Our Art Saturday programs run every 1st and 3rd Saturday from September 18th through May 7th. No need to RSVP. Students tour downtown galleries and museums to take in the very latest in contemporary art before they are treated to a picnic lunch. After lunch we go see a new release film. Unless noted otherwise, we meet on the balcony outside Metreon overlooking Yerba Buena Park between 10:30 and 11am. Come join us.

Cine/Club is held on Friday nights. These events are free to students, their guests, mentors, parents and friends of Art & Film. No need to RSVP. Screenings are held at the Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) and at Dolby Labs (100 Potrero Avenue). Refreshments are served at 6:30 and the film begins at 7 unless otherwise noted.

Discussions are held after each film with moderators Heather Woodward of School of the Arts, and Ronald Chase, director of Art & Film.



Friday 10: Cine/Club: Dolby Labs

Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL (1985, UK)

This brilliant dark comedy from the former Monty Python member shows us a future where terrorism and a repressive police state run amok. A government bureaucrat finds his own life at stake when he tries to save a mysterious woman on the run from the police after a simple typo on an arrest warrent. This film is funny and outrageous, and has always been a favorite of our students.
WHY WE CHOSE THIS FILM:

Brazil is a brilliant example of this director's style, but also one of the best examples of what is referred to as “black" or "dark comedy"; a work that's comedic on the surface but also has dark, perverse shadows that reflect life’s more frustrating and tragic tones. (Last year's Dr. Strangelove is another great example). Brazil is not only startlingly unusual, it’s filled with the kind of flights of fancy that only a Monty Python member could imagine. The lead performance by Jonathan Price has a perfection of tone seldom reached by other comedians. The film is prophetic in a way, as it's take on Homeland Security, domestic terrorism, face-lifts, and the erosion of privacy once seemed outlandish, are now not so far-fetched.
   
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

After years of frustration working as an illustrator and inadvertising in New York, Gillian moved to London and took up with a group of friends. Together they developed a series of skits for television, which became Monty Pythons Flying Circus. In this series he alternated as animator, actor, script-writer and director. With Brazil, his Kafkaesque examination of a dystopian nightmare, he ran into a long struggle with Universal studios, who cut the film by 17 minutes and refused to release it. The film was submitted to critics, and wound up winning the LA film critics award, which finally gained its release.
Friday 17: Cine/Club: Randall Museum

Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978, USA)

A love story of two Italian immigrants who pretend to be brother and sister as they search for work in the Great Plains. All is well until the shy rancher they're working for falls in love with the young woman. This tale reflects the complexity of the American West as it erupts into jealousy and violence. One of the great visual wonders of cinema.
 
WHY WE CHOSE THIS FILM:

This film remains as one of the most beautiful and lyrical produced by the American cinema. Malick has only made four films – Badlands, Days Of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World. That's one a decade during his entire career. He's very reclusive and takes a lot of time with his projects (20 years between Days Of Heaven and Thin Red Line!), but the results he gets can't be argued with.
This is Malick's highly visual take on the immigrant experience. The grandness of the vision, the extraordinary visual integrity, and the simple but affecting characters are unforgettable. The trip by train across the plains, the isolated mansion on the Texas plains, a terrifying swarm of locusts, and the movement of rags to riches the main characters experience, not without a horrible toll, make it the equivalent of a vivid novel. One of the best examples of pure film-making we have.

Saturday 18: Our FIRST Art Saturday of the year

10:30 Meet on the balcony outside Metron overlooking Yerba Buena Park (on Mission between 3rd & 4th)

11:00 We'll go see a couple of galleries, followed by a picnic lunch.
Friday 24: Cine/Club: Randall Museum

Christoffer Boe's RECONSTRUCTION (2003, Denmark)

A surprising film by a talented young director to inspire you! A young man meets woman in a cafe one night and wakes up to find his entire life turned upsidedown with no explanation. A fascinating exploration of love, packed with brilliant editing and smart writing.
 
WHY WE CHOSE THIS FILM:

Puzzel films are all the rage today. It started with the new wave and the films of Alain Renais – Hiroshima Mon Amour and Last Year At Marienbad – but has continued through the decades, until the film landscape is full of them. Films like Momento, Amores Perros and Crash have all a popular following. They are often packed with multiple characters with interweaving storylines that finally connect. Reconstruction is much simpler—it creates characters and then reshapes and reworks the incidents around them to wonderful affect. It’s the most imaginative of the lot, and has a special magic to it we think you’ll be captivated by.