Documentary Fortnight
February 10–28, 2005

MoMA’s annual exhibition of nonfiction media features works that look at provocative issues around the world. Ranging from Patricio Guzmán’s Salvador Allende—about the ex-president of Chile—and Jos de Putter’s Alias Kurban Said—amultilayered literary mystery, to a Director’s Tribute honoring Belgian-French director Agnès Varda with the New York premiere of her new trilogy Cinevardaphoto and Ellen Spiro’s Troop 1500, which follows Girl Scouts visiting their mothers in prison, Documentary Fortnight offers exciting perspectives on history, politics, culture, art, war, peace, and the human condition. Several works reveal the changing roles of women in Iran, Mauritania, the Palestinian territories, and Israel. Kim Dong-Won’s Repatriation and Changjae Lee’s Edit examine politics in North and South Korea. Several works center on music, from the Brazilian cattle callers of Marilia Rocha’s Aboio to the songs of the Colombian drug wars in Juan Manuel Echavarria’s Mouths of Ash and rock music among American troops in Iraq in George Gittoes’s Soundtrack to War.

Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, and William Sloan, Department of Film and Media.

Aboio (Cattle Callers). 2003. Brazil. Directed by Marilia Rocha. In the Brazilian outback, cowboys preserve their age-old customs, communicating with their cattle in a form of plaintive singing known as aboio. Their voices resound with an improvised, ancient form that dates from the Moors of Iberia. In Portuguese, English subtitles. 73 min.
Thursday, February 10, 5:00 (introduced by Rocha); Saturday, February 26, 2:00. T2

La Cueca Sola. 2003. Canada. Directed by Marilu Mallet. On September 11, 1973, a military coup in Chile brought Augusto Pinochet to power, and thousands of men were taken from their homes. Since then, Chilean women have danced the country’s courtship dance "La Cueca Sola" to symbolize their struggle against the dictatorship. In Spanish, English subtitles. 52 min.

I Wonder What You Will Remember of September. 2004. USA. Directed by Cecilia Cornejo. Cornejo tells the story of her Chilean father’s abduction by the Pinochet military police. 26 min.
Thursday, February 10, 6:30. T2

Juan Manuel Echavarria: Three Media Works
Bandeja de Bolivar (Bolivar’s Platter). 1999. Colombia. A porcelain platter symbolizes a country’s shattered dreams. 4 min.

Guerra y Paz (War and Peace). 2001. Colombia. Two sniping parrots are a metaphor for conflict among politicians. 9 min.

Bocas de Ceniza (Mouths of Ash). 2004. Colombia. Seven songs written and sung by individuals caught in the violence of Colombia. 21 min. All in Spanish, English subtitles. Program 75 min.
Thursday, February 10, 8:30 (introduced by Echavarria and Margarita De la Vega-Hurtado, Executive Director, The Flaherty Seminars). T1; Monday, February 14, 5:30. T2

Jockey. 2003. USA. Directed by Kate Davis. Jockey enters the backstage world of thoroughbred racing behind the splendor of the Kentucky Derby, depicting three Derby riders who cope with stardom, wealth, pain, danger, and starvation. 85 min.
Friday, February 11, 5:15 (introduced by Davis); Saturday, February 26, 8:00. T2

Getting Out. 2004. USA. Directed by George Stoney, David Bagnall. Inmates at Sing Sing Prison in upstate New York present their writings in a rehabilitative theater workshop. 43 min.

Troop 1500: Girl Scouts Beyond Bars. 2004. USA. Directed by Ellen Spiro. The story of a unique troop of Girl Scouts whose mothers are in prison in Gatesville, Texas. Families are painfully torn apart. 65 min.
Friday, February 11, 5:45 (introduced by Spiro). T1; Sunday, February 13, 5:00 (introduced by Stoney). T2

Salvador Allende. 2003. Chile/France/Belgium/Germany/Spain. Directed by Patricio Guzmán. During the days of hope for a socialist transformation in Chile, Guzmán documented President Allende’s rise and forced removal.With this eloquent film, Guzmán entreats those responsible for the coup not to suppress memory by blaming the victims. In Spanish, English subtitles. 100 min.
Friday, February 11, 8:30. T1

Maisha Ni Karata (Life Is a Game of Cards). 2003. Belgium. Directed by Philippe de Pierpont. Depicting a first encounter and a reunion, this film traces how six street kids in Burundi have changed, and how they see the world and themselves. In Bantu and French, English subtitles. 70 min.
Saturday, February 12, 2:00; Monday, February 14, 6:45. T2

The Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan. 2003. Great Britain. Directed by Phil Grabsky. The Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan provoked outrage throughout the world. One resilient eight-year-old refugee turned this devastated environment into his playground. In Dari, English subtitles. 96 min.
Saturday, February 12, 3:30 (introduced by Grabsky); Friday, February 18, 7:45. T2

Art & Politics: Indie Media Makers Respond
Shocking & Awful: A Grassroots Response to War: The Real Face of Occupation. 2004. USA. Produced by Deep Dish TV. On daily life in occupied Iraq. 28 min.

