07.11.2015
In February, the Film Club at Grand River called “FimK-lib”, its name being a play on “freedom” and “film club” in Kreol, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. Meanwhile, we have pleasure in publishing the list of films viewed and discussed at the monthly projection. The film projected is chosen after the viewing and discussion of the preceding film - by those present. This means the selection is eclectic. Our guiding principles are to watch films that have affected the development of cinema, and to watch films from different currents of cinema. This means we learn to contrast this rich tradition with the rather threadbare tradition if you remain trapped within the style of Hollywood and Bollywood block-busters only, which is what is dished up on the commercial circuits.
FimK-lib brings together people who love the cinema, and who want to view films – as opposed to just “watching” them to see what happens next – and then discuss them informally afterwards. Once members have been through this experience a few times, they become sensitive to how films are made, and to the way in which narratives, views, analyses, atmospheres are created in different ways: the way the camera moves, or doesn’t move; the way the music and other sounds are integrated; the particular lighting; the metaphors and symbols used and whether they work; the stand, if any, that the director is taking on an issue; the beauty of the filming; the power of the acting and the type of acting; the influence the film has had, or may, in future have. And so on.
The oldest film we have viewed was a Buster Keaton film The Navigator released in 1924. And we have watched 4 released in 2014, and will in December watch the 2015-release The Look of Silence, the documentary exposing the genocide in Indonesia that has been kept “silent” so long. The longest film we have viewed was the near 6-hour-long La Commune (Paris) by Peter Watkins (2000). Everyone has a different favourite. One or two turned out to be duds – but that was always interesting to know. We have viewed commedies like Peter Sellers in The Party and Jacques Tati films. And we have even viewed one or two exceptional “parts” of TV series: The Wire, and the BBC The Monocled Mutineer.
Here is our list to date, including the coming film, The Look of Silence by Joshua Oppenheimer.
12 Years a Slave – Steeve McQueen (2013) – British
24 City - Jia Zhang Ke (2008) – China
A Touch of Sin – Jia Zhang-Ke (2013) – China
About Eli – Asgar Farhadi (2009) - Iran
All About My Mother - Almodovar (1999) - Spanish All or Nothing – Mike Leigh (2002) - British
Amour - Michael Haneke (2012) - France
Ashes and Diamonds - Josef Waida (1958) - Polish Avatar - James Cameron (2009) - USA Bad Education - Almodovar (2004) - Spanish Bal (Honey) – Semih Kaplanoglu (2010) - Turkish
Battleship Potempkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925) - Russian Beasts of the Southern Wild - Benh Zeitlin (2012) - USA
Bicycle Thieves - Vittoria de Sica (1948) - Italian Bof - Claude Faraldo (1971) – Fr ench Brazilia - Terry Gilliam (1985) - UK Cabascabo - Oumara Sanda (1969) – Cote d’Ivoire Celebration, The – Thomas Vinterberg – Denmark (1998) Chess Players - Satyajit Ray (1977) - Indian Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941) - USA Cocorico Monsieur Poulet by Jean Rouche (1974) - Niger/France
Constant Gardener, The - Fernando Mereilles (2005) – Mexico, set Kenya Cyrano de Bergerac - Jean-Paul Rappeneau (1990) - French Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino (1979) - USA Departures (Okuribito) - YajiraTakita (2009) – Japan Disgrace – Steve Jacobs (2008) – Australia (set South Africa) Dor - Nagesh Kukunoor (2006) - India Earth - Deepa Mehta (1998) - India Eight and a Half – Frederick Fellini (1963) - Italian Fire - Deepa Mehta (1996) - India Flags of our Fathers – Clint Eastwood (2006) - USA Fountain, The - Darren Aronofsky (2006) - USA Freeze Die Come to Life - Vitali Kanevsky (1989) Russia Frida - Julie Taymor (2002) – US-Mexico Ghare-Baire (Home and the World) - Satyajit Ray (1984) - India Gold Rush - Charlie Chaplin (1925) - USA Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney (2005) - USA Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood (2008) - USA Guiletta degli Spiriti (Julietta and her Spirits) - Federico Fellini (1965) - Italy Home - Yann Arthus - Bertrand (2009) - USA Hunger - Steve McQueen (2008) - Ireland In A Better World (Revenge) – Suzanne Beer (2010) Denmark In Bruges - Martin McDonagh (2008) - Belgium Incredible Shrinking Man, The – Jack Arnold (1957) - USA Indonesia's Years of Living Dangerously - Sylvie Le Clezio and Chris Hilton (2002) - Indonesia Ivan’s Childhood - Andrei Tarkovsky (1962) - Russia Jal Sagaar (Music Room) - Satyajit Ray (1958) - India Kagemusha - Kurosawa (1980) – Japan King’s Speech – Tom Hooper (2010) – Australia set UK La Commune - Paris 1871 - Peter Watkins (2000), marathon 6-hour film - France (UK, set Paris) La Dolce Vita - Federico Fellini (1960) - Italy Ladybird, Ladybird – Ken Loach (1994) - England La Grande Illusion - Jean Renoir (1937) - France Lagaan - Aamir Khan (2001) - India Le Bal - Ettore Scola (1982) - Italy Le Manda (Mandabi) - Ousmane Sembene (1968) - Senegal Letters from Iwo Jima – Clint Eastwood (2006) - USA L’Odeur de la Papaye Verte – Tran Anh Hung (1993) Vietnam Lola - Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1981) - Philippines Making of La Commune (Paris 1871) - Peter Watkins (2000) – English - France Malcolm X by Spike Lee (1992) - U.S.A.
Harlan County - Barbara Kopple (1976) – USA
La Classe Ouvriere au Paradis –Elio Petri (1972) – Italy
Le Cauchemar de Darwin – Hubert Sauper (2005) – Austria
Leviathan – Andrey Zviaguintsev (2014) – Russia
Milk - Gus Van Sant (2008) - USA Modern Times - Charlie Chaplin (1936) USA Monocled Mutineer, Series (i) to (iv) - Jim O'Brien (1986) - English My Only Sunshine – Reha Erdem (2008) - Turkey Notre Musique - Jean-Luc Goddard (2004) - France Other Peoples’ Lives - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006) - Germany Playtime by Jacques Tati (1967) - France
Mon Oncle – Jacques Tati (1958) – France
Nothing Personal Urszula Antoniak (2009) – Ireland
Omar – Hany Abu-Assad (2014) – Set Paletsine
Paradise Now – Hany Abu-Assad (2005) – Palestine
Passion of Gina Sinozich, The - Sylvie Le Clezio (2006) - Australia Quemada – Gillo Pontecorvo (1969) – US (set Caribbean) Ran - Kurosawa (1985) - Japan Ray - Taylor Hackford (2004) - USA Reader, The - Stephen Daldry (2009) – Set Germany Salo – Paolo Pasolini (1975) - Italy Saragossa Manuscript, The - Wojciech Has (1965) Seven Samurai - Akira Kurasawa (1954) - Japan
Pure Coolness – Ernest Abdyjaparov (200) – Kyrgystan
Rebelle – Kim Nguyen (2010) – set Democratic Republic of Congo
Slumdog Millionnaire - Danny Boyle (2008) India Still Life – Jia Zhang Ke (2008) - China Story of Floating Weeds (1934) by Yasujirô Ozu - Japan
Stories we Tell – Sarah Polley (2012) – Canada
Stone Cold Justice: Zionist Terrorizing Children – Sylvie Leclesio (2014) Australia
Sunless / Sans Soleil - Chris Marker (1983) - French Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) – German-USA
Talk to Her - Almodovar (2002) - Spanish Tampopo – Juzo Itami (1985) - Japan The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer (2012) – Set Indonesia
The General – Buster Keaton (1926) – USA
The Look of Silence – Joshua Oppenheimer – (2015) – set Indonesia
The Meaning of Life – Terry Gilliam(1983) – British
The Navigator – Buster Keaton (1924) – USA
The Party – Blake Edwards (1968) – UK
The Shining – Stanley Kubrick (1980) – USA
The Three Colours Red - (1993) - Poland Themroc - Claude Faraldo (1972) - France Third Man, The - Carol Reed (with Orson Welles) (1949) – USA Three Colours: Blue - Krzystof Kieslowski (1994) - Poland Three Colours: White - Krzystof Kieslowski
Torment - Ingmar Bergman (1944) - Sweden Tsotsi - Gavin Hood (2005) – South Africa Turtles Can Fly - Bahman Ghobadi (2004) - Iran The Tribe – Miroslav Slaboshpitsky (2014) – Ukraine
The World – Jia Zhang-Ke (2005) – China
Underworld - Emir Kusturica (1997) - Serbia Urga – Nikita Mikhalkov (1991) – Russia
Vera Drake - Mike Leigh (2004) - British Veridiana - Luis Buñuel (1962) - Spanish Volver - Almodovar (2006) – Spanish
Water - Deepa Mehta (2005) - India Wire, The (gimpse of cult USA TV series) - David Simon, first in series 2002