International Films Screened at Pratt Manhattan as Part of Global Cinema Series
Amy Guggenheim, a writer/director, filmmaker, and Pratt Institute adjunct associate professor, has curated and produced nine film screenings as part of Global Cinema Salon (TM), an international screening series that brings together emerging and established filmmakers, multimedia artists, writers, and speakers to stimulate creative dialogue through independent film. The program, titled "Summer Screening Speaker Series: What Makes Us (In) Human," includes films by filmmakers and multimedia artists from seven countries that address the elusive social and natural forces that drive people to extreme acts of love and destruction. Each film screening will be followed by a live Q&A with the directors about their vision, culture, and field. Films will be screened at 6:30 PM at Pratt Manhattan at 144 West 14th Street, Second Floor, Room 213, unless otherwise noted, and are free and open to the public. The series is co-presented with Pratt's School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Seating is limited.
The seven filmmakers include: Milcho Manchevski (Macedonia/New York); Mariette Montpiere (Guadalupe/France); Elena Bychokova (Russia); Noritoshi Hirakawa (Japan/New York), Taezoo Park (Korea); Cuong Ngo (Vietnam/Canada); Anton Koskov (Russia),and Lucy Walker (Japan/UK)
June 4: Milcho Manchevski; Mothers
June 6: 1:30 PM and 4 PM: Haolin Shu; No. 89 Shimen Road
June 11: 1:30 PM and 4 PM: Min Ah Baek; "Video Gestures" (Artist Talk)
June 11: Mariette Montpiere; Elza the Film
June 13: 3 PM: Elena Bychkova; Express-Course of Buddhism
June 15: 6 PM: Noritoshi Hirakawa; "The Human Gesture" (Master Class)
June 18: 4 PM: Taezoo Park; "Human Spaces" (Artist Talk)
June 18: Cuong Ngo; Pearls of the Far East. Moderated by Elizabeth Shim, GlobalAsianCulture.com
June 20: 3 PM: Anton Koskov; The Abyss
June 25: Lucy Walker; The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom. Followed by a panel, titled "Artists and Designers Respond," with architect Yutaka Takiura and others.
A closing reception will be held after Lucy Walker's screening on Monday, June 25, at Pratt Manhattan, Room 213 with food, drink, and networking. The closing reception is co-presented with Pratt Institute's Center for Sustainable Design Studies.
Global Cinema is a company designed to foster innovative, cinematic responses to contemporary human experience whose work is directed to sustain international creative dialogue, incubate new projects, and build multi-platform visibility for new cinematic vision. For more information, please visit www.globalcinemaz.com.
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Milcho Manchevski on Monday, June 4 at 6:30 PM. Screening of Mothers, followed by Q&A with the director.
Milcho Manchevski (Macedonia) wrote and directed the feature films Before the Rain (1994), Dust (2001), Shadows (2007) and Mothers (2010), and over 50 short films, including Tennessee (1992). He has directed episodes of HBO's The Wire (2002). Before the Rain received an Academy-Award nomination and 30 awards, including Golden Lion for Best Film in Venice, Independent Spirit, and FIPRESCI. The New York Times included it on its list of the best 1,000 films ever made. For more information on Milo Manchevski, go to: http://manchevski.com/
Haolin Shu on Wednesday, June 6 at 1:30 PM and 4 PM. Screening of No. 89 Shimen Road, followed by discussion with the director. For more information on Haolin Shu, go to: http://about.me/haolun
Min Ah Baek on Monday, June 11 at 1:30 PM and 4 PM. "Video Gestures" artist talk.
Min Ah Baek (South Korea) is an alumnus of Pratt Institute's M.F.A. program and a video and installation artist. Largely language-based, her work deals with society and the meaning of the human being as a part of the society. Her work focuses on social regulation and limitation, unconscious manipulation, silent encroachment, manufactured human identity, and ironic authority. In addition to her Pratt education, she has a degree in visual communications design from Hongik University in Seoul.
Mariette Montpiere on Monday, June 11 at 6:30 PM. Screening of Elza the Film, followed by Q&A with the director. Presented in collaboration with New York Women in Film and Television; nywift.org.
Mariette Monpierre (Guadalupe) studied for her master's degree in television and languages at l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne and Smith College. Her first independent piece, Knowledge is Power, was a documentary commissioned by the N.Y.C. Department of Health to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. Sweet Mickey for President? won Best Documentary at the Reel Sisters Film Festival; her short film Rendez-Vous, was nominated for the Djibril Diop Mambety Award/Directors Fortnight in Cannes. Elza won three awards at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles: BAFTA/LA Festival Choice Award; Best Director First Feature: Special Jury Recognition; Feature Narrative & Festival Programmers' Award, Narrative. For more information on Mariette Montpiere, go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1852001/
Elena Bychkova on Wednesday, June 13 at 3 PM. Screening of Express-Course of Buddhism followed by Webcast Q&A with the director. Presented in collaboration with CEArtslink.org.
Elena Bychkova (Russia), CEArts Link Open World Fellow, was born in 1983 in the city of Taishet, in Siberia. Bychkova holds a degree from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography and has directed three short films: The Stranger, Surprise, and Express-Course of Buddhism. Her works have won a number of awards, including two awards for Best Film at the VGIK International Film Festival, a special prize at the St. Anna Film Festival, and Best Cine-Novellgoa at the PROvsglyad Film Festival. For more information on Elena Bychkova, go to: http://www.cecartslink.org/residencies/open_world/film/bychkova_elena.html
Noritoshi Hirakawa on Friday, June 15 at 6 PM. A Master Class Workshop on The Human Gesture Redux. By invitation only.
Noritoshi Hirakawa's (Japan) work in photography, film, dance, installation, and performance has been exhibited at museums, art centers, and galleries all over the world including Venice Biennale Aperto, Istanbul Biennale, Site Santa Fe Biennale, and Museum fur Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Center Pompidou, Paris; PS 1 Museum, New York; Das TAT, Frankfurt; Danse Montpellier and Fondation Cartier, Paris; and University of Toronto. For more information on Noritoshi Hirakawa, go to: http://www.noritoshi.com
Taezoo Park on Monday, June 18 at 4 PM. Artist Talk: "Human Spaces" Interactive Digital Arts Animate Public Spaces.
Taezoo Park (Korea, Pratt M.F.A. '12) has exhibited works in new media, digitial design and video in Seoul and New York. http://taezoo.com
Cuong Ngo on Monday, June 18 at 6:30 PM. Screening of Pearls of the Far East, followed by Q&A with the director, moderated by Elizabeth Shim.
Cuong Ngo (Vietnam) earned a B.F.A.-Honors in Theater/Film, before pursuing his second degree in film production in the Toronto, B.F.A. Honors in Film Production program at York University. He has directed short films, documentaries, and videos including The Hitchhiker Project, and The Golden Pin, which won Best Canadian Short at the Toronto Inside Out LGBT Film and Video Festival before touring to over 40 international festivals. For more information on Cuong Ngo, go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2395433/
Anton Koskov, on Wednesday, June 20 at 3 PM. Screening of The Abyss. Presented in collaboration with CEArtslink.org
Anton Koskov (Russia), CEArts Link Open World Fellow, studied at the Architectural Institute, but went on to work as an electronic music promoter, DJ, and designer. In 2002, he joined the Russian State University of Cinematography. His works include documentary shorts (The Watchmaker); short fiction (Graffiti; The Abyss); and TV series (Garages, Inspector Cooper). For more information on Anton Koskov, go to: http://www.cecartslink.org/residencies/open_world/film/koskov_anton.html
Lucy Walker on Monday, June 25 at 6:30 PM. Screening of The Tsunami and The Cherry Tree, followed by a panel discussion, titled "Artists and Designers Respond," and a closing reception.
Lucy Walker (Japan/UK) was nominated for a 2012 Academy Award® Best Documentary--Short Subject. Her first documentary, Devil's Playground, premiered at Sundance in 2002, and Countdown To Zero and Wasteland both premiered at Sundance in 2010; the latter won the Audience Award at Sundance and Berlin, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. For more information on Lucy Walker, go to: http://thetsunamiandthecherryblossom.com/
Additional support for the series has been contributed by Aixecar, the Asian Cultural Council, CEArts Link, Pratt Institute's Department of Humanities and Media, Department of Fine Arts, School of Information and Library Science, and Center for Sustainable Design Studies, and private individuals.
Image: Film still from The Human Gesture. Image credit: Courtesy of Noritoshi Hirakawa.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Amy Aronoff at 718-636-3554 or aarono29@pratt.edu
Amy Guggenheim at 917.676.3470 or globalcinema21st@gmail.com