Kamal Haasan) South Indian director Mani
Ratnam has made a series of controversial mainstream films that touch on potent
contemporary issues: the bloody Kashmir secession conflict (ROJA, 1992) and the
Bombay Hindu-Muslim riots of 1993 (BOMBAY, 1994). His fourth Hindi film, DIL
SE, is a spectacular and disturbing romance set against a background of
insurgent and counter-insurgent violence in the eastern Himalayan region, and
the threat of national disintegration, especially following the 1991
assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a female suicide-bomber. The film casts
megstar Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala in lead roles while Preita Zinta (in her film debut) appears in a supporting role. The film is considered an
example of Indian Parallel Cinema. The highly stylized film, with camerawork of
Santosh Sivan, and music by A. R. Rahman won awards for cinematography,
audiography, choreography, and music, among others.
Palestinian lovers separated by checkpoints between Ramallah and
Jerusalem try to get round the obstacles in their way. Elia Suleiman's film, ''Divine Intervention,'' is subtitled ''a chronicle
of love and pain.'' But the description is also a little misleading: those
large emotions -- and a smoldering political anger about Palestinian life under
Israeli occupation, as well -- are refracted through a series of quick, mordant
vignettes, some of which are like cinematic riddles and visual puns, delivered
in elegant deadpan. ''Divine Intervention'' is divided into three sections,
each devoted to a spot on the troubled map of Israel and the Palestinian
territories and linked by the hero's suffering and the director's cool,
observant camera. This is a deadpan comedy of sorts, almost silent, with
touches of Tati and Keaton - and certainly quite unlike anything you'll see
about the Middle East on the news (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian). The film was nominated for the "Palme d'Or"
award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, the film's consideration as candidate
for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards was an occasion for considerable controversy,
based on the rumors that the Academy Motion Picture did not recognize Palestine
as a state according to their regulations. The film was considered for an Oscar the following year as the committee decided to treat Palestine as an exception.
Coffy is one of the best-known
blaxploitations films of the 1970ies. Pam Grier plays Coffy, a seemingly
virtuous nurse, who, next to her work, mingles with pimps and drug dealers to avange
her sister's drug addiction. Like all exploitation films, Coffy (the
film) steps over the boundaries of good taste. Pam Grier, who enjoyed late fame
in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, incorporates in the film several
stereotypes at once. Coffy is a virtuous woman who plays the vamp to get what
she wants -- namely revenge. Coffy is sexy -- or dynamite, as the soundtrack
lets us know. Yet Coffy is more than a sexualized character. Coffy knows what
she wants, how to get it, and how to defeat evil forces within her community.
The film makes fun of all kind of stereotypes about black people that
circulated at its time, from black criminality (pimping, drug selling) to
hypersexualized black masculinity and feminity. Through humour, the film
thereby comments upon the racializing discourses of its time, without taking
away any kind of visual pleasure from the viewers.
Waltz With Bashir is a powerful
testimony to the damages of war, the workings of memory and repression, and the
challenges they post to representation and narrative. Written and directed by
Ari Folman, it is an animated, semi-autobiographical film about his attempts to
recover the lost memory of his experience as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War.
Composed largely of nightmares and flashbacks, Waltz
With Bashir has been called an “animated documentary,” yet it does not make
any overt claim to historical accuracy. Instead it is an investigation into the
human psyche, focusing on long-term traumatic effects on some Israeli soldiers,
and, by definition, to some extent also on Israeli society in general.
The film won, among others, a Golden Globe Award for
Best Foreign Film, the César, and was nominated for the Palme d’Or and an
Academy award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is officially banned in
Lebanon.
Rachid Bouchareb offers a gripping insight into the
Algerian independence struggle through the lives of three brothers -- The Observer May 8, 2011
A true classic of a Bollywood cinema, Monsoon Wedding (2001) depicts romantic entanglements during a
traditional Punjabi Hindu wedding in Delhi. The movie follows the events in the
large Verma family of Delhi, as their daughter Aditi prepares to marry Hemant,
a computer programmer from Houston. He is an "NRI" (non-resident
Indian), who has returned to meet the bride selected by his parents for an
arranged marriage. However, Aditi has agreed to the arranged marriage partly
out of impatience with her married lover's vague talk about someday divorcing
his wife. The extended family of both parties comes together from all corners
of the globe including India, Australia, Oman, and the United States to attend
the wedding, everyone bringing their emotional baggage along.
Monsoon Wedding won the Golden Lion as the best film at Venice 2001 and has been
praised by critics and global audiences alike for its vibrant colors and the
energy of a Bollywood spectacle. Currently, a musical adaptation is being made
by the same director.
