La Cinémathèque Film Club:
An Homage To Alain Resnais & John Cassavetes
WHEN: 4-FILM SERIES BEGINS SUN, FEB 5, at 2PM
WHERE: SOPAC, One SOPAC Way, South Orange (behind train station)
ADMISSION: Film Club Membership is $60 for 4 Film Screenings
BUY TICKETS | MEMBERS BUY TICKETS
Box Office: (973) 313-2787
This Film Club series is an homage to two of the greatest creative spirits in cinema. The first, Alain Resnais, was a French film director whose career extended over more than six decades. His films frequently explore the relationship between consciousness, memory, and the imagination, and he was noted for devising innovative formal structures for his narratives. Throughout his career, he won many awards from international film festivals and academies.
The second director, American John Cassavetes, was also an actor and screenwriter. Cassavetes was a pioneer of American independent film, writing and directing over a dozen movies, which he partially self-financed, and pioneered the use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style.
FEB 5 | Hiroshima My Love (1959)
Alain Resnais’ debut feature still feels like a work of striking originality. Set in the city of Hiroshima, the film tells the story of a brief affair between a French actress and a Japanese architect, both of whom are haunted by events that took place years before during the war.
APR 9 | My American Uncle (1980)
In this film by Alain Resnais, Professor Henri Laborit uses the stories of three people to discuss behaviorist theories of survival, combat, rewards, punishment, and anxiety. René is a technical manager at a textile factory and must face the anxiety caused by corporate downsizing. Janine is a self-educated actress/stylist who learns that the wife of her lover is dying and must decide to let them reunite. Jean is a controversial career-climbing writer/politician at a crossroads in life. From 5–6PM on April 9, the two Alain Resnais films will be compared and the Film Club will discuss the creative process of the director and his message.
MAY 21 | Faces (1968)
The John Cassavetes film entitled Faces confronts modern alienation and the battle of the sexes with a brutal honesty and compassion rarely matched in cinema.
JUN 25 | A Woman Under The Influence (1974)
This devastating drama by John Cassavetes details the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and her family’s struggle to save her from herself. This is one of the benchmark films of American independent cinema. From 5-6PM on June 25 the Film Club will compare the two films, the creative process of the director and his message.
Gerard Amsellem
Gerard Amsellem is a French and American citizen. He spent the first 25 years of his life in Paris, France where he studied painting at the University of Paris and earned his Masters Degree in French Literature and Art History. In 1982, Gerard moved to the U.S. and continued to paint and develop his interest in film. His paintings have been exhibited abroad in Paris and locally at GAS Gallery & Studio and at 1978 Maplewood Arts Center. Gerard has been studying film throughout his life. He currently teaches World Film at Livingston High School and has directed several short films. Gerard’s special interests lie in foreign and independent films from all over the world.
Questions about La Cinémathèque Film Club can be directed to Gerard Amsellem at linguavision@gmail.com
THE HERB & MILLY IRIS GALLERY
Inside Looking Out
Dorothy Anderson Wasserman
Come and explore the interplay of artist Dorothy Anderson Wasserman's inner life and outer reality. This gallery exhibition will take you on a fascinating journey of surrealist visual narratives that will confront you, ask questions of you and have you wanting more. Her photographs are cut, rearranged then pieced together in layers of chaos and clarity. She tells a spellbinding story using images from the past, present and an imagined future. Contemporary surrealist collage in its finest form.