Nonstop presents!

Contradictions, a series of five film screenings

The Battle of Algiers (1965) by Gillo Pontecorvo
Tuesday, November 16
7:00 PM
Nonstop Institute
305 N. Walnut St., Yellow Springs
donation

The Battle of Algiers (1965) is the first screening in CONTRADICTIONS, Nonstop’s upcoming international series of five provocative and rarely screened films produced from 1959-2006. The series will begin with three films by the acclaimed Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo (1919-2006). The Battle of Algiers, a narrative film shot in the style of a newsreel, inspired by Italian neo-realism, and produced with mostly non-professional actors, was written by Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Solinas (State of Seige), and FLN fighter Saadi Yacef (who also plays a fictionalized version of himself in the film), and chronicles a major battle in the Algerian war for independence, only a few years after it occurred. This film focuses less on the violence than the fundamental characteristics of urban revolutionary warfare and organization. Literary critic Edward Said has said that Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers and Queimada!/Burn! (to be screened Nov. 30) were “the two greatest political films ever made.”

About CONTRADICTIONS Film Workshop Screenings at Nonstop, November 2010-January 2011

CONTRADICTIONS, an international film series, features 5 critically acclaimed and rarely screened films produced from 1959-2006. Films by Italian Gillo Pontecorvo, American Jonathan Demme, and Nick Read (BBC, UK) are informed by the anti-colonial struggles of the 1960s—Algeria, and the 19th century Caribbean as an allegory for Vietnam; the de-humanization of prison—a WW2 concentration camp and the New Orleans Parish Prison during Katrina; and an independent Haitian radio station that survived from the Duvalier regime through the early years of this century. The series includes both narrative and documentary genres and most of these projects represent radical departures from conventional filmmaking in chronicling revolution and contemporary social crises. The films in this series will be presented by Bob Devine and Chris Hill, who are both media scholars, educators, and independent producers. Background materials about the films will be provided, and audiences are encouraged to participate in discussions following the films. People are welcome to attend any individual screenings or the entire series. Cost is donation (pay-as-you-can).

Upcoming screenings in this series:
—Queimada!/Burn! (1969) by Gillo Pontecorvo (Tuesday, Nov. 30 @ 7 PM)
—Kapo (1959) by Gillo Pontecorvo (Tuesday, Dec. 7 @ 7 PM)
—The Agronomist (2003) by Jonathan Demme (Thursday, Jan. 6 @ 7 PM)
—Prisoners of Katrina (2006, 60 min) by Nick Read (Thursday, Jan. 13 @ 7 PM)

For further information contact: Chris Hill, 767-2327