Feb 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST My Neighbor, My Killer at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

In 1994, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus were incited to wipe out the country?s Tutsi minority. In 1999, the government began Gacaca ? open-air hearings with citizen-judges to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. As part of this experiment in reconciliation, confessed killers are sent home from prison, while traumatized survivors are asked to forgive them and resume living side-by-side. Film ing for nearly a decade, award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion charted the impact of Gacaca on survivors and perpetrators alike. Through their fear and anger, accusations and defenses, blurry truths, inconsolable sadness, and hope for life renewed, she captures the emotional journey to coexistence.

Feb 12, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Mrs Goundo's Daughter at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Mrs Goundo?s Daughter is the story of a Malian mother?s fight for asylum in the US to protect her two-year-old from female genital mutilation. To stay in the US, Goundo must persuade an immigration judge that her US-born daughter will suffer this procedure if Goundo is deported. In Mali, 85 percent of women and girls experience clitoral excision. Goundo and her husband are convinced they would be powerless to protect their daughter from her grandparents, who believe all girls should be excised. The film bridges Goundo?s two worlds, expertly interweaving scenes from Mali of girls preparing for an excision ceremony and from Philadelphia where those who have survived the procedure share their stories.

Feb 13, 2010 at 5:00 PM EST Back Home Tomorrow at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Directors Fabrizio Lazzaretti and Paolo Santolini share the moving stories of two children affected by war to present the remarkable work of the Italian aid organization Emergency. Yagoub fled with his family from Darfur and now lives in the Mayo Refugee Camp in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. He must undergo a serious heart operation, but neither his family nor his fellow tribesmen can come up with the money to pay for it. Murtaza is recuperating in a hospital in Kabul after losing his left hand to a landmine. The directors expertly interweave these two fascinating and heartfelt stories without commentary to create a film of rich complexities and emotional resonance.

Feb 13, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Youth Producing Change Shorts Program at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

I Live in Mozambique - Alcides, who recently lost both parents to HIV/AIDS, documents the community impact of the epidemic. His story focuses on the realities for children left to their own; their resilience to recreate family and to persevere. Leila - The film focuses on the lives of children that are sold into servitude, told through animation. This enchanting short tells the story of Leila, an only daughter of poor farmers who decide to exchange her for one bag of millet to feed the rest of their family. Sako - Sako is a 13 year old boy who works in a gravestone factory in order to support his family. He speaks about his daily life and his dreams of going to school. Thoughts in a Hijab - A young woman who recently emigrated from Iran chooses to continue wearing the hijab (Islamic head covering) that once symbolized oppression for her family. Noe?s Story - 15 year old Noe, a recent immigrant to the US, explores his identity in his new country. Driven to succeed despite obstacles he faces, he challenges other new immigrants not to give up hope. What Courage Means to Me - Inspired by the courageous story of a Tibetan nun and former political prisoner who escaped Tibet, Lungsang resolves to keep Tibetan culture alive for the next generation. Aquafinito - Access to clean water is a basic human necessity, yet corporations seeking profit are purchasing community water supplies around the world. Aquafinito raises awareness of the human rights and environmental impact of bottled water. It?s Not About Sex - Shocked by the claim that more than half of all rape happens to people under 18, these young filmmakers search for the roots of sexual violence and call for change. Just a Normal Day - This film depicts the grim reality of life for young people in London who are targets of arbitrary "stop and search" and maltreatment by police. In My Shoes - Each night 1,600 teenagers in New York City find themselves homeless.

Feb 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Blood Wedding - Bodas de Sangre with Shorts at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Blood Wedding - This visually stunning film presents a flamenco adaptation of Blood Wedding, a tragic play by Spanish poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca. Combining a strikingly minimalist aesthetic with gripping camerawork, director Saura showcases the choreography of Spanish flamenco luminaries Antonio Gades and Cristina Hoyos, alongside Gades? company of dancers. Martha Graham: A Dancer?s World - Originally produced for public television, A Dancer?s World is a portrait of legendary modern dancer, choreographer and teacher Martha Graham. Narration is provided by Graham as she describes her philosophy and introduces members of her company, who illustrate her trademark techniques. Nine Variations on a Dance Theme - This prize-winning film captures dancer Bettie de Jong as she performs a single, simple dance phrase over and over. Harris shot de Jong from a variety of different camera angles during twenty-five sessions over the course of a year, and then edited the sequences together into nine variations. Hand Movie - Rainer?s first film was shot by fellow dancer William Davis while she was confined to a hospital bed, recovering from major surgery and unable to dance. Transport - Transport speaks to the visual vocabulary of its era as Greenfield transforms the most prevalent imagery of the time into dance movement ? news footage of the Vietnam War, protesters going limp while being arrested and America?s recent moon landings and expanded space travel. In this short film, limp bodies are constantly hoisted into the air, creating a rhythm of dead weight and buoyancy. Inside Eyes - In the 1970s, James Byrne developed a distinctive method of producing video dance, in which the camera became embodied by participating alongside the ancers themselves. For Inside Eyes, an ?animated? camera swoops and dives almost violently amongst the dancers, who in turn use their hands and bodies to collide with the camera lens.

Feb 19, 2010 at 8:00 PM EST Red Heroine with Live Musical Score at International House - Philadelphia, PA $9.00 - $15.00

Red Heroine (Hong Xia) with Live Musical Score by Devil Music Ensemble - Brendon Wood, electric guitar, lap steel, synthesizer; Jonah Rapino, electric violin, erhu (two string Chinese violin), lapsteel, synthesizer, vibraphone; Tim Nylander, drums, Chinese percussion. Episode six of Red Heroine (aka Red Knight-Errant), the only surviving episode of the 13-part serial, is also one of the few complete and earliest extant silent martial arts films. Made at the height of the martial arts craze of 1920s Shanghai, this lively tale about the rise of a woman warrior features the genre?s characteristic blend of pulp and mystical derring-do. A rampaging army raids a village and kidnaps a maiden, causing the death of the young woman?s grandmother. At the general?s lair, the captive girl faces imminent rape, but is rescued by the mysterious Daoist hermit, White Monkey. Three years later, Yun Mei (Yun Ko in the English intertitles) reemerges as a full-fledged warrior, ready to deploy the magic powers learned from White Monkey to avenge her grandmother?s death. Devil Music Ensemble (DME) began in 1999 as a tool to explore as many facets of musical performance as possible. Based in Boston, DME has been a rock trio, a Eastern European folk band, a 40 piece modern orchestral ensemble, a country music revue, a house band for live theater; and its most recent incarnation, performing original soundtracks for silent film.

Feb 20, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST The Woman Next Door at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Madame Jouve knows all about the mad love of Bernard Coudray (Gerard Depardieu) and Mathilde Bauchard (Fanny Ardant). They had been lovers seven years before the picture begins and parted violently. Each married and had a son named Thomas. Then one day, the Coudrays discover that they have new next-door neighbors named Bauchard. Clearly Truffaut?s most Jamesian film in its mastery of oblique narrative and ironic perspective. He weaves an intricate tapestry of background detail and the narrative never loses its thrust or tension, despite repeated shifts in the point of view. Truffaut not only continued a grand tradition of sensibility, he broke new ground in his own career.

Feb 23, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Descent: Three Stories of Family featuring Folk Songs / Images of Flying and Falling / No Man is an Island at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Folk Songs - In 1913, Sophia and Dimitry Makedonsky were teenagers when they left the Ukraine for the US. Their granddaughter LeAnn Erickson often heard stories of ?the old country?. As Erickson travels to Russia , the search for a sense of place sparks a reexamination of her family?s immigrant past. Images of Flying and Falling - Photographic images are shadows of lost people. Mourning the loss of her grandmother Martha, Ariana Gerstein uses the only pictures she has, taken near the end of her grandmother's life. But Martha is so much more than those images. Images of Flying and Falling asks the viewer, what is reality and how do we shape it in the age of personal computers? No Man is an Island - Krister Linden has lived alone on an island off of Finland for over a decade. His daily rituals include general caretaking, a phone call to his wife on the mainland and carpentry work on his casket. His classic jazz records and meticulous routine sustain him through the days and the seasons. Filmmaker Sonja Linden follows her father through a year of seclusion, emerging with an intimate portrait told with humor and loving respect.

