2008-2009 Series: Moving Images, Moving Art
In its second season, the Townsend Center’s film & video series, Depth of Field, turns its lens on the traditional roots of the humanities by using film’s status as the ‘seventh art’ to explore its six predecessors. Each film in the Moving Images, Moving Art series focuses on various aspects of dance, music, architecture, painting, literature and sculpture as they appear in uncommon places and unexpected ways. Stretching from war-torn regions in Africa to rambling Danish estates, Depth of Field travels the contours of these ancient arts in their modern-day manifestations, thereby offering a glimpse of the humanities at work in the lives of everyday people.
All events are free and open to the public.
Read more about the Moving Images, Moving Art Series.
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 Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (2005)
Directed by Zach Niles and Banker White
Monday, September 22, 2008
7:00 pm | Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall
The success of 1999’s Buena Vista Social Club set off a wave of imitators, but it wasn’t till Refugee All Stars that the film inspired an equal. Refugee All Stars follows a group of musicians living in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone as they come together to form an impromptu touring group, composing songs that reflect the experiences of refugees living in the camps. Despite being forced to fashion instruments from scrap material, the group manages to capture the attention of the camp and eventually both the United Nations and the world as they go on national and international tours. The film offers an impressive blend of performance and reportage as it follows the group on its journey.
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 The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (2007)
Directed by Pernille Rose Grønkjær
Monday, October 20, 2008
7:00 pm | Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall
When Jorgen Vig decided to donate his aging Danish estate to the Russian Orthodox Church for use as a monastery, the last place he expected to find resistance was from one of the nuns who arrived to take up residence. Filmed over six years, The Monastery follows Vig as he works toward realizing his forty-year dream of establishing something which “will endure” and shows the challenges he encounters as an aging bachelor learning to live with stern and sometimes stubborn housemates. Following in the tradition of Grey Gardens (1975), the film documents the collision of eccentric personalities as they struggle to transform space into place in one of the far-off corners of the world.
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 War Dance (2007)
Directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Monday, November 17, 2008
7:00 pm | Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall
While the ‘competition’ format has become a somewhat standard documentary trope in films ranging from Spellbound to Mad Hot Ballroom, rarely has the material been as compelling as it is in War Dance. The film follows a group of Ugandan school children competing in an annual nationwide dance competition, weaving each child’s biography together with performance footage as the group works their way toward the championship. With multiple awards for its stunning cinematography, War Dance is well worth seeing on the big screen.
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