Film + Video Series
Spring 2008 Series
Monday, February 4 :: 7pm
Manufactured Landscapes
dir. Jennifer Baichwal (2006, 90 min.)
Manufactured Landscapes is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.
Monday, March 3 :: 7pm
Strange Culture
dir. Lynn Hershman Leeson (2007, 75 min.)
Strange Culture follows the surreal nightmare of acclaimed artist Steve Kurtz that began when his wife Hope died in her sleep of heart failure. Local police who responded to Kurtz's 911 call deemed his art -- which explores germ warfare and genetically-modified foods -- to be suspicious and called the FBI. Within hours the artist was detained as a suspected bioterrorist, and dozens of federal agents in Hazmat suits sifted through his work and impounded his computers, manuscripts, books, his cat, and even his wife’s body. Today, Kurtz and a long-time collaborator await a trial date for charges of mail fraud. A renowned media artist herself, Hershman Leeson employs novel techniques that not only uncover and subvert the tenuous politics and legality of the case, but also the conventions of documentary cinema itself.
Monday, April 7 :: 7pm
What Remains: The Life and Work of Sally Mann
dir. Steve Cantor (2006, 85 min.)
One of the world’s preeminent photographers, Sally Mann first came to international prominence in 1992 with “Immediate Family,” a controversial series of complex, enigmatic, and sensual pictures of her own children. What Remains follows the creation of Mann’s new seminal work: a photo series revolving around various aspects of death and decay. Never one to compromise, Sally Mann reflects on her own personal feelings toward mortality as she continues to examine the boundaries of contemporary photography. Shot over five years at her family farm in Virginia, the film contains unbridled access to the many stages of Mann’s work, and is a rare glimpse of an eloquent and brilliant artist.
All screenings will be held in the Townsend Center Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall