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Chantal Akerman’s (1950–2015) uncompromising second feature film, made when she was only 25, masterfully illustrates the quiet rage beget by female oppression through the stoic face of actress Delphine Seyrig. Lensed by Babette Mangolte, one of the most prolific women cinematographers of her era, this domestic epic unfolds over three seemingly ordinary days in the life of a housewife, mother, and part-time sex worker in Brussels. The tension created through repetition and the smallest of gestures makes this an unequivocal masterpiece and a timeless example of feminist filmmaking. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Chantal Akerman. WITH: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte. 1975. 201 min. Belgium/France. Color. French. 35mm.
One Way or Another (De cierta manera)
Solidarity with One Way or Another (De cierta manera) Mon, Mar 6 | 7:30pm | TMT Solidarity A document of the literal boots on the ground at a strike at the Kitchener, Ontario-based Dare cookie factory. By framing just the feet of the workers and superimposing the film’s title atop the image throughout, Canadian experimental filmmaker Joyce Wieland (1930–1998) emphasizes the impact of organized direct action and places visual import on the physical demands required for reform. DIRECTED BY: Joyce Wieland. 1972–73. 11 min. Canada. Color.
English. 16mm. Print courtesy of Light Cone. One Way or Another ( De cierta manera )
Love and Anarchy
The only Afro-Latina woman ever in the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, Sara Gómez’s neo- realistic work of fiction and her only feature film is a portrait of romantic love in times of revolution. Boldly confronting class, race, and gender inequality, One Way or Another also questions the economy, educational opportunities, healthcare, and women’s place in society. Unfinished at the time of her death in 1974, her co-writer, the renowned filmmaker Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, whose later Fresa y Chocolate (1993) became the first Cuban film nominated for a Foreign Language Film Oscar, dedicated himself to completing the movie after she was gone. DIRECTED BY: Sara Gómez. WRITTEN BY: Sara Gómez, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Tomás González Pérez, Julio García Espinosa. WITH: Mario Balmaseda, Yolanda Cuéllar, Mario Limonta. 1977. 73 min. Cuba. B&W. Spanish. DCP. 2K digital restoration by Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst in collaboration with Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC); courtesy of Janus Films. The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived with Sambizanga Thu, Mar 23 | 7:30pm | TMT The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived With The Hour of Liberation Has Arrived , Lebanese director Heiny Srour (b. 1945) became the first Arab female filmmaker to see her film screened in competition at Cannes. Centering the feminist guerrilla movement of the Dhofar Rebellion in Oman, Srour and her small crew trekked deep within the conflict to record the emancipatory People’s Liberation Army, producing a powerful record of a war and the sweeping social reforms that resulted from the uprising. Always outspoken about improving women’s place in Arab society, Srour’s empowering documentary fearlessly embodies female liberation both in front of and behind the camera. DIRECTED BY: Heiny Srour. 1974. 62 min. UK/Lebanon/France. Color. Arabic. DCP.
Take Off with Love and Anarchy Sat, Mar 4 | 7:30pm | TMT Take Off
Filmmaker Gunvor Grundel Nelson (b. 1931) has been making what she calls “personal films” both in the Bay Area and in her birthplace of Kristinehamn, Sweden, since the 1960s. Her short Take Off is described by her distributor, Canyon Cinema, as “a dance, a documentary, [and] a metaphysical strip tease.” DIRECTED BY: Gunvor Grundel Nelson. WITH: Ellion Ness. 1972. 10 min. USA. B&W. 16mm. Print courtesy of Canyon Cinema Foundation. Love and Anarchy In 2019, prolific Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller (1928–2021) became the second female director ever to receive an Honorary Award from the Academy for her career, preceded only by Agnès Varda in 2017. Nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, her luxurious, grotesque, hilarious Love and Anarchy finds her longtime icy-eyed muse Giancarlo Giannini shacking up in a high-class brothel, biding his time before he attempts to assassinate Mussolini. Critiquing modern society by scrutinizing Italian gender roles through the faults and blunders of her male protagonists, Wertmüller places equal emphasis on sexual politics as she does on her staunch socialist ideals. DIRECTED/WRITTEN BY: Lina Wertmüller. WITH: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Eros Pagni, Pina Cei. 1973. 124 min. Italy/France. Color. Italian. DCP.
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