Conflicts of Interest:
Human Rights on Film Sept 12-Nov 5
As social, political and economic conflicts rage around the world ,
lives continue to be lost as people as people suffer under the
oppression of the more powerful. But hope continues and many fight
for justice, opportunity and human dignity in the face of
overwhelming despair. The Human Right?s Watch International Film
Festival, presented annually in London and New York, is an annual
showcase that celebrates the work of people-activists and
filmmakers-committed to making a difference and to helping us all
keep our eyes on challenges that still confront humanity. We hope
the film selections presented here, drawn from recent HRW Festivals,
will help broaden understanding and stimulate involvement as they
reveal the hardship, courage and triumph of others.

OCT 23 THU 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
STATE OF DENIAL
SOUTH AFRICA 2002
DIRECTOR: ELAINE EPSTEIN - Through six intimate and powerful
portraits, STATE OF DENIAL takes an unprecedented look at how the
citizens of South Africa are living with the AIDS epidemic, given
the climate of confusion and neglect perpetuated by President
Mbeki's administration. Revealing conversations with dozens of South
Africans add context to these portraits, capturing the unbreakable
spirit of a people determined to conduct their lives with dignity,
grace, and humor. Producer/Director Elaine Epstein, a native South
African who has worked extensively in AIDS and public health, offers
a unique insider's look at the complex issues affecting the nearly
five million South Africans living with HIV and AIDS. A film of
quiet outrage that weaves the personal with the political to create
an uplifting portrait of ordinary people in an extraordinary
struggle to survive.?? Sundance Film Festival (86 mins.)

Man in the Shadows:
The Films of Alain Delon Oct 3-Nov 1
When Godard cast Alain Delon as completely opposite twin brothers in
NOUVELLE VAGUE, he was definitely on to something essential about
Delon, the actor. Throughout a career spanning almost 50 years and
75 films, Alain Delon has frequently seemed split in two, his
daunting grace and disarming beauty barely masking a dark, raging
internal world. Born in Sceaux in 1935, Delon dropped out of school
early, working a variety of odd jobs before serving in the French
army in Vietnam. After his return he decided to try his luck in the
movies, landing, within a few years, a role as a hit man in Yves
Allégret's QUAND LA FEMME S?EN MÉLE (1957). His big break came two
years later, when René Clement cast him as Tom Ripley in his
adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. Over the
next few years, Delon would make his mark working with directors
such as Visconti (ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, THE LEOPARD), Antonioni
(THE ECLIPSE), Melville (LE SAMOURAÏ, DIRTY MONEY) and Losey (MR.
KLEIN). As he grew older, and the youthful softness of his features
began to harden, Delon became increasingly identified as an actor
(and later as a producer, writer and director) with the policier,
the crime film. With its penchant for emphasizing the
treacherousness of appearances and plots that often hinge on
betrayals or sudden revelations, the policier provided the perfect
vehicle for Delon to continue to explore the duplicitous persona
that has always been at the core of his appeal. ?Richard Peña, Film
Society of Lincoln Center.

This series was organized in collaboration with the Bureau du Cinéma
of the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris, Cultural Services
of the French Embassy, New York, and the Film Society of Lincoln
Center, New York. Special thanks to Cinecittà Holding, Studio Canal,
Pathé International, Vega Film, Marie Bonnel, Richard Peña, Camilla
Cormanni and Jacques-Eric Strauss. Film capsules from the Lincoln
Center program.

OCT 24 FRIDAY 7 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
NOUVELLE VAGUE
FRANCE/SWITZERLAND 1990
DIRECTOR: JEAN-LUC GODARD For his epic encounter with Jean-Luc
Godard, Delon was asked to play two roles: a lost soul run down by a
beautiful young woman who takes him to her lakeside mansion to
recover?and the man's twin brother, who just happens to be his
opposite in every way. Cogently described by VILLAGE VOICE critic J.
Hoberman as "an environment as much as it is a narrative," NOUVELLE
VAGUE assembles a screenplay made up almost entirely of quotations
from cinematic, literary and philosophical works to create an
elaborate and ultimately deeply moving defense against despair.
Godard actually released the entire soundtrack separately as a CD.
Even critics of this controversial film describe the film as
ravishingly beautiful, and Godard seems to ask how such a wondrous
world could at the same time contain so much mental and emotional
suffering. Much of the film was shot near the childhood summer home
of Godard, marking NOUVELLE VAGUE as perhaps a kind of return to his
roots. (90 mins.)

OCT 25 26 SAT 7 P.M., SUN 4:30 P.M.
WHITSELL AUDITORIUM
ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS
FRANCE 1960
DIRECTOR: LUCHINO VISCONTI "Rocco is about the awful inevitability
of the fate (as Visconti sees it) of Rosaria Parondi (Katina
Paxinou) and her five sons when they emigrate to Milan to find a
better life. Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), the eldest, muddles through
without too much damage. Simone (Renato Salvatori) becomes, briefly,
a promising prize fighter, only to wind up as a petty crook and
murderer. It is Rocco (Alain Delon), the middle son, who is both the
hope of the family and its undoing. As written, and as played by Mr.
Delon, Rocco is one of the most vivid and complex characters in all
of Visconti's work. His misguided saintliness, which recalls
Dostoevsky's The Idiot, is as responsible for the family tragedy as
the system that ignores the Parondis. At this vantage point, Rocco
looks better than ever."?Vincent Canby, THE NEW YORK TIMES. (180
mins.)

Pier Paolo Pasolini:
THE EROTIC FILMS: OCT 17 / OCT 26
The release of new prints of Pier Pasolini?s last four films
provides the occasion to appraise one of cinema?s most daring and
controversial artists. Prolific as a filmmaker, screenwriter,
essayist, poet, critic and novelist, Pasolini (1922-1975) was drawn
to the world of misfits on the fringes of society: political,
religious and sexual rebels, prostitutes, criminals and thieves. A
self-described Catholic-Marxist his personal life and politics were
inseparable from his impassioned poetic vision, what he referred to
as a "desperate vitality." The films of his acclaimed "Trilogy of
Life,"?THE DECAMERON (1970), THE CANTERBURY TALES (1972), and THE
ARABIAN NIGHTS (1974), based on a literary classic of the same
title, preceded his planned ?Anti-Trilogy of Life,? the first and
only film of which was SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975),
completed just before his murder in Rome by a street punk. During
his lifetime his challenging films were condemned and frequently
banned for their frank sexuality, casual violence and rejection of
middle-class values. But their impact and influence has only grown
with time and are now recognized for their pivotal place in
literature and independent world cinema.

OCT 24 26 FRI 7 P.M., SUN 4:30 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
ARABIAN NIGHTS
ITALY 1974
DIRECTOR: PIER PAOLO PASOLINI Visually the most exquisite of the
?Trilogy of Life,? series, and the most optimistic of his visions,
ARABIAN NIGHTS is an exotic adaptation of the ancient Persian
anthology. Once again pushing the boundaries of sex and violence,
Pasolini interweaves ten stories, sometimes telling one within
another and linking them all through the framing story of a
free-spirited slave girl who chooses a new master, is kidnapped,
escapes disguised as a man, and eventually becomes a King. A playful
puzzlebox of fantasies, the approach is both authentically medieval
and modern at the same time, taking as its motto, "The complete
truth does not live in one dream but in several dreams." (130 mins.)
Mature content. Age 18 and over.

OCT 25 26 SAT 7 P.M., SUN 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM
ITALY 1975
DIRECTOR: PIER PAOLO PASOLINI Be prepared, SALO is not for the weak
of heart. The polar opposite of the "Trilogy Of Life," SALO
reconsiders his early premise of sexuality as a liberating force as
it depicts with cold precision the sexual and psychological
atrocities visited on sixteen young men and women held hostage by a
group of depraved fascist nobles at the end of WWII. Pasolini based
the film on a notorious book by the Marquis de Sade, but shifted the
locale to the town of Salo, where Pasolini?s brother was killed
during the war (and where he himself was arrested by the Nazis). One
of the most controversial and widely censored films ever made (it
took over 25 years for the uncut version to screen in England), SALO
has lost none of its power to shock and disturb.??AMERICAN
CINEMATHEQUE. "SALO is a mystery . . . a medieval mystery play, a
holy performance?and thus enigmatic. And so it must not be
understood. It would be terrible, if it were misunderstood."?Pier
Paolo Pasolini. (117 mins.)

The Northwest Film & Video Festival
The 30th Annual Northwest Film & Video Festival
is coming soon,
November 6-15, check www.nwfilm.org for updates.