Each year the renowned Robert Flaherty Film Seminar holds a weeklong symposium at Vassar College on the art and craft of the moving image, and MoMA then presents a selection of the films that were discussed. This 49th seminar focuses on how contemporary filmmakers grapple with the idea of cinema as a tool for social responsibility and political struggle. Directors Tran Van Thuy (Vietnam), Tsuchimoto Noriaki (Japan), and Avi Mograbi (Israel) compassionately reveal harsh truths about their countries. Franny Armstrong (Great Britain) takes a broader journalistic look at the impact of global corporate power on everyday people. This year’s programmer, John Gianvito, observes, “This is cinema in search of new forms to better address and humanize the problems of the world.” Directors Tran, Mograbi, and Tsuchimoto will present their work.
Organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media.