Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Harlan County U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Sunday January 22nd 2017, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.
HARLAN COUNTY .U.S.A. 1976
Directed by Barbara Kopple
103 minutes
In English with English subtitles
Here is a documentary that is generally considered to be the one of the very best ever made. It is riveting as hell, and was made in the old-school approach of cinéma vérité… in other words without any cheap pseudo-Hollywood effects or re-enactments, only raw material that was shot at the scene.
Director Barbara Kopple throws herself and her crew into the battle that was taking place in the small mining community of Harlan County, Kentucky located deep in the black mountains of Appalachia. This place had a history, it was also the site of the legendary “Harlan County War” in 1931, when miners fought against the brutal working conditions dictated by the local coal company.
In 1973 things flared up again when miners began to strike against the Duke Power Company. When you look at the footage, you have to conclude not much had improved in the last half-century. The situation was appalling, and this lead to a needed confrontation. The company hired goons to come in and break the strike up, and in one electrically charged scene at dawn while the strikers and camera crew are heading to the picket line, they are shot at with machine guns. Luckily Barbara Kopple keeps here camera rolling as we watch her and her cameraman Hart Perry attacked and beaten.
What a tear-jerker this one is, and I don’t mean in the sense of cheap sentimentalism. I mean in the sense of seeing people fight for their rights. The kind of spirit and fire that is documented in this film is something that is so lacking these days, and is something we need so much more of. People allow themselves to be pushed around, and while their rights are being stolen from them they do nothing out of fear of something worse. And that is what this film is about… not giving into fear.
And don’t get the wrong idea. This is not just a film about men. It is also about the wives of the miners and women who have lost their husbands in the mines. How fucking strong these women are, it’s amazing. It’s the kind of film that will cut you to the core. It also won the academy award for best documentary feature.
Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net
Benefit for LLECA, a Dutch-Nicaraguan theater collective
Monday January 19th 2017, Benefit for LLECA, a Dutch-Nicaraguan theater collective. LLECA’s Eat for Art // Prison Theatre Benefit. Volkseten Vegazulu, 7pm
Thursday 19 January we will be cooking a delicious, tropical meal to support Nicaraguan prison theatre collective ‘Lleca Teatro’. LLECA has been making theatre in prison in Nicaragua since 2009, and this year we have the exceptional honor to have been invited to the International Community Arts Festival. To make the travel possible for the ex-prisoners participating in the Festival, we need all the help we can get! We will be cooking vegan “Indio Viejo”, a typical Nicaraguan spiced mashed maize dish with vegetables, served with plantain fritters (tostones) and beans. So, let’s warm up the new year to sweet cumbia tunes and support prison theatre!!
More information about LLECA: http://www.lleca.org/ […Lees verder]
Benefit for We Are Here Academy + Iranian movie night: Fireworks Wednesday (Asghar Farhadi, 2006)
Monday January 16th 2017, Food at 7pm with a benefit for We Are Here Academy. Then at 9pm, Iranian movie night with Fireworks Wednesday from Asghar Farhadi, (2006).
The We Are Here Academy is an educational initiative offering university-level courses for undocumented individuals. The We Are Here Academy upholds the rights for any person, whether or not in possession of legal status, to pursue an education. http://heretosupport.nl/we-are-here-academy-3/
Fireworks Wednesday, Iranian film from Asghar Farhadi (2006, 104 min.). In Farsi with English subtitles. The titular fireworks are literal – the story takes place as Iranians celebrate New Year by spring-cleaning and lighting firecrackers – and metaphorical : when Rouhi, a young bride-to-be working for a cleaning agency, turns up at the apartment of a couple about to go on holiday, she’s drawn into an explosive domestic conflict. What distinguishes the film is the way Farhadi keeps us guessing from as to what exactly is happening and why; repeatedly shifting our point of view, he forces us to question our assumptions about characters and their reliability. This compelling, corrosive account of male-female relationships in today’s Tehran is tempered by genuine compassion for the individuals concerned; wisely, Farhadi never serves judgement on them in their troubled pursuit of truth, love and happiness. Intelligent, illuminating and directed with unflashy expertise.
Volkseten Vegazulu is a people’s kitchen, every monday and thursday, all year long. Door opens at 7pm. Vegan food for 4€ or donation. All benefits go for social & political struggles. No reservation. In July and August, the people’s kitchen is closed on thursday.
We’re always looking for cooks. Any help is welcome in the kitchen. Experience not required. Enjoying it is a must. If you want to know which days are still available in the schedule, send an email to joe [at] squat [dot] net and book yourself the night. You can, of course, also participate by rolling up your sleeves and doing the
Movie night: Divine Intervention (Elia Suleiman, 2002)
Sunday January 15th 2017, Movie night: Divine Intervention by Elia Suleiman, 2002, 92 minutes, in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Door opens at 8pm, film begin at 9pm. Free admission.
When Elia Suleiman’s “Chronicle of a Disappearance” hit the festival circuit in 1996 and 1997, it was a real revelation. The Palestinian director touched on the frustration of being an Arab in Israel, maintaining a strong sense of humor. Rather than agitprop, he made a witty, semi-autobiographical comedy, reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch’s “Stranger Than Paradise” and Jacques Tati. Using himself as a silent protagonist named E.S., Suleiman treated the film as a fictional diary. In many ways, “Divine Intervention” is a close follow-up to “Chronicle of a Disappearance.” Once again, Suleiman stars and remains silent. He plays a filmmaker struggling to write a script, inspired by his experiences. It also begins in his birthplace, Nazareth, and ends in Jerusalem. However, “Divine Intervention” is likely to be far more controversial than “Chronicle.” That film’s gentle tone and ironic ending were taken by some viewers as signs of acquiescence; on the other hand, the violent revenge fantasies of “Divine Intervention” are in danger of being taken literally.
Synopsis – Nazareth, birthplace of the Christian carpenter is also a Palestinian enclave inside Israel. Under the cover of a seemingly banal everyday life, the city is becoming overwhelmed by madness. An old man, a father, breaks down under the pressure of a decaying business. The son, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, is in love with a Palestinian woman from Ramala. Torn between his sick father and his love, he is trying to keep them both alive. Due to the political situation, the freedom of movement for women ends at the Israel Defence Forces checkpoint between the two cities. As the lovers cannot cross the border together they start meeting each other at an abandoned parking lot right at the checkpoint. They cannot free themselves from the clutches of occupation. Their intimacy is fatally marked with the military siege. Lonesome yearnings begin to produce violent retaliations, angry hearts beat with the spasm of imaginary getaways.
trailer: https://vimeo.com/8623241
Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Doors open at 8pm, film begins at 9pm, free entrance. You want to play a movie, let us know: joe [at] squat [dot] net
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