Have any questions?
(614) 292-3535
Contact Us
Thu, Jun 28, 2007
In July and August, the Wexner Center takes a 13-film cinematic world tour with stops in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Spain, Japan, and the former Yugoslavia with Summer Abroad: A Tribute to Janus Films. This followup to the popular 2005 series is a doff of the cap to Janus Films, the legendary distributor of foreign films (and sister company to the Criterion Collection), which celebrated its 50th anniversary late last year. This year’s series begins July 6 with a screening of Jean Renoir’s landmark The Rules of the Game, and continues for the rest of the summer, with screenings of classic films by François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Ingmar Bergman, Max Ophuls, Shohei Imamura, and more. Every film in the series will be screened in a brand new print.
Tickets to each feature are $7 for the general public, $5 for Wexner Center members, students, and senior citizens, and are available at the Wexner Center ticket office (the night of the film or in advance at 614 292- 3535). Summer Abroad film stubs can be taken to Surly Girl Saloon (1126 N. High St.) Sunday—Thursday for 15% off your food order. Surly Girl will also be offering unique Summer Abroad-themed beverages. All films screen in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater located at 1871 North High Street.
The schedule follows:
Friday–Saturday, July 6– 7 | 7 pm
Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
Regarded by many as among a handful of the greatest films ever made, Rules of the Game is Renoir’s biting critique of French society set during a weekend hunting party at a country estate. By brilliantly mirroring the intrigue among the aristocracy upstairs with the lives of the servants downstairs, Renoir captures the complexities of a pre–World War II way of life that was about to end. (106 mins., 35mm)
Thursday, July 12 | 7 pm; 2nd film at 9 pm
Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981)
Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)
Set in 1957 Germany, Lola follows an ambitious singer/prostitute who plots to turn a corrupt building contractor and an honest city official against each other in a scheme that will bring her long-sought riches and power. (113 mins., 35mm) Rossellini’s Flowers of St. Francis depicts moments from the life of the medieval saint and his many acts of selflessness and compassion. Cowritten by Federico Fellini, the film is shot in a simple and direct style that evokes paintings from St. Francis’s era. (87 mins., 35mm)
Thursday, July 19 | 7 pm
Monika (Ingmar Bergman, 1956)
Described by many as Bergman’s most erotic film, Monika portrays the sexual awakening of a young man and his relationship with his restless, free-spirited girlfriend as it turns from blissful romance to the realities of marriage. With Harriet Andersson. (96 mins., 35mm) Note: One of the films in the Wex Drive-in Outdoor Film Fest is tonight; Billy Wilder’s Kiss Me, Stupid will be shown around 9 pm outside on the Wexner Center plaza. Visit www.wexarts.org/fv for more info.
Thursday, July 26 | 7 pm; 2nd film at 8:40 pm
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda, 1962)
Flowers of St. Francis (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957) The film that brought Agnès Varda international recognition, Cleo from 5 to 7 depicts two hours in the life of a singer as she waits to learn if she has cancer. A classic of the French New Wave, the film was shot on the streets of Paris and features a score by Michel Legrand. (90 mins., 35mm) A landmark of Soviet cinema, The Cranes are Flying tells the story of two lovers separated by World War II. The film’s visual flourishes and grim portrayal of life during the war reflected a level of artistic freedom not possible during the Stalin era. (95 mins., 35mm)
Thursday, August 2 | 7 pm; 2nd film at 8:50 pm
The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo, 1933)
Truffaut’s enduring classic The 400 Blows follows the filmmaker’s young alter ego, Antoine Doinel (Jean- Pierre Léaud), as he copes with an unhappy home life and boredom at school while trying to stay out of trouble on the streets of Paris. (99 mins., 35 mm) A direct influence on Truffaut, Zero for Conduct is Jean Vigo’s portrayal of the traumas of a boys’ boarding school, cast from his own memories. (41 mins., 35mm)
Friday–Saturday, August 3–4 | 7 pm
The Earrings of Madame de... (Max Ophuls, 1953)
In The Earrings of Madame de...a shallow countess sells her husband’s wedding gift to her in order to settle her debts. The husband learns of her scheme and buys them back to give to his mistress, setting off a chain of emotionally charged transactions that accompany the earrings. The film represents Ophuls at his opulent best, filled with crane shots, intricately choreographed camera movements, and wonderfully decorative interiors. (105 mins., 35mm)
Thursday, August 9 | 7 pm; 2nd film at 9 pm
Cría Cuervos (Carlos Saura, 1976)
Death of a Cyclist (Juan Antonio Bardem, 1955)
Carlos Saura’s haunting Cría Cuervos follows young Ana (played by Spirit of the Beehive’s Ana Torrent) as she tries to cope with the memory of her mother’s painful death from cancer and the trauma of witnessing her philandering father’s death while with his mistress. With Geraldine Chaplin. (107 mins., 35mm) In Death of a Cyclist, a professor and the wife of a wealthy businessman struggle with guilt and the fear of discovery after they strike a bicyclist with their car while returning from an illicit tryst. Bardem’s film is a scathing examination of the schism between Spain’s upper and lower classes at a time when people of wealth and privilege operated above the law. (88 mins., 35mm)
Thursday, August 16 | 7 pm
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dusan Makavejev, 1971)
Serbian director Dusan Makavejev’s WR: Mysteries of the Organism is a daring exploration of the connections between communist politics and sexuality. The film begins as a documentary about the life of sex psychologist Wilhelm Reich before transforming into a loose narrative about a young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation. (85 mins., 35mm) Note: One of the films in the Wex Drive-in Outdoor Film Fest is tonight; The General, starring Buster Keaton (preceded by Keaton’s The High Sign) will be shown around 9 pm outside on the Wexner Center plaza. Visit www.wexarts.org/fv for more info.
Thursday, August 23 | 7 pm
Vengeance Is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)
From the director of such audacious films as The Pornographers, Dr. Akagi, and Warm Water Under a Red Bridge, Vengeance Is Mine follows an often charming but remorseless man’s 78-day killing spree throughout Japan. Based on actual events, the film is perhaps Imamura’s finest and is filled with his characteristic humor, perverse situations, and formal beauty. (140 mins., 35mm)
EVENT AND SEASON SUPPORT
Community partner for this series is Surly Girl Saloon.
Major support for the Wexner Center’s 2007–08 film/video season is generously provided by Abercrombie & Fitch and Mills James Productions. Significant contributions are also made by the Rohauer Collection Foundation.
Additional funding is provided by the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members.
