Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
March 18–30
Once again, AFI Silver is proud to host screenings in this year's Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital. Since launching in 1993, the festival has pioneered a movement to advance environmental understanding through the power of film, and now serves as a model for environmental film festivals across the country and around the world.
Films listed here will screen at AFI Silver March 21-30; the full festival runs March 18-30. For a complete schedule, visit dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org. All film notes courtesy of the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital, unless otherwise noted.
No passes accepted.
BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY
Recorded orchestral score by Timothy Brock
Experience one day in 1920s Berlin. Using visual impressions in a semi-documentary style, this "city symphony" silent film portrays Berlin in the early part of the 20th Century. Not burdened with narration or plot, the film is an avant-garde impression of the city's daily life, connected only by the theme of the train and streetcar. The events of the film are arranged to simulate the passage of a single day (assembled from film shot over a one-year span).
DIR/SCR Walter Ruttman; SCR/PROD Karl Freund. Germany, 1927, b&w, 72 min, Digibeta. Silent with recorded orchestral score. NOT RATED
BEYOND THE EDGE in 3-D
Introduced by Caroline Beresford, Deputy Chief of Mission, New Zealand Embassy
Follow Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on their monumental and historical first ascent of Mt. Everest in 1953 through interviews, photography and original and staged film footage. The reenactment of the climb, done in 3-D, features a remarkable stand-in for Hillary, convincing wardrobe, gear and scenes shot in New Zealand's Southern Alps, with their icy peaks and steep drops, to recreate the expedition, weaving in vintage color footage shot by the climbers. The matchup works well, and viewers may sometimes find themselves not sure whether a shot is original or staged. The film celebrates an event that stunned the world and defined a nation.
DIR/SCR Leanne Pooley; SCR/PROD Matthew Metcalfe. New Zealand, 2013, color, 90 min, DCP. NOT RATED
BLOOD GLACIER [Blutgletscher]
Washington, DC, Premiere
The crew at a climate-research center high in the German Alps discovers a mysterious red liquid on a nearby retreating glacier that seems to be turning local wildlife into predatory monstrosities. The center's inhabitants are now under threat from the horrors of genetic mutations growing outside the walls. This thriller has a chilling message about the dangers of climate change that may lurk in the not-too-distant future.
DIR Marvin Kren; SCR Benjamin Hessler; PROD Helmut Grasser. Austria, 2013, color, 93 min, HDCam. In German with English subtitles. NOT RATED
In Memoriam, Ray Brubacher
It is with great sadness that AFI Silver mourns the loss of longtime silent film accompanist Ray Brubacher, who passed away after a brief illness this winter. Ray had been scheduled to accompany this week’s screening of EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE.
For the last 50+ years, Ray played organ and piano for silent films at many of the premiere film venues in the Washington, DC, area, including the AFI National Film Theatre at the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress’ Mary Pickford Theatre and the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick, Maryland, in addition to here at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.
His tenure with AFI dates back to 1973, and includes not only countless silent feature and short performances but also demonstrations on silent film accompaniment offered free to the public.
Last summer at AFI Silver, Ray played beautifully for Alfred Hitchcock’s CHAMPAGNE even after making a last-minute switch to the piano due to a malfunction with the theatre organ. He was a real trouper, and he will be missed.
EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE
Live musical accompaniment by Bernie Anderson
Bargeman George O'Brien survives a sinking ship only to wash up like a castaway on New York's bustling Lower East Side. There, a Jewish family takes him in and their daughter, Virginia Valli, becomes intrigued by him. A wealthy Upper West Side architect also shows an interest in O'Brien, promising him access to an elite world. Enjoy this priceless time capsule of 1920s Manhattan.
DIR/SCR Allan Dwan; SCR from the novel by Felix Riesenberg. US, 1927, b&w, 90 min, 35mm. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
About Bernie Anderson
Mr. Anderson has been an accompanist and silent film composer for more than 17 years. A graduate of NYU, Bernie was a student of the late silent film composer Lee Erwin. In February 2005, Bernie played the first public theatre organ concert at Radio City Music Hall since 1979. Bernie has accompanied silent films at The Museum of Modern Art, Lincoln Center, Long Island University (Brooklyn Paramount) and Capitolfest--Capitol Theatre, Rome, NY, 2001 Library of Congress Film Preservation Tour and performed numerous theatre organ concerts across the country.
Sun, Mar 23, 4:00--note new time!
THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR: SATAN CAME TO EDEN
Presented with the Embassy of Ecuador
Washington, DC, Premiere
There's big trouble in paradise in this true-life story rife with melodrama, exotic lifestyles, sexual intrigue and suspicious deaths. This inescapably fascinating documentary, about a handful of eccentric Europeans who couldn't get along when they settled on one of the tiny uninhabited islands in the Pacific west of South America in the early 1930s, combines contemporary material with fantastic film footage taken at the time and excellent dramatic readings by a fine international cast, including Cate Blanchett. The Galapagos are usually perceived as pristine nature untrammeled by human influence. But several of the nearly 20 islands are very much settled by human beings.
DIR/SCR/PROD Daniel Geller, Danya Goldfine; SCR/PROD Celeste Schaefer Snyder. US/Ecuador/Germany/Norway, 2013, color, 120 min, DCP. NOT RATED
POLLUTING PARADISE aka GARBAGE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Washington, DC, Premiere
This compelling tale of bureaucratic arrogance and false promises is an account of environmental devastation inflicted on the once-lovely seaside town of Çamburnu, Turkey. The issue is personal to acclaimed director Fatih Akin (THE EDGE OF HEAVEN); his father's family hails from the town, which in 2007 became the site of a massive garbage landfill that polluted the soil, turned water black, filled the air with an overpowering stench and triggered a general exodus of the population.
