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NEWS OF ATHENS' CINEMA SCENE
Wild and Wonderful: Last column, I promised
yet a few more words on Alain Resnais' Wild
Crass, currently scheduled, at long last, to
open at Cine Sept. 17. I'm happy to say I've
had a chance to see it on DVD, and that has
not at all dampened my excitement to see it
when it arrives on the big screen. It's a thrill
ing and constantly surprising work from
a master filmmaker who, at the age of 86
(Resnais is now 88, but Wild Grass premiered
almost a rear and a half
ago), has less regard for
the rules and conven
tions of cinema than
any enfant terrible but
who subverts and inverts
them with a wit and
assurance that he has
only earned through
his massive body of
achievements as a styl
ist and dramatist.
Though Resnais' two
lead actors—Sabine
Azema and Andre
Dussollier (joined here
by the always wel
come Mathieu Amalric,
Emmanuelle Devos and Anne Consigny)—have
been carried over from his 2006 film Private
Fears in Public Places, Wild Grass may (as I am
not the first to point out) have as much in
common with the director's early, Surrealist
works like Last Year at Marienbad as with that
exceedingly bleak if surpassingly tender and
graceful comedy. Certainly, its final 20 min
utes or so (and especially the last 30 seconds
of that) are as delightfully unhinged and
mystifying as anything I've seen in the past
several years. That's a recommendation.
Focus Pocus: The Third Annual EcoFocus Rim
Festival begins Friday, Sept. 24 and will run
Wild Grass is slated to open at Cine on Friday. Sept. 17.
through Sunday, Oct. 3—this is one of a few
film festivals in this town that's really taken
off over the past several years. Screenings
are mostly at Cin£, but there are a few scat
tered throughout the UGA campus, which are
all free (most Cine screenings are only $6).
The festival this year boasts 20 features and
18 short films, all with themes related to
the environment such as energy production,
climate change and excessive waste. In past •
years, EcoFocus, which is largely an effort
of UGA's Odum School of Ecology, has been
the venue for the Athens premieres of The
Cove, Encounters at the End of the World, Up
the Yangtze and The Unforeseen, so a decent
sampling of the films is likely to expose you
to some pretty excellent stuff. Go to www.eco-
focusfilmfest.org for a complete schedule and
lots of other information.
UGA Rim Happenings: There are a couple of
exciting events coming up in the UGA Rim
Studies department that you should definitely
put on your calendar. Friday, Sept. 17 in
Room 148 of the Miller
Learning Center at 12:20
p.m., Prof. Eric Smoodin
of the University of
Califomia-Davis will
deliver a lecture entitled
"Going to the Movies
in 193C: Paris: Film
Culture. National Cinema,
and Historical Method."
That sounds absolutely
thrilling to me, but the
following week's event
should get just about
anybody excited. The
next Friday, Sept. 24,
at 4 p.m. in the same
room, UGA Film Studies
Coordinator Richard Neupert will host "Psycho
Turns 50," a roundtable discussion featuring
pahelists Christopher Sieving of UGA, Matthew
Bernstein and Michele Schreiber of Emory
University and Rodney Hill of UGA-Gwinnett.
Don't waste the university as a resource,
cinephiles—go to these things.
Hella Bangin': The Videographers' Hella-Big
Show (V.H.S.) is just approaching its third
installment, and already it seems to have
whipped up some serious enthusiasm among
local video artists and film fans. It's a monthly
showcase of short films by a large, diverse
assortment of young directors; there's a wide-
open submission policy and the first two
shows have been extremely well attended. I
checked out a few of the films (available at
www.vimeo.com/thevhs/videos); the best I
saw was last month's "Audience Choice" win
ner: Benjamin Roberds' and Jordan Reyes'
"Hatch," a goofy sort of mmi-Repulsion for
YouTube—genuinely and refreshingly weird.
The next V.H.S. is at 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept.
25 at Cin6; email VHSFEST@gmail.com if you
want to submit a film or get more info.
Real Quick: The "Bad Movie Night" selection at
Cine Sept. 15 is Deadly Prey, which looks very
bad indeed... Cine will have a free screening
of Play Again and a non-free screening of
Race to Nowhere on "Education Night' Sept.
23; go to www.athenscine.com for more info...
ICE-Vision films at the Lamar Dodd School of
Art: Nicolas Roeg's Performance Sept 16 and
the notorious At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul
Sept. 23. Go to www.iceannouncements.com
or find ICE-Vision on Facebook for more info...
The Athens Jewish Film Festival presents a
free screening of The Fine Within Sept. 21 at
the ACC Library; go to www.athensjff.org for
details... Finally, upcoming iFilms screen
ings at the library are Mine on Sept. 16 and
Unmistaken Child Sept 23. Find out more at
www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us.
Dave Marr film@flagpole com
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