From: Dylan McGinty <dylan at frif.com>
To Labor History scholars in the New York City area - Chris Marker's masterpiece A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is premiering Wednesday, May 1st at Film Forum in New York City (and screening in other cities in the coming months).
"This film is a mirror held up to each of us, a mirror that wanders through all the paths that we have taken or crossed (Vietnam war protests, pro-Latin America movement, May of '68, the rise and fall of the Left) and encourages us to reflect along with it about the journey and its goal." - Regis Debray, Rouge, December 28, (1977)
A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT (its French title is just as charmingly seductive, LE FOND DE L'AIR EST ROUGE) is Marker's magnum opus: a 3-hour overview of the success and failure of the left during the 1960s and 70s. Marker interweaves stunning amount and diversity of footage into A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT, from May '68 in Paris, to the Vietnam War and the anti-war protests, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Che Guevara and Regis Debray in Bolivia, the Shah of Iran, Fidel Castro, et alia.
Marker ("The still little-known genius of documentary" - David Thomson, NY Times Book Review) is a modern legend: an elusive French filmmaker with an American sounding name who has rarely been seen or interviewed, but whose films are among the most influential philosophical and political meditations to be committed to celluloid.
"Marker doesn't boast that he has succeeded in making a dialectical film. But he has tried (having in his time, he says, abused the exercise of power by the commentator-director) for once to give back to the viewer, through montage, his own commentary; which is to say, his own power." - Richard Roud, Sight and Sound (1977)
" [5 Stars]. One of the most towering and extraordinary films to grace the screen! Staggering in its depth and scope.... A monumental political elegy to a not-so-distant era. An event of major importance." - Film Threat (2002)
For more information about the film see: http://frif.com/new2001/grin.html
A GRIN WITHOUT A CAT will have a 2-week engagement, May 1-14, at Film Forum (www.filmforum.com) 209 West Houston Street, with screenings daily at 1:00, 4:30 and 8:00.
Dylan M. McGinty Acquisitions and Marketing
First Run / Icarus Films, Inc. 32 Court Street, 21st Floor Brooklyn NY 11201
Tel.....(718) 488 8900 / (800) 876 1710 Fax.....(718) 488 8642 Email....dylan at frif.com Web......http://www.frif.com
-- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>