IAS Film Series 2008-2009

The film series marks its twenty-fourth year this season. All films are shown free of charge at 8 PM in Wolfensohn Hall and are open to the Institute Community.

The film series has several themes this year. The first mirrors the playreading groups focus of "academic pursuits" with the films Willow Tree, Children's Hour, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and Oleanna. The second theme includes films with strong female leads: Moolad, Black Book, Look Both Ways, and The Legend of Rita. The film I.Q., while it was filmed in part at the Institute and contains characters based as the Institute, has never been shown as part of the Institute Film Series.

Friday, October 3, 2008 - I.Q. - Fred Schepisi, U.S.A., 1994
Walther Matthau gives one of his great performances as Albert Einstein, who must solve how to lure his spirited niece, Catherine (Meg Ryan), out of her engagement and into a relationship with an auto mechanic played by Tim Robbins. The film was shot in Princeton and also on the grounds of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Friday, November 7, 2008 - Moolaadé - Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 2004
Winner of the Grand Prize in the "Un Certain Regard" section of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Sembene's film extends his strong feminist consciousness. The film is set in a small African village, where four young girls facing ritual "purification" flee to the household of a strong-willed woman, Collé Ardo Gallo Sy, invoking the time-honored custom of moolaadé (sanctuary)

Friday, December 5, 2008 - The Willow Tree - Majid Majidi, Iran, 2005
Blind since childhood, Youssef, the central character in The Willow Tree, has a devoted wife, precocious daughter, and successful university career, but his affliction fills him with secret torment. As if in answer to his prayers, a Paris clinic restores his sight--a miracle that is double-edged. The vivid imagery and emotional immediacy of Majid Majidi's films have made him the most accessible of major Iranian filmmakers.

Friday, January 16, 2009 - The Children's Hour - William Wyler, United States, 1962
Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine portray two teachers at a girls' school whose lives are thrown into disarray by malicious rumors spread by their young pupils. Based on Lillian Hellman's prize-winning play, The Children's Hour comes to the screen with searing intensity.

Friday, February 6, 2009 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - Mike Nichols, United States, 1966
The film that stunned America in 1966, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? brought together the nation's most electrifying cinema personalities, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, with the country's most important dramatist, Edward Albee and famed stage director Mike Nichols. It is the story of Martha and George and their embittered, embattled marriage on the campus of a New England college. The film's incredible power and unflinching truth made it a pivotal picture in American cinema. The film won six Academy Awards.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - Look Both Ways - Sarah Watt, Australia, 2005
Named Best Film at the recent Australian Academy Awards, Look Both Ways follows the misadventures of Meryl (Justine Clarke), a woman who sees disaster everywhere. One day Meryl is witness to a real accident that connects her to the lives of others affected by the tragedy, among them Nick (William McInnes), a photographer emotionally inhibited by his own fears. As Meryl and Nick tentatively attempt to connect, their story is shot through with humor, whimsical insight and compassion.

Friday, March 6, 2009 - Oleanna - David Mamet, UK USA, 1994
Director David Mamet (Homicide, House of Games) brings the horrifying reality of sexual harassment to the big screen in this tightly wound drama. Based on Mamet's highly controversial play of the same name and starring veteran theater performer William H. Macy, this marvelous motion pictures grabs the issue of sexual wrongdoings in the workplace and cracks it wide open.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - Black Book - Paul Verhoeven, Netherlands, 2007
Highly original, this smart, exciting, erotic and highly suspenseful thriller is set in Holland during World War II. The film tells the story of Rachel, a Jewish singer who joins the Dutch Resistance against the Nazis.

Friday, April 17, 2009 - The Legend of Rita - Volker Schlöndorff, Germany, 2000
A striking political thriller set in the later years of the Cold War, the film recounts the struggles of a young West German woman as she flees from the consequences of her radical past.