Resurrecting a Revolutionary Cinema: The Hour of the Furnaces
What: Film Screening / Discussion
When: Sunday 04.04.10
Where: 16Beaver Street, 4th Floor
When: 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Who: Free and open to all
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On Sunday, APRIL 4th, DocTruck, Libertad Gills, Red Channels, and UnionDocs
will present a daylong, open-ended, collaborative and
community screening of Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas’ The Hour of
the Furnaces. In organizing such an event the usual questions arise: what
does a film about Argentina mean to us in the United States; what does a
film from 1968 mean to us in 2010; and, more broadly, what is the function
of a political film, a revolutionary cinema, in our contemporary cultural
political and digitally mediated landscape.
The Hour of the Furnaces is historically seen as a benchmark, a landmark,
of militant cinema; but with that it also becomes a remnant of a certain
time and a place, a relic of a long-since-passed Zeitgeist. The danger
comes from the potential of presenting a memorial service; that the
ceremonial structure of such an event will be an acting out, an
anachronism.
The film’s tone, scope, scale, and exhibition demands necessitate a
certain theatricality. Furnaces has a 4-hour running time, and three
distinct parts with built-in intermissions designed for audience
participation and open discussion. We will discuss all of this with a
focus on the present. Coffee, tea, juice, bagels, and a simple brunch will
be available throughout the day.
--The Hour of the Furnaces: Notes and Testimonies on Neocolonialism,
Violence and Liberation –
Octavio Getino & Fernando Ezequiel Solanas,
1968, 230 minutes
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 230 minutes | Digital Projection
Co-presented by DocTruck, Libertad Gills, Red Channels, and the UnionDocs
Collaborative
Co-sponsored by Cinema Tropical and This is Forever Autonomist Event and Discussion Series
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About the Film Schedule
12:00 arrivals and introductions
12:30 Neocolonialism and Violence – 85 minutes
2:30 Act for Liberation - 111 minutes
5:00 Violence and Liberation – 34 minutes
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About the communal brunch
Please bring your favored springish / easterish / passoverish /
ramandanish / Nowruzish light dish or your very very favorite fruit,
can-be-eaten-raw vegetable, juice, bread, spread, cheese, … and please
bring less sugar-based foods and less-industrially processed/produced
food.
We will provide a base of Milk, coffee, tea, some bread and some spread.
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About the Zine/Reader
DocTruck and Red Channels are working together to produce a free limited
edition zine/reader to be distributed on the occasion of the screening. It
will feature writings by Jose Marti and Che Guevara (which gave the film
its title); interviews with Fernando Solanas upon the release of the film;
a dialogue between Solanas and Jean-Luc Godard; an essay from the Cahiers
du Cinema (via Evergreen Review); the New York Times review of the film
upon its commercial release; and the major theoretical piece the film
inspired its creators to write, “Towards a Third Cinema.” This will be the
6th zine released by DocTruck, and the first print publication by Red
Channels.
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About DocTruck and Red Channels
Doctruck is a traveling non-fiction-non-narrative film screening series,
with free printed materials and sometimes foods. It is curated and
organized by Rachael Rakes.
Red Channels is a new series of film and video screenings happening in
community and cultural spaces in New York City. The emphasis is on rare
and radical works.
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Suggested Reading
Details on the previous program Red Channels organized with 16 Beaver Group, following October 7th’s “Godard in USA”
Che Guevara, “Message to the Tricontinental” (16 April 1967)
Jean-Luc Godard, “Godard on Solanas, Solanas on Godard” (October 1969)
Fernando Solanas & Octavio Getino, “Towards a Third Cinema: Notes and Experiences for Developing a Cinema of Liberation for the Third World” (October 1969)
Vincent Canby, “Argentine Epic” (26 February 1971)
Rodolfo Walsh, “Open Letter from a Writer to the Military Junta” (24 March 1977)