MARGARET MEAD: A PORTRAIT BY A FRIEND
DIRECTOR: JEAN ROUCH
US 1978

THUR NOV 17 7 PM
Guild Theatre

Rouch filmed this loving and humorous portrait of anthropologist and filmmaker Mead in September 1977 while he was a guest of the first Margaret Mead Film Festival. As both a friend an colleague, Rouch reveals a glimpse of the legendary woman in her later years. (30 mins.)

WITH
JAGUAR
DIRECTOR: JEAN ROUCH
NIGER / GHANA 1957

Part documentary, part fiction, and part reflective commentary, JAGUAR tells the story of three young men from the Savannah of Niger who leave their homeland to seek wealth and adventure on the coast and in the cities of Ghana. This seminal film, which was the result of improvised on-screen action and then later, improvised narrative voice-over, is the story of their travels, their encounters along the way, their experiences in Accra and Kumasi, and, after three months, their return to their families and friends at home. Rouch, whose breakthrough work in cinéma vérité in the 1960s helped inspire the direct cinema movement in the U.S. and the French New Wave, described the film as, “a little like surrealist painting: using the realist possible products of reproduction... in the service of the unreal. . . a postcard in the service of the imaginary.” (92 mins.)

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AFGHANISTAN UNVEILED
WOMEN AND HEALING
DIRECTORS: BRIGITTE BARAULT, AINA WOMEN FILIMING
AFGHANISTAN 2003

THUR DEC 1 7 PM
Guild Theatre

GROUP Filmed by the first team of women video-journalists trained in Afghanistan, this rare film explores the effects of the Taliban’s repressive rule and recent U.S. military campaign on Afghani women. Shot in rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of Hazara women whose lives have been decimated by recent events, and yet manage also to find moving examples of hope for the future. (52 mins.)

WITH
MADAM TI ZO (MRS. LITTLEBONES)
DIRECTOR: DAVID BELLE
HAITI 2004

Madanm Ti Zo, a midwife and herbal doctor, runs her own clinic in Jacmal, Haiti. Shot primarily in the courtyard and the thatched-roof hut where “Mrs. Littlebones” examines pregnant women, helps to birth babies, and aids the steady stream of men, women, and children, the film provides an intimate look into traditional health practices. (60 mins.)

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TRANSNATIONAL LOVE
MARRY ME
DIRECTORS: ULI GAULKE, JEANNETTE EGGERT
GERMANY / CUBA 2003

SUN DEC 4 7 PM
Guild Theatre

This intense portrayal of a transcultural marriage defies the stereotypical representation of Cuban women marrying foreign men for money and a visa. The filmmakers take us through the couple’s first two years as they struggle with unexpected obstacles, presenting a highly original observation of cross-cultural identity and alienation. (105 mins.)

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ALTERNATIVE IDEOLOGIES
HOW TO FIX THE WORLD
DIRECTOR: JACQUELINE GROSS
US / UZBEKISTAN 2004

THUR DEC 8 7 PM
Guild Theatre

Inventive digital animation brings to life the celebrated work of A.R. Luria’s research with the Uzbek Soviet farm collectives in the 1930s. Photographs of the collectives taken during the time serve as the basis for the images, which with restaged conversations between the famed cognitive psychologist and the “subjects,” reveal the impact of Soviet socialism on these Muslim oral-based agricultural communities. (28 mins.)

WITH
OSCAR
DIRECTOR: SERGIO MORKIN
ARGENTINA 2004

Oscar Brahim makes his living as a taxi driver. He spends twelve hours a day in his taxi, fighting his way through the crowded streets of Buenos Aires. While he works, he is constantly bombarded by the street advertising that defines the city’s urban landscape. In the trunk of his taxi, Oscar stores his tools — cutouts from magazines and other print media, bottles of glue, and scissors. Attracting attention as an artist/activist is one thing, but figuring out how to survive is another. (61 mins.)

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THE FUTURE OF FOOD
DEBORAH KOON GARCIA
US 2005

SUN DEC 11 7 PM
Guild Theatre

If we are what we eat you may want to consider your diet. Garcia (wife of the late Grateful Dead member Jerry Garcia) provides an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled grocery store shelves for the past decade. There is a revolution going on in the farm fields and on the dinner tables of America, one that is transforming the very nature of the food we eat. Monsanto, world’s leading producer of GM crops, comes in for particularly close scrutiny as a leader in this brave new world of biotech business — a place where issues of agricultural production, cutting-edge science, profits, conservation, public health and civil liberties all collide. (88 mins.)

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