 |
J'accuse
(1938)
Directed by Abel Gance Showing date and time: Friday, November 10, 7:30pm at Melnitz 2534 Abel Gance's career spans from the earliest years of cinema to the 1970s. His use of color more than a decade before The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind were produced in 1939 has given him a reputation as a cutting edge experimenter. His 1938 film J'Accuse is a reprise to his 1919 silent film of the same title and was made while the stormclouds of war were gathering over Europe. Jean Diaz, the main character, is the only survivor of an army patrol from the First World War, who builds a machine to prevent war from ever happening again. When the government steps in to obstruct his scheme, he raises the ghosts of his dead comrades in an attempt to stop another war. |
 |
Le
Silence de la Mer (1947)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville Showing date and time: Thursday, November 9, 7:30pm in the Bridges Theater Born Jean-Pierre Grumbach in 1917, he changed his name to Melville out of admiration for the American author Herman Melville. In addition to his lengthy filmography as a director, Jean-Pierre Melville has also earned credits as a writer, producer, actor, editor, and production designer. He is particularly known for his gangster movies, and has influenced numerous other directors including Quentin Tarantino. Le Silence de la Mer is set in a small French town during the German occupation. Werner Von Ebrennac, a German officer, is billeted in a small house inhabited a Frenchman and his niece, both of whom refuse to speak to him. Every evening the officer joins his silent hosts by the fireside and tells stories about his country and shares his idealistic views on Franco-German relations. These views eventually change when he visits Paris and discovers the truth about the occupation. |
 |
L'Armée
des Ombres (1969)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville Showing date and time: Thursday, November 9, 7:30pm in the Bridges Theater One of Melville's last films, Armée de ombres, is partly based on his own experience as a member of the French Resistance. The main character is a civil engineer who becomes a leader in the Resistance during the occupation. Betrayed by another Resistance member, he escapes from imprisonment and arranges the death of the member who betrayed him. This film focuses on the uncertainties and anxieties of the day-to-day existence of the Resistance. |
 |
Vivre
au Paradis (1998)
Directed by Bourlem Guerdjou Showing date and time: Saturday, November 11, 7:30pm at the Bridges Theater Bourlem Guerdjou's first film has already won several international prizes. Vivre au Paradis takes place during the final years of the Algerian War for independence and is about an immigrant worker who moves from Algeria to a shanty-town on the outskirts of Paris. As he struggles to provide the relative "paradise" of an apartment for his family, he is torn between his personal obligation to his wife and children, and his moral obligation to his downtrodden fellow immigrants. |