Feb 24, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Part V: New Wind with Sexperiencias / Dafne i Chloe at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Part V: New Wind - After the events of May, 1968 and the terrorist attack against Carrero Blanco, the political, social and even psychological situation in Spain changed dramatically. This was reflected in the independent cinema of that time. But it wasn?t until directors like Antoni Padros, a filmmaker of unclassifiable aesthetics and extreme creativity, or Jose Maria Nunes, a Portuguese filmmaker working in Barcelona, that new styles and techniques emerged and a sense of relative freedom arose, if only formally. Sexperiencias - Sexperiencias deals with the reactions of an elderly man and a young girl at the news that appeared in the press in 1968, an intercession that weaves political struggle and the anguish of love. Formally risky, Nunes? work was shot without dialogue, resulting in haunting vocal synchronicities in the dubbing, mixed with perfectly synchronized sound. Dafne i Chloe - A pair of girls plays a game. When it reaches its conclusion, the game has and says things that have the possibility of anarchy.

Feb 25, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Nothing Ventured with Prison Images at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Nothing Ventured - The film follows the negotiations between a mid-sized company and a venture capital firm as the company looks for capital to start production on its invention. Farocki limits himself to observing events without comment. It?s a microscopic look at one cell of today?s economy; an ethnographic portrait of a commonplace business dealing. Prison Images - How have prisons been portrayed over the 100 years of film history? What kinds of images are produced by prisons themselves with surveillance cameras and training videos for prison personnel? The penal institution becomes an anthropological laboratory, in which life and death are rehearsed in front of the camera?s unblinking eye.

Feb 26, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST As You See with War at a Distance at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

As You See - The tank is a logical outgrowth of agricultural machinery, while machine guns are based on a principle similar to that of the internal combustion engine. Farocki gives us the history of technology as a succession of automation phases, in which the human hand is replaced by the computer?s calculations. War at a Distance - Footage from American missiles from the first Iraq war served to demonstrate technological superiority. For Harun Farocki, they are examples of a new kind of photograph. GPS systems, ?intelligent weapons? and industrial processing of work units are all based on computational processes that reduce pictures to algorithms and technical operations.

Feb 27, 2010 at 5:00 PM EST What Farocki Taught with Inextinguishable Fire at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

What Farocki Taught - This is a stubborn film containing a perfect replica of Harun Farocki's astute 1969 film Inextinguishable Fire, about the production of Napalm B by the Dow Chemical Company for the War in Vietnam; about the abuses of human labor; and about documentary filmmaking. Inextinguishable Fire - Harun Farocki?s first movie after leaving film school combines didactics and political agitation with a sparse cinematic style. Farocki contrasts the voyeurism of Vietnam War reporting with a didactic arrangement: a model reconstruction of napalm manufacture is followed by a playful call to revolution.

Feb 27, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Still Life with Workers Leaving the Factory at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Still Life - Classic 16th and 17th century still life paintings are edited together with documentary footage from photographic studios of the 1990s in a juxtaposition of paintings and advertising. Images of money, cheese and beer are shown painted down to the last detail and meticulously staged to evoke consumer greed. Farocki?s film tracks the similarities and differences of two kinds of portrayals in which goods and things almost appear as fetish objects. Workers Leaving the Factory - Based on one of the Lumiere brothers? historic first films, Farocki has created a montage of scenes from 100 years of film history, all variations on the theme of ?workers leaving the factory?. Farocki uses the pictures to reflect on the iconography and economy of a workers? society, as well as that of cinema itself, which tends to acquire its audience at the gates of the factory and hijack them into the private sphere.

Feb 28, 2010 at 8:00 PM EST Conny Bauer-William Parker-Hamid Drake Trio at International House - Philadelphia, PA $12.00

Mar 1, 2010 at 8:00 PM EST Atomic at International House - Philadelphia, PA $12.00

Mar 3, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Promised Lands at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Promised Lands (dir. Susan Sontag, US/Israel, 1974, video, 87 mins, color).

Susan Sontag?s only documentary, Promised Lands scrutinizes the Arab-Israeli conflict and the growing divisions within Jewish thought over the question of Palestinian sovereignty. Shot in Israel during the final days and immediate aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Promised Lands is undoubtedly one of Sontag?s most incisive examinations of contemporary Jewish consciousness. She considered it her most personal film. The film alternates between two sets of images - observational sequences detailing moments from modern Israel - desert landscapes, patrols of roadside soldiers, old men and women at the Western Wall, etc. These are intercut with conversations with two intellectuals - writer Yoram Kaniuk, a supporter of Palestinian rights who sees Israel shifting from its socialist roots to an American-style commercial culture and physicist Yuval Ne?eman, who argues for the endemic nature of Arab anti-Semitism.

Though the film has no Arab or Palestinian voices, its clear elaboration of the debate prompted Israeli censors to ban its initial release, claiming it would be "damaging to the country's morale." Stateside, critic Stanley Kaufman praised the film?s Hegelian quality, writing that it presents "not a struggle between truth and falsehood but between two opposing, partial truths."

Mar 4, 2010 at 6:00 PM EST Beyond the Mainstream at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Beyond the Mainstream (US, 1980, video, 59 mins, color). Beyond the Mainstream, a legendary episode from PBS?s Great Performances: Dance in America, features performances by members of the postmodern Judson Dance Theater including Steve Paxton, Lisa Nelson, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown and David Gordon, along with two artists caught up in the spiritual quest of the times, Laura Dean and Kei Takei. The documentary offers a rare view of Paxton and Nelson and early contactors in action, and includes Rainer?s iconic "Trio A," and Brown?s seminal company which in 1980 featured Lisa Kraus and Eva Karczag.

Mar 4, 2010 at 7:30 PM EST Annual Shorts Program at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Selected from the 2010 Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center in New York, this program features clever, poetic and animated dance videos from around the world, including a preview of Everywhere by local choreographer Kate Watson-Wallace. Everywhere is an online dance experience with two main components: a virtual dance contest which takes place on the internet via the video sharing website Vimeo; and a new work created in collaboration with the online audience. Watson-Wallace will be on hand to discuss the project?s concept, demonstrate the website and preview preliminary video entries.

Mar 6, 2010 at 8:00 PM EST Art Ensemble of Chicago at International House - Philadelphia, PA $17.50 - $20.00

Roscoe Mitchell, reeds; Hugh Ragin, trumpet; Harrison Bankhead, double-bass; Famoudou Don Moye, drums + percussion. Founded in 1969, the Art Ensemble of Chicago is the flagship ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and one of the most influential collectives in jazz history. Originally comprised of saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, trumpeter Lester Bowie, bassist Malachi Favors, and later, drummer Famoudou Don Moye, the Art Ensemble of Chicago are pioneers of multi-instrumentalism and, for over 40 years, have given unforgettable performances in which music, ritual and Dadaist theatre are interwoven. Their performances combine elements of jazz?s history and pre-history - music from the sanctified church services, minstrel shows and bawdy houses of late 19th and early 20th century America - with a modernist spirit of experimentation. Join us for this rare visit from one of America ?s greatest artistic treasures.

Mar 9, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Mr Patterns at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Mr Patterns (dir. Catriona McKenzie, Australia, 2004, video, 55 mins, color).

Introduced by Jacqueline van Rhyn.

Mr Patterns is a journey into the heart of an aboriginal commune and an exposé of racial division in modern Australia. Art teacher Geoff Bardon was sent to the government settlement at Papunya in Australia?s Western Desert, where he found more than a thousand Aboriginal people living in a state of dislocation, their culture being systematically wiped out through assimilation. In defiance of white authorities, Bardon encouraged them to value their work commercially as well as spiritually, believing that by selling paintings they could become independent while bringing indigenous art to the attention of the wider community. By the time Bardon left Papunya in mid-1972, the Painting Men had formed their own company and the revolutionary Western Desert art movement had begun. But for Bardon, the personal cost was enormous. Using archival footage shot by Bardon himself, the filmmakers present a compelling story of personal and political drama.

From 2000 to 2007, Jacqueline van Rhyn was the Curator of Prints and Photographs at The Print Center in Philadelphia. Since 2006, she has specialized in Australian contemporary art, in particular the printed image. She will discuss other art programs that have brought artmaking to Australian indigenous communities and their success stories.

Mar 10, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Joyce Wieland Shorts Program I at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Patriotism 1
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1964, 16mm, 4 mins, color, sound

Wieland's kinetic romp first casts filmmaker David Shackman as an overexposed sleeper dogged by a patriotic march of "tube steaks," then later refigures him as our most familiar icon of freedom.

Patriotism 2
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1965, 16mm, 3 mins, color, sound

A portrait of Dave Shackman with the American flag. The animation sequence seems to foreshadow Shackman?s early death. He passed away shortly after the film was made.

Pierre Vallieres
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1972, 16mm, 33 mins, color, French w/ English subtitles
Quebec journalist and revolutionary Pierre Vallières was the intellectual leader of the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ). Vallières called for armed struggle and in 1970, during the October Crisis, the FLQ kidnapped and murdered the Quebec Vice-Premier, Pierre Laporte. The following year, Vallieres renounced violence as a means to achieve Quebec independence.

La Raison Avant La Passion
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1969, 16mm, 80 mins, color, sound

"This film is about the pain and joy of living in a very large space: in fact, in a continent. It is painful, because such an experience distends the mind; it seems too large for passionate reason to contain. It is joyous, becaus'true patriot love,' a reasonable passion, can contain it, after all. But what is remarkable, for me, is that all its urgency is lucidly caught, bound as it were chemically, in the substance of film itself, requiring no exterior argument." - Hollis Frampton

Mar 11, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST Joyce Wieland Shorts Program II at International House - Philadelphia, PA $5.00 - $8.00

Water Sark
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1965, 16mm, 14 mins, color, sound

"Water Sark is a film sculpture, drawing being made while you wait." - Joyce Wieland

Larry?s Recent Behaviour
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1963, 16mm, 17 mins, color

One of Joyce Wieland's earliest works, Larry?s Recent Behaviour was describedas an "irreverent and willfully juvenile examination" of a nasty habit that Larry has recently acquired.

Peggy?s Blue Skylight
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1965, 16mm, 11 mins, color, sound

Filmmed in Joyce Wieland and Michael Snow's loft in New York, the film covers a day of friends visiting, writing and drawing from noon of one day to dawn the next.

1933
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1967, 16mm, 4 mins, color, sound

"1933. The year? The number? The title? Was it (the film) made then? It's a memory! (i.e. a Film ). No, it's many memories." - Michael Snow

Barbara's Blindness
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1967, 16mm, 17 mins, b/w, sound

"There is no one named Barbara to be found; a pair of mysterious blind-person's hands make only one cameo appearance to 'read' us the title; yet these seemingly incongruous elements provide the perfect introduction to the ironic humor of the film itself. - B Ruby Rich

Catfood
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1968, 16mm, 13 mins, color, sound

"In Catfood Wieland shows a cat devouring fish after fish for some ten minutes... There is no question that Wieland has a unique talent." - P Adams Sitney, Film Culture

Dripping Water
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/ Canada, 1969, 16mm, 11 mins, b/w, sound

Hand Tinting
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1967, 16mm, 6 mins, color

Rat Life and Diet In North America
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1968, 16mm, 16 mins, color, sound

Sailboat
dir. Joyce Wieland, US/Canada, 1967, 16mm, 3 mins, color, sound