Radical Closure

11/28/06 to 12/12/06

Measures of Distance, December 12

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Past Films

Ici et ailleurs
Tuesday, November 28 19:30
Akram Zaatari in Person. Series curator Zaatari presents Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville's truly radical film, begun in 1970 as a documentary on the Palestinian struggle but completed in 1974 as a much more complex exploration of the ideological barriers between "here" and "elsewhere."
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The Troubling Remake
Thursday, November 30 19:30
Inspired by Jean Eustache's Une sale histoire, a tricky retelling of a banal "dirty story," this program juxtaposes a videotape of Joseph Cicippio, held hostage in Lebanon in the late '80s, with Walid Raad's "critical remake" Hostage: The Bachar Tapes.
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War: The Visible Signs
Tuesday, December 5 19:30
Diverse views of war and its traces, from WWII bombing technology to mid-'80s Beirut to the first Gulf War, in works by Harun Farocki, Olga Nakkas and Hassan Zbib, Elia Suleiman, and Lonnie van Brummelen.
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Intensive Care (Free Screening!)
Thursday, December 7 17:30
Free First Thursday Screening! Short works from the Middle East and beyond examine contradictory emotional states relating to violence and conflict.
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Education as a Site of Indoctrination
Thursday, December 7 19:30
Works by Omar Amiralay, Hatice Güleryüz, Mahmoud Hojeij, and Oussama Mohammad observe children being subtly and not-so-subtly trained to conform.
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Personal Narratives
Tuesday, December 12 19:30
Short works by Forough Farrokhzad, Vlatko Gilic, Mona Hatoum, Samir, and Lisa Steele address war, exile, and other hazards and hardships through powerful personal testimony.
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Radical Closure

11/28/06 to 12/12/06

This series, compiled by Lebanese video artist and curator Akram Zaatari, presents works produced in response to what Zaatari describes as situations of physical and/or ideological closure resulting mainly from war and territorial conflicts. Its focus is on the Middle East as a site of successive wars, division, and stereotyping, but also as the site of a very rich, subversive, and critically stimulating visual culture, examined here from the viewpoint of a history often shaped by violence.

The series looks at film's paradoxical ability, on the one hand, to penetrate dangerous situations in order to describe them, and, on the other, to be used as an instrument of propaganda. This compilation brings together works in many genres and from many sources, including independent films and videos, artists' films, documentaries, and film essays. Themes of education and indoctrination, the poetics of war representations, and personal...

An additional Radical Closure program will be presented by San Francisco Cinematheque on Sunday, December 3, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Information: www.sfcinematheque.org.

Except where noted otherwise, all films are in their original languages with English subtitles.

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Radical Closure was curated by Akram Zaatari, and was originally presented at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in May 2006; program notes are adapted from notes by Zaatari in the festival catalog. Presentation of the series at PFA is cosponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley. We wish to extend our thanks to Akram Zaatari and Katrin Mundt for their invaluable assistance.

Radical Closure

11/28/06 to 12/12/06

Past Films

Ici et ailleurs

The Troubling Remake

War: The Visible Signs

Intensive Care (Free Screening!)

Education as a Site of Indoctrination

Personal Narratives