The City Dark
Directed by Ian Cheney (U.S. 2011) 83 min.
Filmmaker and amateur astronomer Ian Cheney moved to New York City from rural Maine to discover an urban sky almost completely devoid of stars. Posing a deceptively simple question—“What do we lose, when we lose the night?”— The City Dark chronicles the disappearance of darkness, leading viewers on a quest to understand how light pollution affects people and the planet. Introduced by BU Professor of Physics & Astronomy Ned Ladd; followed by a free viewing at the Bucknell Observatory! Co-sponsored by the Bucknell University Environmental Center
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Tuesday, November 12 at 7:30pm
Nicky’s Family
Directed by Matej Minac (Slovakia/Czech Republic/UK 2013) 96 min. 35 MM.
In 1938, Nicholas Winton, a young British stockbroker in Prague, became aware of the danger looming for Jewish families and arranged for the secret transport of 669 Jewish children to the safety of homes in the U.K. and Sweden, just before Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. Winton never told a soul, not even his wife. Fifty years later, his astounding good deed was discovered and celebrated; Minac’s film invites the countless children Winton rescued, and those he inspired to do their own good work, to tell their stories. Introduced by Consul Peter A. Rafaeli of the Consulate General of the Czech Republic-Philadelphia. Mr. Rafaeli will lead a discussion after the film. Co-sponsored by Bucknell University’s Campus Jewish Life
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Tuesday, November 19 at 7:30pm
2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by Stanley Kubrick (U.S. 1968) 143 min. DCP. With Keir Dullea, Garry Lockwood, William Sylvester
Kubrick’s cinematic milestone harnessed the widescreen Super Panavision 70 format for an intensely metaphysical, ultimately very personal project conceived less as a science fiction narrative than as an experience in space and time. An iconic epic about a trip to the moon, 2001 explores themes of progress, evolution, artificial intelligence and mystery in a highly influential embodiment of evolutionary anxiety about our abandonment of the mechanical age for the digital one. Introduced by Bucknell Philosophy professor Matthew H. Slater. Co-sponsored by Bucknell University’s Philosophy Department
Screening in advance of the panel “Artificial Intelligence: An Interdisciplinary Conversation” (Nov. 21, Elaine Langone Center, Bucknell).
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Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30pm
The Loneliest Planet
Directed by Julia Loktev (U.S. 2011) 113 min. 35 MM. With Hani Furstenberg, Gael García Bernal, Bidzina Gudjabidze
Following her attention-grabbing fictiondebut about a young female suicide-bomber (Day Night Day Night, 2006), the Russianborn, US-bred director Julia Loktev applied her assured, minimalist storytelling and skillful manipulation of tension to her adaptation of Tom Bissell’s short story “Expensive Trips Nowhere.” In The Loneliest Planet, a young, soon-to-be married American couple backpack in Georgia’s Caucasus Mountains, led by a local guide through the stunning wilderness. And then, one momentary, fateful gesture brutally shakes their bond, and the film’s pulsing atmosphere of beauty and dread rushes toward an unforgettable portrait of the fundamental inscrutability of other people and the ambiguities of betrayal and forgiveness. Exclusive Area Premiere! Sponsored by Bucknell University Film/ Media Studies
“Breathtaking. A strikingly successful piece of daring.”– Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
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Tuesday, December 3 at 7:30pm
Trashed
Directed by Candida Brady (U.S. 2012) 98 min.
In British filmmaker Candida Brady’s documentary, actor Jeremy Irons sets out to discover the extent and effects of the global waste problem, traveling the world to beautiful destinations tainted by pollution. Propelled by an original score by Academy Award winning composer Vangelis, and with Irons as its guide, Trashed investigates what happens to the billion or so tons of waste that go unaccounted for each year. Alongside the horror of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the effect of plastic waste on marine life, the film demonstrates that change is essential, and finds where it is happening. Introduced by Peter Wilshusen, Executive Director of the Environmental Center and David and Patricia Ekedahl Professor of Environmental Studies. Co-sponsored by the Bucknell University Environmental Center
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Tuesday, December 10 at 7:30pm
Our Nixon
Directed by Penny Lane (U.S. 2013) 84 min. DCP.
Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his most trusted White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Seized by the FBI during the Watergate investigation, this unique and personal record was filed away and forgotten for almost 40 years. Our Nixon weaves this never before seen material with other rare footage and audio into a complex portrait of the Nixon presidency, a portrait sensitive to the prosaic and the profound poignancy of a group of idealistic young men who thought they would change the world – and did in ways they did not imagine. Exclusive Area Premiere! Sponsored by Bucknell University Film/ Media Studies “This ingenious documentary honors Nixon’s peculiar place in the American pysche.” – The New York Times