 |
A Week of Local Angel
in NY After praise and critical acclaim from the International film festivals in Berlin, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem and The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Local Angel, a non-fiction film by Manhattan based Israeli artist and filmmaker Udi Aloni premiers this October in New York. The significantly celebrated and highly controversial political-theological film will be shown at three venues in the metropolitan area. Local Angel will be shown at the Hamptons Film Festival, the Jacob Burns Film center and for a special weekend event at the at NYU's Cantor Film Center accompanied by exclusive commentary and lectures from some of the most pre-eminent philosophers of the world. The opening screening boasts the esteemed Chair of NYU's German department and renowned philosopher Avital Ronell who will comment on the film. Ronell bridges the European and American theory traditions and is well regarded for her books examining the relationships between philosophy, literature and media. Her seminar on forgiveness in conjunction with Jacques Derrida was a vital inspiration for the film. The Cantor screenings will also showcase the pre-recorded commentaries of Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou, two pre-eminent European philosophers who praise the relevancy, importance and visualization of Local Angel. Zizek, whose popularity nearly caused a riot during his last New York appearance as a result of too many fans showing up where he was speaking, is renowned as a philosopher, cultural theorist and film critic. (See the New Yorker's profile this summer.) Harvard University Press refers to him as the "philosopher superstar" and his many books have gained worldwide popularity and appeal. Badiou, the chair of Philosophy at the highly regarded Ecole Normale Supérieure in France, has been publishing philosophical works since the early sixties and is revered in France and Europe as one of the most significant thinkers of our time. Aloni will be present all of the screenings. Local Angel was best described by the Sundance channel as "an extraordinary moving contemporary vision of Israel and Palestine". The film is a rich medley of imagery, music, discussion and interviews. Aloni provokes and engages through interviews with Chairman Yassir Arafat, Israeli and Palestinian scholars, his infamous Zionist civil rights activist mother Shulamit Aloni, who served as minister of Education under Rabin and Hanan Ashwari, a leading voice for the rights of Palestinians. Aloni produces a dialogue on the state of affairs in the Middle East and requires his interviewees to step outside their existent views and construct a wider berth for new contemplation. The plot is punctuated by musical performances of Middle Eastern singers who croon both Arabic and Hebrew melodies in sensuous as well as sacred locations. Aloni also develops a relationship with DAM, a young Palestinian hip-hop group living in Israel who communicates its radicalism and frustration through poignant lyrics. In the film Aloni visualizes Walter Benjamin's literary metaphor, "the Angel of History", keeping an eye and ear on the cultural, theological and political layers in order to imagine an alternative coexistence of warring parties. With daily headlines sensationalizing the ever-escalating crises in the Middle East, Local Angel offers a revelatory perspective and a much-needed opportunity for a deeper look into the origin and content of conflict. As film critic Ruby Rich wrote in the San Francisco Bay Guardian: "Local Angel is mandatory viewing for anyone interested in what's possible when a film maker dares to imagine a grand scope of inquiry." SCHEDULE
for Local Angel OCTOBER 18th - 26th 2003 Cantor Film Center NYU 36 east 8th street Saturday, Oct. 18, 6:00 pm: Hamptons International Film Festival
UA East Hampton, NY Jacob Burns Film Center 364 Manville
Rd., Pleasantville, NY
|
|