‘Cinema on the Edge’ Fall Series Will Feature Thought-Provoking Films and Discussions

The Department of Cinema and Photography at Ithaca College --- in collaboration with the Cornell Environmental Film Festival and the Religions, Ethnicities, and Identities Lecture and Discussion Series --- will offer a stimulating selection of films and discussions as part of this fall’s Cinema on the Edge film series. Each screening will be followed by a panel discussion.

The events, which are free and open to the public, will be held in Park Hall Auditorium, unless another venue is noted.

Thursday, September 12
2:35 p.m., Park 285 --- Bauhinia
Set in Manhattan, Bauhinia tells the story of a young expatriate woman from Hong Kong who tries to salvage her rocky relationship with a self-centered momma’s boy.

Tuesday, September 24
5:30 p.m. --- Sansho Dayu
This exquisitely crafted moral fable uses a Buddhist perspective to explore the qualities of mercy, forgiveness, compassion, and fortitude.

Monday, September 30
7:00 p.m. --- Mah Jongg: The Tiles That Bind and The Jew in the Lotus
Mah Jongg explores the connection between a Chinese tile game and the sense of community developed by Jewish immigrant women. The Jew in the Lotus chronicles a group of rabbis meeting the exiled Dalai Lama to discuss how Jews and Buddhists have kept their religious faiths after being driven out of their homelands.

Monday, October 7
4:00 p.m. --- Safe
This Todd Haynes work reveals the ways in which disease infests our basic sense of who were..

Monday, October 7
7:00 p.m. --- The Gleaners and I
Agnès Varda, the so-called grande dame of the French new wave, trains her eye on the people who, by searching harvested fields for the odd potato or turnip, find a purpose for what the rest of society has deemed worthless.

Tuesday, October 8
9:25 a.m., Park 285; and10:40 a.m., Park Hall Auditorium --- Troubled Harvest
This award-winning documentary examines the lives of female migrant workers from Central America as they harvest fruit crops in California and the Pacific Northwest.

Tuesday, October 8
5:30 p.m. --- Bhopal Express
In 1984 40 tons of poisonous gas leaked out of a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India. An estimated 16,000 people died from exposure to the toxic material and thousands more have become chronically ill. Bhopal Express examines the devastating effects large business operations can have on people in the surrounding community.

Tuesday, October 8
5:30 p.m., Park 138 --- Mathematics for Film Majors
Filmmaker and mathematician James Benning leads a humorous and thought-provoking discussion of the ways in which mathematical theories and practices hold the key to understanding contemporary art works.

Wednesday, October 9
4:00 p.m., Park 277 --- Downwind: Depleted Uranium Weapons in the Age of Virtual War
Downwind explores the uses of nuclear weapons in such places as Hiroshima, a nuclear test site in Nevada, and the battlegrounds of Iraq and Kuwait.

Thursday, October 10
9:25 a.m., Park 285; and 10:40 a.m., Park Hall Auditorium --- Defending the Forests: The Struggle of the Campesino Environmentalists of Guerrero
This film depicts a grassroots environmental organization’s struggle with the Mexican government and a large international corporation intent on clear-cutting virgin forests.

Thursday, October 10
2:30 p.m., Park 177
A number of animated shorts will be offered, including Don’t Get Charged Up, Terminator Tomatoes, and Noise in my Backyard.

Monday, October 14
7:00 p.m. --- Kippur
The film explores the impact of the 1973 Yom Kippur War on a group of Israeli reservists.

Tuesday, October 15
5:30 p.m. --- These Are Not My Images
Set in southern India, the film shows how a Western filmmaker, a local filmmaker, and a half-blind guide view the meaning of place and memory.

Monday, October 21
7:00 p.m. --- Fenceline: A Company Town Divided
When an all-black neighborhood in Louisiana finds itself plagued by pollution, the residents fight the Shell Chemical Company for a fair relocation plan. Emmy Award winner Slawomir Grunberg, who produced and directed the film, will lead the discussion.

Tuesday, November 5
5:30 p.m. --- Landscape in the Mist
Filled with symbolism and mystery, this parable explores the meaning of faith, hope, and redemption in the modern age.

Monday, November 18
7:00 p.m. --- Ann Arbor Film Festival
The touring program of this year’s Ann Arbor Film Festival, one of the oldest independent film fests in the country, will be shown.

Tuesday, November 19
5:30 p.m. --- Taboo
Set during Japan’s feudal era, the film centers on the arrival of a handsome young samurai who disrupts his sword-fighting school by arousing unexpected passions in his fellow warriors.

Cinema on the Edge is sponsored by the Offices of the Provost, Multicultural Affairs, and International Programs; the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity; the Departments of Cinema and Photography and Health Policy Studies; Hillel; the environmental studies and Jewish studies programs; Phi Beta Delta, the honor society for international scholars; and the James B. Pendleton endowment of the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

The Cinema on the Edge series is curated by cinema and photography faculty members Patricia Zimmermann, Gina Marchetti, Simon Tarr, and David Gatten.

For more information contact Gina Marchetti at 274-1626.