Independent Media in a Time of War. 2003. USA. Produced by Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center (HMIMC) and Democracy Now! Amy Goodman, host of the radio and television program Democracy Now!,makes the case for emboldened independent media. 29 min.

Political Service Announcements: Color Theory. 2004. USA. Directed by Cynthia Madansky. Short films reflecting on war. 10 min.

Terrorade: Email Animations. 2004. USA. Directed by Dirk Adams. Political humor in the form of banner ads commenting on current political maneuvering. 10 min.

Soundtrack to War. 2004. Australia. Directed by George Gittoes. Battle-weary U.S. troops in Iraq cope with fear by listening to rock music. 35 min. Program 150 min.
Saturday, February 12, 5:15 (introduced by Brian Drolet for Deep Dish, Branda Miller and other representatives of HMIMC, Adams, Gittoes). T1

"Real" (We Shall Overcome). 2004. India. Directed by Dave Thoudam. This public-service announcement examines the misconceptions surrounding people living with AIDS in Manipur, northeast India. 10 min.

The Ladies’ Room. 2003. Iran. Directed by Mahnaz Afzali. Filmed inside a women’s washroom in Tehran, this raw verité look at the lives of Iranian women shatters Western preconceptions. In Farsi, English subtitles. 55 min.
Saturday, February 12, 6:00. T2; Wednesday, February 23, 6:00 (introduced by Somi Roy, independent producer). T1

Tupperware! 2004. USA. Directed by Laurie Kahn-Leavitt. An enlightening chronicle of the rise of an American plastics company and the marketing genius behind it, Brownie Wise, who made Tupperware parties a phenomenon of 1950s life in America and beyond. 62 min.
Saturday, February 12, 8:00 (introduced by Kahn-Leavitt). T1; Monday, February 21, 5:00. T2

The Colour of Love. 2004. Iran/USA. Directed by Maryam Keshavarz. Keshavarz’s first feature explores the tension between Western-influenced youth and older conservatives in Iran concerning love and courtship. In Farsi, English subtitles. 68 min.

Purity. 2002. Israel. Directed by Anat Zuria. This rare look into the world of religious Jewish married life centers on a purification ritual that shapes the lives of couples and influences female sexuality. In Hebrew, English subtitles. 63 min.
Saturday, February 12, 8:30 (introduced by Keshavarz). T2; Wednesday, February 16, 5:30. T1

Ocoee: Legacy of the Election Day Massacre. 2002. USA. Directed by Bianca White, Sandra Krasa. One of Florida’s most prosperous African-American communities was erased from history on Election Day in 1920, when two members attempted to vote. 26 min.

a.k.a. Mrs. George Gilbert. 2004. USA. Directed by Coco Fusco. An examination of racialized imagery that combines fictional and documentary sources to tell the story of Angela Davis, the African-American scholar who was placed on the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted" list in 1969. 30 min.
Sunday, February 13, 2:30 (introduced by Fusco); Friday, February 18, 6:00 (introduced by White). T2

Director’s Tribute: Agnès Varda: Cinevardaphoto
Varda’s body of work encompasses many different genres and forms. This trilogy of films, opening on February 16 at Film Forum, explores the power of photographs.

Ydessa, The Bears and Etc. 2004. France. Toronto art collector Ydessa Hendeles’s Teddy Bear Project addresses twentiethcentury history. 44 min.

Ulysse. 1982. France. An analysis of the mythological, historical, and personal meanings of images. 22 min.

Salut les Cubains. 1964. France. An animated montage of over fifteen hundred photographs taken while vacationing in Cuba makes the subjects sing and dance. 30 min. All in French, English subtitles. Program 96 min.
Monday, February 14, 8:00 (introduced by Varda). T1

Still Life. 2004. USA. Directed by Cynthia Madansky. Details of landscapes in the Palestinian territories, reduced to rubble, reveal the destructive effects of occupation. 15 min.

Detail; Details 2 & 3. 2004. Israel. Directed by Avi Mograbi. Three scenes from the occupied Palestinian territories expose how border controls incite confrontation. In Hebrew and Arabic, English subtitles. 17 min.

Forbidden to Wander. 2003. Palestinian Territories/USA. Directed by Susan Youssef. A young Arab-American Christian woman travels throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In Arabic, English subtitles. 35 min.

America Central. 2004. USA. Directed by Alfred Guzzetti. News-feeds over a bucolic intersection suggest the simultaneity of urban and rural, war and the quotidian. 7 min. Program 76 min.
Monday, February 14, 8:15; Monday, February 21, 8:30 (introduced by Madansky)(both screenings introduced by Youssef). T2

Thunder in Guyana. 2003. USA. Directed by Suzanne Wasserman. Janet Rosenberg, a young woman from Chicago, and her husband, the Guyanese activist Cheddi Jagan, spent more than fifty years fighting to liberate Guyana from colonial rule and exploitation, despite battering by the international press, imprisonment, and interference by world figures. 50 min.
Thursday, February 17, 5:30 (introduced by Wasserman); Saturday, February 26, 4:00. T2

Frames. 2003. USA. Directed by Henry Corra, Charlene Rule. A wryly crafted portrait of the U.S. avant-garde artist Grahame Weinbren, known for his interactive media installations. 53 min.

Matta: The Eye of the Surrealist. 2004. USA. Directed by Jane Crawford. A member of the Surrealist group that stimulated the development of Abstract Expressionism in New York, Matta inspired artists and audiences worldwide. 60 min.
Thursday, February 17, 8:30 (introduced by Corra, Rule, Weinbren); Thursday, February 24, 5:30 (introduced by Crawford). T1

Songhwan (Repatriation). 2003. South Korea. Directed by Kim Dong-Won. On the soul-wrenchin repatriation of North Korean political prisoners, who were held in South Korean prisons for thirty years and released amid protests. In English and Korean, English subtitles. 149 min.
Saturday, February 19, 2:30; Sunday, February 27, 5:30. T2

Edit. 2003. South Korea/USA. Directed by Changjae Lee. In this impressionistic, autobiographical documentary, a filmmaker confronts his decision to enter mainstream broadcasting when his bosses at a South Korean television station order him to re-edit his documentary on college-educated labor activists who opt for blue-collar jobs. In Korean, English subtitles. 94 min.
Saturday, February 19, 5:30 (introduced by Lee); Sunday, February 27, 3:45. T2

Chelas y Pañuelos (Beer and Hankies). 2001. Mexico. Directed by Julia Barco. Images of women at a Mexican fiesta become a tactile scene of color and motion. 4 min.

Tlalnepantla: The Price of Democracy. 2004. Mexico. Directed by Greg Berger. Democracy was violently subverted when the state government of Morelos installed a mayor against the wishes of the people of Tlalnepantla. In Spanish, English intertitles. 30 min.

The Lost Reels of Pancho Villa. 2003. Mexico. Directed by Gregorio Rocha. Rocha finds lost footage that legendary Mexican military leader Pancho Villa commissioned from the American Mutual Film Company in 1914, when he allowed cameramen to follow him into war. 49 min. Program 83 min.
Saturday, February 19, 8:00 (introduced by Berger); Sunday, February 27, 2:00. T2

Décryptage (Decoding). 2002. France. Directed by Philippe Bensoussan. Written by Jacques Tarnero. With, among others, Neil MacDonald, Georges Marion, James Rubin. Why are there more journalists covering events in Israel and the Palestinian Territories than there are on the entire continent of Africa? What is it about this conflict that strikes at the heart and passions of the West? What are the mechanics that shape identification and opinion in France and abroad? This film, using newsreel footage and argument, examines and "deciphers" the objectivity of journalists which may mask a bias. In French with English subtitles and English. (Courtesy Sophie Dulac Productions, Paris). 100 mins.

Sunday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.; Monday, February 21, 3:30 p.m. (both screenings introduced by Tarnero). T1

Conakry Kas. 2003. France/USA/Guinea. Directed by Manthia Diawara. In January 2003, NYU professor Diawara visited his homeland of Guinea-Conakry to see how citizens were coping with globalization, and what had become of the artists and intellectuals of the Guinean cultural revolution. The film looks at Pan-Africanism in the 1960s, and asks what the utopian vision is of Guinean youth today. In French, English subtitles. 82 min.
Monday, February 21, 6:30 (introduced by Diawara). T2

Gan Eden Avud (Paradise Lost). 2003. Israel. Directed by Ebtisam Mra’ana. The director, who comes from the Palestinian village of Paradise on Israel’s coastline, investigates the suppressed story of a woman who defied political norms. In Hebrew and Arabic, English subtitles. 56 min.

Women of the Sand. 2003. USA. Directed by Ricardo Lobo. Photographed in the Mauritanian desert, this film follows the vibrant life of nomadic Islamic women of the Sahara. In Hassanya, Arabic, and French, English subtitles. 52 min.
Wednesday, February 23, 7:30 (introduced by Lobo). T1; Saturday, February 26, 5:30. T2

Alias Kurban Said. 2004. The Netherlands. Directed by Jos de Putter. De Putter searches for the identity of Kurban Said, author of the cult novel Ali and Nino, an oriental version of Romeo and Juliet, set in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the eve of World War I. The mystery surrounding the novel’s author sets the stage for a Homeric trip from Baku to Positano between the wars. In German, Italian, and Russian, English subtitles. 80 min.
Thursday, February 24, 8:00 (introduced by de Putter). T1; Friday, February 25, 5:30. T2

Texas-Kabul. 2004. Germany. Directed by Helga Reidemeister. Concerned by the wars that have broken out since September 11, 2001, Reidemeister searches for individuals who oppose war, globalization, and human-rights abuse. She talks with four women—in India, Serbia, Afghanistan, and Texas. 93 min.
Friday, February 25, 7:30; Monday, February 28, 5:30. T2

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