DIR/SCR Fatih Akin. Germany, 2012, color, 98 min. In Turkish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
METAMORPHOSEN
Washington, DC, Premiere
Set in Russia's south Ural region, this documentary, filmed in black-and-white, tells the story of living in an area with some of the largest amounts of radioactive contamination in the world. The citizens of this remote area had been unaware that they had been repeatedly exposed to radiation from various unreported accidents at the Mayak nuclear facility, which was the first nuclear weapons plant in the Soviet Union and is still in use. The Soviet authorities had kept a tight lid on information surrounding the 1957 nuclear accident at Mayak, which is considered the third largest nuclear disaster behind Chernobyl and Fukushima, and it did not receive the same level of international scrutiny. Most of the people in this area have lived a normal life, but are afraid of the unseen dangers of being exposed to so much radiation.
DIR/SCR/PROD Sebastian Mez. Germany, 2013, b&w, 84 min, DCP. In Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
METROPOLIS
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
"One of the most celebrated movies in cinema history...For the first time, Lang's vision…which has influenced contemporary films like BLADE RUNNER and STAR WARS, seems complete."—New York Times
This classic sci-fi epic was one of the biggest film events of the century when it was first released in 1927. The film tells the story of a futuristic city that is sharply divided between the working class and the city planners. Joh Fredersen, a powerful industrialist, rules Metropolis. Maria, a worker's daughter who prophecies a better future for the proletariat, meets Freder, Fredersen's son. Freder searches for Maria, and through his journey, he begins to realize that the luxury he lives with is based on the exploitation of the proletariat. Meanwhile, Joh, who knows of Maria's influence, commissions a robot to be built in her likeness and sends it in to stir up the workers. Riots and violence ensue, but ultimately, the story ends with the very reconciliation that Maria foretells.
DIR/SCR Fritz Lang; SCR Thea von Harbou, from her novel; PROD Erich Pommer. Germany, 1927, b&w, 148 min, DCP. Silent with English intertitles and live accompaniment. NOT RATED
About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
Restoration carried out by Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Wiesbaden, jointly with Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin, in cooperation with Museo del Cine – Pablo C. Ducrós Hicken, Buenos Aires
Tickets $20/$18 AFI Members
Fri, Mar 28, 7:30; Sun, Mar 30, 2:00
SPEEDY
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
At the end of the silent era, acclaimed actor and director Harold Lloyd was more popular than even the great Charlie Chaplin. In his last silent film (and one of his best), Lloyd stars as Speedy. When the railroad tries to run the last horse-drawn trolley (operated by his girl's grandfather) out of business, Speedy organizes the neighborhood old-timers to thwart their scheme. This fast-paced dramatic comedy, shot in the streets of New York, explores the theme of modernization, pitting the last horse-drawn trolley in the city against the evil forces of the transit monopoly.
DIR Ted Wilde; SCR John Grey, Lex Neal, Howard Rogers; PROD Harold Lloyd. US, 1928, b&w, 85 min, 35mm. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
Sat, Mar 29, 5:45
LONESOME
Live musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra
Recalling SUNRISE, this dazzling, visually expressive masterpiece set against a vibrant New York City backdrop tells the simple yet powerful story of two lonely people in the Big Apple who meet and enjoy the thrills of an amusement park, only to lose each other in the crowd after spending the day together. One of the great films made during Hollywood's transitional period from silent movies to talkies, it features two scenes with dialogue.
DIR Pál Fejös; SCR Mann Page, Edward T. Lowe, Jr., Tom Reed. US, 1928, b&w, 69 min, 35mm. Silent with live accompaniment. NOT RATED
About Alloy Orchestra
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble that writes and performs live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (Telluride Film Festival, the Louvre, Lincoln Center, Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.
Tickets $15/$12 AFI Members
Sat, Mar 29, 8:00
AFTER WINTER, SPRING
Presented with the Alliance Française
Washington, DC, Premiere
Q&A with director Judith Lit
In an era of rapid growth of mega-farms, the encroachment of suburbia and new European Union rules and reductions of agricultural subsidies, the farmers in the Périgord region of southwest France are forced to confront challenges that threaten the very existence of their small farms. Interweaving the director's story and theirs, the documentary explores the nature of the farming life and the changes that have, over the last 60 years, impacted the lives of families whose survival is tied to the land. This film reveals the human story of family farming at a turning point in history. Winner, Audience Award, Mill Valley Film Festival.
DIR/SCR Judith Lit. France, 2013, color, 74 min, DCP. NOT RATED
CALLE LOPEZ
Washington, DC, Premiere
Somewhere between visual anthropology and art-house cinema, this film, shot beautifully in black-and-white, captures a microcosm of Mexican society. Two photographers, Gerardo Barroso Alcala and Lisa Tillinger, have recently moved to busy Calle López in historic downtown Mexico City. A bustling cauldron of everyday life, Calle López is so vibrant that they become inspired to follow the street's residents with their cameras. They document the daily comings and goings of a parade of street vendors, beggars and other urban dwellers.
DIR Gerardo Barroso Alcala, Lisa Tillinger. Mexico, 2013, b&w, 80 min, DCP. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED