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Past Film/Video | Contemporary Screen | Documentaries
Discussion of former Columbus movie theaters follows the screening!
$7 members and adults 55 and over$9 general public$5 students
ACCESSIBILITY We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. If you have questions about accessibility or require an accommodation such as CART captioning or ASL interpretation to participate in this event, please email accessibility@wexarts.org or call (614) 688-3890. Requests made by two weeks in advance will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the Wexner Center for the Arts will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
Tour through the abandoned theaters of Recife, Brazil, with Kleber Mendonça Filho as he reckons with architecture, art, and the ghosts of the past.
Kleber Mendonça Filho is Brazil’s most acclaimed director, with numerous remarkable films including Bacurau (2019), Aquarius (2016), and Neighboring Sounds (2012). His latest, Pictures of Ghosts, is irresistible to anyone who loves movie theaters as much as they love movies. From his family’s apartment in Recife, the director reflects on his relationship with his mother before heading out into the city’s abandoned downtown to remember the movie palaces of his youth. But his curiosity is after something deeper than nostalgia and derelict buildings. With playful and innovative vision, Mendonça Filho examines life itself—from architecture and gentrification to the haunted places of our pasts, the relationship between cinema and religion, and more. The film builds to one of the most surprising and delightful finales in recent memory. In Portuguese with English subtitles. (93 mins., DCP)
Before the film, we’ll show a slideshow of photographs of former Columbus movie theaters from the collection of the Wexner Center’s former projectionist Bruce Bartoo. After the film, Bruce will give a short presentation of select theaters. If you have photographs of former Columbus movie theaters (before or after) that you’d like to have included in the slideshow, send them to fvweb@wexarts.org, and join us to share your memories.
Mendoça Filho visited the Wexner Center in 2012 and 2016 to introduce his films and in 2017 to discuss the work of film critic Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes.
IMAGE CAPTION Pictures of Ghosts, courtesy of Grasshopper Films.
Born in Recife, Brazil, Kleber Mendonça Filho became a film programmer and critic while making award-winning short films. Neighboring Sounds, Mendonça Filho’s first feature film, had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2012 and was Brazil’s Academy Award entry. Aquarius (2016), starring Sônia Braga, was in competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival before being nominated for a César and an Independent Spirit Award. In 2019, Bacurau, codirected by Juliano Dornelles, screened in competition at Cannes was awarded the Jury Prize. Mendonça Filho is also a film programmer for Instituto Moreira Salles in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and the artistic director of Janela Internacional de Cinema do Recife. He visited the Wexner Center in 2012 and 2016 to introduce his films and in 2017 to discuss the work of film critic Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes.
Copromotional support provided by the Center for Latin American Studies.
FILM/VIDEO PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY National Endowment for the Arts Ohio Humanities
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Rohauer Collection Foundation
WEXNER CENTER PROGRAMS MADE POSSIBLE BY Ohio Department of Development Greater Columbus Arts Council The Wexner Family Institute of Museum and Library Services Ohio Arts Council, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts CampusParc Ohio State’s Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme The Columbus FoundationAxium PackagingNationwide Foundation Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY Mike and Paige Crane Nancy Kramer Ohio State Energy Partners Ohio History Fund/Ohio History Connection Larry and Donna James David Crane and Elizabeth Dang Bruce and Joy Soll Rebecca Perry Damsen and Ben Towle Jones Day Alex and Renée Shumate
Past Film/Video
Pictures of Ghosts
