The foreign and independent film selections at your local Blockbuster are not very impressive. Asian horror films that have been remade by Hollywood, the latest quirky coming-of-age story starring a hip, young actor and Life is Beautiful are all the store has in stock. Even the relative cultural bounty in Charlottesville can leave the adventurous film-goer wanting. Luckily, there is an organization at the University that offers rare and compelling films on a weekly basis. OFFScreen kicked off its spring calendar this weekend with the comedy I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. It is one of many original, thought-provoking and entertaining films that the society will be screening throughout the semester.
In the next couple weeks the first of two themed series will begin. French New Wave director Claude Chabrol has been chosen for this semester's Director's Series. He made his first film 50 years ago, and his career has ranged from the excitement of the French New Wave to the trials and tribulations of mainstream filmmaking. The films included in the series are Les Bonnes Femmes and Comedy of Power, which will be screening in conjunction with this year's Francophone Film Festival.
"I paired Comedy (2006) with Les Bonnes Femmes (1960) to give an interesting and unique portrait of a director still working decades into his career," OFFScreen's artistic director Wesley Harris said. "I thought it would be really interesting to be able to see bookends of a director's career like this, pairing a very early work with a contemporary one."
The second series this semester is focused around Women's History Month. For two weeks in March OFFScreen will feature films devoted to stories about women and the issues that affect their lives. The first in the series is the 2006 documentary Lake of Fire. Harris calls the film by Tony Kaye -- who directed American History X -- a "frank yet delicate approach to a pandora's box of a subject." A double feature about the power of women will run March 30. Jellyfish, winner of the 2007 Caméra d'Or at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, is a story about the intersecting lives of three women in Tel Aviv. It will be shown as a special advanced screening ahead of its national release. The short documentary, The Women's Kingdom, about the last matriarchal society in the world, will screen with the Israeli film.
"The agency these powerful women carry in their society should play very interestingly off the lives of the women in Jellyfish," Harris said.
In addition to the special series, Harris singled out three films he thinks will be the most exciting in for audiences. Hannah Takes the Stairs is a D.I.Y. film about woman negotiating the confusing choices of life after college, which might be "a little bittersweet for fourth-years and recent graduates." A 1981 French film, Diva, "taught MTV how to look like MTV," according to Harris. There is also Khadak, a film about a young man who is destined to become a shaman. Harris described the film -- which depicts the encroachment of the modern world on the lives of nomadic people -- as a "crazy fun night of magical realism."
Whether you're looking for captivating visuals and fascinating stories or something to do after dinner Sunday night, OFFScreen is the place to go. Film is an art form that is constantly evolving. Unless you're willing to spend all your time traveling from festival to festival, OFFScreen is the best way to experience the exciting and ever-changing world of film.
OFFScreen films run Sunday nights at 7:00 and 9:30 in Newcomb Theater. Tickets are $3.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
