Djibril Diop Mambéty: Hyenas
Wednesday, October 2 & Friday, October 4 at 7 pm
Saturday, October 5 at 7 pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker Members, students, seniors)
Friday screening introduced by Njeri Githire, associate professor of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota.
“Cinema is magic in service of dreams.” —Djibril Diop Mambéty
Mambéty’s stylish dark comedy is inspired by a character from his earlier African new wave classic Touki Bouki. When a former prostitute returns home rich, an economically devastated village is seized with new hope—until they learn of her sinister plot for revenge. This biting satire of postcolonial dreams is uplifted by endearing performances, a captivating score, and bold costume design. 1992, Senegal/Switzerland/France, 4K DCP (new restoration), in Wolof with English subtitles, 110 min.
Free tickets for students available at the box office one hour before Wednesday night’s screening. Student groups can contact movingimage@walkerart.org to reserve.
View trailer
Read New York Times review
Read IndieWire on Hyenas
Teng Congcong: Send Me to the Clouds
Friday October 11, 7pm
Saturday October 12, 2pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker Members, students, seniors)
In this witty, existential drama, 29-year-old journalist Sheng Nan grapples with the social stigma of being a “leftover woman” (single past the age of 27) when she discovers she has ovarian cancer. To pay for her treatments, she takes a job as a ghost writer and hikes into the mountains to compose an aging man’s autobiography. Turbulent outbursts ensue as she interacts with her grumpy client, dysfunctional family, misogynistic coworker, and dreamlike romantic interest, all while trying to “make the most of it” before her surgery impacts her sex drive. Writer-director Teng Congcong’s debut feature speaks to struggles faced by a generation of women born under China’s one-child policy with humor and compassion. 2019, China, DCP, in Mandarin with English subtitles, 99 min.
View trailer
Ready Variety on Send Me to the Clouds
Robert Eggers: The Lighthouse
Wednesday, October 16, 7pm
Walker Cinema, Free
“It’s about tour-de-force acting and brilliantly percussive period mise-en-scene.” —Indiewire
From Robert Eggers, the visionary filmmaker behind modern horror masterpiece The Witch, comes this hypnotic and hallucinatory psychological thriller set on a remote New England island in the 1890s. As two isolated lighthouse keepers, Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson deliver secretive, rum-soaked performances, made all the more creepy by the Melville-inspired dialogue. This gothic maritime ghost story was evocatively shot with black-and-white 35mm film in a real dark and stormy 70-foot lighthouse. 2019, US, DCP, 110 min.
Free tickets available at the Main Lobby desk from 6 pm.
View trailer
Read Vulture interview with Robert Eggers
Read Indiewire on The Lighthouse
THREE FILMS BY CELEBRATED FEMALE DIRECTORS MARZIEH MESHKINI AND RAKHSHAN BANI-ETEMAD
Together, they represent the directors’ authentic perspectives as women in modern Iranian society.
Photo courtesy Photofest.
Marziyeh Meshkini: The Day I Became a Woman
Thursday, October 17, 7pm
Walker Cinema, Free
“This film takes a look at the lives of women who are segregated in the home, not because they are hated, but rather because they are loved.” —Marzieh Meshkini
“A masterwork of symbolic cinema; it depicts, with vast imagination, the ordeals faced by women in modern Iranian society.” —New Yorker
The first feature from Marzieh Meshkini illustrates defiant moments and turning points in the lives of three women pushing traditional gender boundaries in modern Iran. Kava, on the cusp of her ninth birthday, negotiates to savor the final hour of childhood. Ahoo defies tradition and coercion in a bicycle race to freedom. Financially self-reliant Hoora buys the items of convenience she has always wanted and sets up her ideal home. This 35mm print of The Day I Became a Woman is a recent acquisition for the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection. 2000, Iran, 35mm, in Farsi with English subtitles, 80 min.
Free tickets available at the Main Lobby desk from 6 pm.
View trailer
Read Variety on The Day I Became a Woman
Read the New Yorker on The Day I Became a Woman
Image courtesy Noori Pictures.
