Bait
Friday, November 1 and Saturday, November 2, 7pm
Walker Cinema, $10 ($8 Walker members, students, seniors)
“Stunningly shot on a vintage 16mm camera using monochrome Kodak stock, Mark Jenkin’s Bait is a timely and funny, yet poignant new film that gets to the heart of a community facing unwelcome change.”—British Film Institute
Martin Ward is a cove fisherman, without a boat. His brother Steven has re-purposed their father’s vessel as a tourist tripper, driving a wedge between the brothers. With their childhood home now a get-away for London money, Martin is displaced to the estate above the picturesque harbor. As his struggle to restore the family to their traditional place creates increasing friction with tourists and locals alike, a tragedy at the heart of the family changes his world.
British filmmaker Mark Jenkin made his surprising 2018 breakthrough experimental drama entirely with a hand-cranked Bolex camera on 16mm, black-and-white film that he processed by hand. Jenkin portrays life in an unnamed fishing village in Cornwall with unique depth and beauty. A Brexit-era portrait, rooted in the local culture and community of the southwestern United Kingdom, shows how marginalized places are facing up to a changing world in this hand crafted monochrome expression of a life under threat. 2018, UK, DCP, 89 min. —Mark Jenkin/The Festival Agency
View Trailer
Read Filmmaker Magazine on Mark Jenkin
Read The Guardian review
The Juniper Tree
Wednesday, November 6 and Friday November 8 at 7pm
Saturday, November 9 at 2pm
Walker Cinema $10 ($8 Walker members, students seniors)
Students are free at Wednesday’s screening
“Distinctive, ambitious, and genuinely poetic.” —Los Angeles Times
An unsung talent in her lifetime, director, professor and Fulbright scholar Nietzchka Keene’s stark, stunning debut feature The Juniper Tree is loosely based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name, and stars Björk in her first on-screen performance. The film premiered to glowing reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in 1991 and led Keene to further direct Heroine of Hell (1996) starring Catherine Keener and Barefoot to Jerusalem (2008), the latter completed after her tragically early death in 2004.
Set in medieval Iceland, The Juniper Tree follows Margit (Björk in a riveting performance) and her older sister Katla as they flee for safety after their mother is burned to death for witchcraft. Finding shelter and protection a handsome widower and his resentful young son, the sisters help form an impromptu family unit that’s soon strained by Katla’s burgeoning sorcery. Photographed entirely on location in the stunning landscapes of Iceland in spectacular black-and-white by Randy Sellars, The Juniper Tree is a deeply atmospheric film—evocative of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Day of Wrath and Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring—and filled with indelible waking dream sequences (courtesy of legendary experimental filmmaker Pat O’Neill). A potent allegory for misogyny and its attendant tragedies, The Juniper Tree is a major rediscovery for art house audiences. 1990, 4K DCP, 78 min. —Arbelos Films
The new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative and magnetic soundtrack was made by the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research and the Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation.
Free tickets for students are available at the box office one hour before Wednesday night’s screening.
View Trailer
Read LA Times review
Read Hyperallergic review
Sound Unseen Opening Night
Tuesday, November 12
Live Music: Katy Vernon, 6:30pm
Screening: A Dog Called Money, 7pm
Post-screening reception in the main lobby
Walker Cinema, $20 ($15 Walker members, students, and seniors)
Sound Unseen Film+Music Festival celebrates 20 years of film, music, and art in the Twin Cities. The opening night event includes a live music performance by Katy Vernon on the Walker Cinema Stage starting at 6:30 pm and a postshow reception in the main lobby. Visit Sound Unseen for the full schedule of events and locations.
Alternative-music icon PJ Harvey’s ninth studio album, 2016’s The Hope Six Demolition Project, was created through a unique process that blended travelogue, photography, performance art, and now a documentary feature. It began when Harvey, looking to develop a new set of politically tinged songs that would also evoke a tangible sense of place, decided to accompany award-winning photojournalist and filmmaker Seamus Murphy as he travelled on assignments to war-torn regions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as to the poor, mostly black neighborhoods of Washington, DC. As Murphy filmed, Harvey personally interacted with the members of the different communities and wrote her impressions in a diary, crafting song lyrics and melodies based on the stories she uncovered. Back in London, Harvey and her band experimented with these new songs during a live sound installation called “Recording in Progress” at the distinguished Somerset House, generating an album’s worth of material entirely within a glass-walled recording studio, with members of the public invited to watch. Chronicling the entire project, and even including a handful of songs not on the final album, A Dog Called Money is Murphy’s inspiring, expressionistic document of this unprecedented collaborative experiment. 2019, Ireland/UK, DCP, 90 min. —Clinton McClung, Seattle International Film Festival
Copresented with Sound Unseen.
Strand Releasing 30th-Anniversary Tribute
Thursday, November 21, 6pm
Walker Cinema, Free
Copresident Marcus Hu and filmmaker Gregg Araki in person
30/30 Vision: 3 Decades of Strand Releasing.
One of the leading US distributors of international and independent cinema, Strand Releasing celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special event at the Walker. The company will be exhibiting a series of 30 short films shot around the world on iPhones. Join Strand copresident Marcus Hu and one of Strand’s celebrated filmmakers, Gregg Araki, for a screening of this eclectic compilation.
Artists involved in the project include Andrew Ahn, Karim Aïnouz, Fatih Akin, Catherine Breillat, Roddy Bogawa, Alain Gomis, Alain Guiraudie, Christophe Honoré, Jon Jost, Bruce LaBruce, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Rithy Panh, João Pedro Rodrigues, Ira Sachs, James Schamus, A. B. Shawky, John Waters, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. More filmmakers to be announced shortly.
Over the past 30 years, Strand has cultivated relationships with auteurs, producers, and sales agents by closely collaborating with them on the presentation of their films in the US marketplace. Having released over 400 films since 1989, the company has maintained an exceptional group of globally recognized filmmakers, making it one of the longest running independent distributors in the United States.
Free tickets are available at the Main Lobby desk from 5 pm.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Friday November 22 at 7 pm
Saturday, November 23 at 2 pm
Walker Cinema, Free
“Cinema is a way to create an alternate universe, and other lives.” —Apichatpong Weerasethakul
This award-winning, hypnotic tale is an homage to Thailand and the mystical power of cinema. While Uncle Boonmee spends his final days surrounded by loved ones in the countryside, the ghosts of his wife and long-lost son appear. The fluid tale follows the family as they trek through the jungle to a mysterious hilltop cave. 2010, UK/Thailand/France/Germany/Spain, 35mm, in Thai and French with English subtitles, 114 min.
This print is part of a generous donation of 35mm feature films by Strand Releasing to the Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection.
Free tickets are available at the Main Lobby desk one hour before the screening.
View Trailer
Read National Public Radio’s review
Read Slant review
British Arrows Awards 2019
November 29–December 29
Celebrate the UK’s most innovative and daring commercials from the creative world of British advertising. One of our most popular traditions, back for the 33rd year, the British Arrows showcases an eclectic mix of riveting mini-dramas, high-tech extravaganzas, wacky comedy, and vital public service announcements.
Tickets
Screenings fill up quickly. Tickets go on sale to members Tuesday, October 15, and to the general public Tuesday, October 29; available at walkerart.org/tickets.
Members Get More
Join the Walker as a new member and receive two free tickets to the British Arrows Awards. Visit walkerart.org/membership or call 612.375.7655.