Cornell Cinema starts the week off with a Situationist bang this Wednesday with Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle! In the nearly five decades since Debord made a film adaptation of his own landmark book, the capitalist and consumerist issues raised in The Society of the Spectacle have become even more entrenched, especially here in the United States, and this film remains a potent, exhilarating experience. Don’t miss it!
Speaking of spectacles, catch a brand-new 35mm print of the inaugural Cinéma du look film Diva, this Thursday and Friday! The bootleg recording of a famous American opera singer who has refused to commit her voice to tape is the inciting act for a whirlwind chase around Paris as a young mailman goes on the run from every conceivable pursuer, from drug dealers and music pirates to the cops. Pauline Kael writes of the film that “every shot seems designed to delight the audience!” We’re thrilled to showcase this new print.
The Cine con Cultura Latinx Film Festival begins this weekend at Cornell Cinema with Dos Estaciones, which follows fifty-year-old businesswoman María García as she struggles to keep her once-majestic tequila factory operating in the face of climate change and competition from multinational corporations.
Using a mixture of found footage, YouTube travelogues and clips from numerous Hollywood productions, Cane Fire tells the story of the Indigenous and working-class residents of Kaua’i (Hawaii) who have constantly found themselves reduced to “extras” in the story of their own land and their own lives, including the director’s own. The escapist fantasies presented in these clips obscure the colonial displacement, hyper-exploitation of workers and destructive environmental anextraction that have actually shaped life on the island for the last 250 years.
Our David Lynch series continues this week with a recent digital transfer of Blue Velvet! Lynch’s soundscapes are meant to be heard in a big, immersive cinema space, so be sure to catch this masterpiece at Cornell Cinema!!
Remember, you can save big bucks over individual ticket prices with the Cornell Cinema All-Access Pass!