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad and Mohsen Abdolvahab: Gilaneh
Friday, October 18, 7pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker Members, students, seniors)
Tehran, 1988: Iraqi bombs rain down as Iranians celebrate the new year. Despite the danger, the widowed Gilaneh must go to the city with her pregnant daughter to meet the young woman’s husband. Fifteen years later, the United States attacks Baghdad during another New Year’s celebration. Scenes of the new war flash insistently across the television while Gilaneh cares for her bedridden son, injured by chemical weapons. This moving tale reveals the depth of one mother’s courage and love as she tries to rebuild hopes and dreams shattered by decades of violence. 2005, Iran, DCP, in Farsi with English subtitles, 84 min.
Read Variety on Gilaneh
Read Rakhshan Bani-Etmad Walker Reader feature
Saturday, October 19, 2pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker Members, students, seniors)
Tales is a panoramic portrait of the lower depths of Tehran, composed of seven vignettes that follow a variety of individuals, from a documentary filmmaker and a taxi driver to mothers, intellectuals, activists, and addicts. Will the light of love and hope lighten their lives? Returning to many of the characters featured in her previous films, Bani-Etemad tracks the changes to circumstances, fate, and social conditions over the past three decades as she pushes the boundaries of freedom of expression in a censored society. 2015, Iran, DCP, in Farsi with English subtitles, 88 min.
View trailer
Read Variety review
Read Film Comment interview
Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts: For Sama
Friday, October 25, 7pm
Saturday, October 26, 2pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker Members, students, seniors)
“A remarkable act of cinematic witnessing.” —Variety
From young Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, For Sama is an intimate letter from mother to child chronicling war, love, and sacrifice. In the streets of Aleppo, she and her husband stand their ground with fellow resistors as the city is targeted by the regime and Russian planes. In the face of constant attacks, the couple’s baby is brought into the world. She then wrestles with an impossible choice—whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle they have given up so much for. The family’s story is an epic journey and an unforgettable testimony bearing witness to five years of the uprising in Aleppo. Winner, Best Documentary at 2019 Cannes and SXSW film festivals. 2019, UK, DCP, in Arabic with English subtitles, 100 min.
Content advisory: contains graphic imagery of war.
View trailer
Read New York Times review
Read Filmmaker Magazine on For Sama
Jim Jarmusch: Only Lovers Left Alive
Thursday, October 31 at 7 pm
Walker Cinema, Free
Set in Tangier and Detroit, Only Lovers Left Alive follows insular yet coolly cultured vampire couple Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton), whose love truly stands the test of time. Adam’s growing malaise toward humanity prompts the lovers to reunite, but their plans are soon disrupted. 2013, 35mm, 123 min.
Free tickets are available at the Main Lobby desk from 6 pm.
On Halloween at the Walker this year, get inspired by art and show off your Halloween costume–finest across the Walker Cinema stage before the screening of Jim Jarmusch’s vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive.
View Trailer
Read New York Times review
Read Rolling Stone review
MORE IN WALKER MOVING IMAGE
New Moving Image Acquisitions
October 1–December 31
Bentson Mediatheque, Free
For more than 45 years, the Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection has served as a site for the preservation of some 1,000 titles, engaging visitors, scholars, and communities in its diverse historic and contemporary artworks. This fall enjoy two new playlists, both available for self-selection in the Mediatheque. Take a deep dive into the moving image work of Theaster Gates and check out films and videos recently added to the collection by artists including Ericka Beckman, Blast Theory, Tala Hadid, Sky Hopinka, Adam Khalil, and Deborah Stratman.
Featured Playlist: Theaster Gates: Assembly Hall
September 5–January 9
Bentson Mediatheque, Free
Take a deep dive into the video work of Theaster Gates. A curated playlist will be available for self-selection in the Mediatheque.
The Bentson Mediatheque is a free self-select cinema experience unique to the Walker. Choose from more than 300 titles from the Ruben/ Bentson Moving Image Collection or view one of the featured playlists. Hours are Tuesday – Sunday, noon till museum close. Always free.