MoMA in February

Last class, I mentioned the films of Angela Ricci Lucchi and Yervant Gianikian, experimental filmmakers who make use of a lot of different kinds of nonfiction footage and genres in their work, some of it quite disturbing. Some of these films are for those with strong constitutions only: they use footage that makes BATTLE OF THE SOMME look like BAMBI. And the music that accompanies this footage is no picnic, either. I hated their films when I first encountered them at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar (aka "the Flaherty seminar" – see Barnouw) a few years ago, and then began to like them much more when I reflected on why they were so disturbing, and what it means to hate images, especially those which the filmmakers themselves haven't taken. But they fit very well with our course, and if they weren't so hard (more or less impossible) to get on video or 16mm rental, we'd be watching some in class.

The Ricci Lucchi/Gianikian retrospective which starts at MoMA tonight is part of an embarrassment of riches of documentary and nonfiction at MoMA this month, including a series of Oscar nominated docs from the early years of the Oscar category (and one or two films we will be watching in class), and the annual MoMA "documentary fortnight," a showcase of some very interesting new work in documentary from all over the world.

http://www.moma.org/calendar/film_screenings.php

jk