POLITICS AND ART IN CINEMA: DIFFICULT CHALLENGES, DETERMINED WOMEN
Join Doris Weisberg for three evenings exploring how women’s lives are shaped by longtime cultural mores and perceived religious edicts. These three powerful narrative films portray women within very different cultures who have a shared sense of the constraints of their society and a need to define and express themselves—or simply survive—within religious and cultural boundaries.
Pre-registration is required for these events. Please e-mail your details to scps.global.affairs@nyu.edu.
WATER (Canada and India, 2005)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
6:00 p.m.
This film, set in 1938 India, explores the plight of widows who are forced into isolation and poverty, through the eyes of one of their group, an eight-year-old girl. The women are given hope when one of them aspires to escape her restrictive life and meets a sympathetic man who follows the emerging Gandhi. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film (2006).
Directed by Deepa Mehta. Color. 103 minutes. Hindi with English subtitles.
BABETTE’S FEAST (Denmark, 1987)
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
6:00 p.m.
Based on a story by Isak Dinesen, the film tells the story of Babette, a famous French chef who flees revolutionary bloodshed and finds refuge in an isolated and austere Danish village with two aging sisters who are devoted to the memory of their strict father, the town’s pastor. When she wins the lottery, Babette spends the entire sum on preparing a feast for the town that has sheltered her, a grand gesture that transforms the entire community. Winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film (1987).
Directed by Gabriel Axel. Color. 102 minutes. Danish with English subtitles.;
OSAMA (Afghanistan, 2003)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
6:00 p.m.
Filmed entirely in Afghanistan and featuring the citizens of Kabul, Osama is a story of a family comprised of three generations of women, after all the male family members have been killed in wars. The Taliban has ruled that women are unable to work or leave their homes without a male companion, so these women disguise the youngest, a 12-year-old girl, as a boy. Osama works to support the family, but events turn dark as she embarks upon a horrifying journey.
Directed by Siddiq Barmak. Color. 88 minutes. Pashtu with English subtitles.
