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Filmmaker Charles Burnett
African-American filmmaker Charles Burnett will be coming to Amherst in
conjunction with Amherst Cinema Center's October 19 opening of two of his films, Killer
of Sheep and My Brother’s Wedding. Burnett is a MacArthur Award-winning
American filmmaker, educated at the University of California, Los Angeles. Burnett's
work concentrates on the lives of the African American middle class.
Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles
ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who
is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse.
The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life -- sometimes hauntingly bleak,
sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor. "Shot on a year's
worth of weekends on a minuscule budget (less than $20,000), this remarkable work
-- conceivably the best single feature about ghetto life that we have -- was selected
for preservation by the National Film Registry as one of the key works of the American
cinema, an ironic and belated form of recognition for a film that has had virtually
no distribution. It shouldn't be missed." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago
Reader.
Sunday, October 21
Charles Burnett will answer questions after the 2 p.m. Amherst Cinema show
of Killer of Sheep, and will introduce and answer questions at the 4:15
show of My Brother’s Wedding and 7 p.m. show of Killer of Sheep.
Monday, October 22
Charles Burnett will give a Five College master class from 1-3:30 p.m. at
the Amherst Cinema Arts Center. Killer of Sheep will be screened, followed
by a session with the filmmaker. All Five College faculty and students are welcome.
RSVP to bhillman@hampshire.edu by 5 p.m.
Monday, October 15, to reserve free tickets. Seating is limited so make your reservations
early.
Burnett will also introduce and answer questions at
the 7 p.m. Amherst Cinema show of Killer of Sheep and will introduce the
9:15 show of My Brother’s Wedding.
Charles Burnett's visit is supported by Mount Holyoke Film
Studies, UMass Communications Dept., UMass African-American Studies, UMass Social
Thought and Political Economy, Five College CISA, Hampshire College Film/Photo/Video
Program, Amherst College, Smith College Film Studies, Smith College Office of Institutional
Diversity and Smith College Afro-American Studies.
Maryse Condé and Richard Philcox
Intimate Enemies: A Conversation Between an Author and Her Translator
5 p.m., Neilson Library Browsing Room
Maryse Condé is an internationally acclaimed
author and critic whose work has earned her the titles of Commandeur de l'Ordre des
Arts et des Lettres (2001) and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur (2004). Originally
from Guadeloupe, Condé has studied and taught in France, Africa and the United
States, most recently holding a position in the Department of French at Columbia
University, where she is now professor emerita. Winner of numerous prizes for her
literary achievements (the Prix de l'Académie française in 1988, the
Prix Marguerite Yourcenar in 1999, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in 2005), Condé has
been a critical voice on such topics as diversity and feminism (both in the U.S.
and on the international stage), postcolonial literature and cultural identity in
the Caribbean. Her work has been translated into many languages and has been the
subject of numerous journal issues, anthologies, and academic conferences.
Richard Philcox is the translator of
the majority of Condé's works into English, and recently published a new translation
of Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth. This event will include a bilingual
reading of Condé's and Philcox's recent work, and a discussion in English
on the politics of translation.
Patricia Smith, award-winning African-American
poet, writer and performance artist
Patricia Smith will host the Pioneer Valley's Second
Annual Women's Poetry Open Mic which will be held at El Mercado in Holyoke, MA. The
event will be $15; tickets available at the door with a scholarship fund being established
to reserve 25 seats for low-income participants.
On Saturday, November 17, Patricia Smith will be the
featured speaker at MotherWoman's 3rd Annual Mom's Night at the MotherWoman Cafe.
A women-only community event, Smith will read her poetry, talk about her work and
her life challenges as a full spectrum black woman, mother, grandmother, artist,
performer, and engage the audience in discussion, and the creation of their own writing
or art creation. This event will be held at Union Station in Northampton. Tickets
will be $35 (advanced sales) with a scholarship fund being established to reserve
25 seats for low-income participants.
These community events are being organized to benefit MotherWoman,
Inc. MotherWoman, Inc. is the Pioneer Valley's mothers support and empowerment organization,
whose mission is to provide programs to support and empower mothers to create personal
and social change for themselves, their families, their communities, and the world.
Patricia Herrera, César Chavéz
Fellow, Dartmouth College
Gendering Nuyorican Aesthetics: The Feminist Acts of Sandra María Esteves
4 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room
Sandra Maria Esteves, visual artist, and founder
of Nuyorican poetry movement
Samba Rumba Cha-Cha Be-Bop Hip-Hop: A Cultural Dialogue (co-sponsored by American
Studies, Latin American & Latina/o Studies, Program for the Study of Women and
Gender, and the History Department)
8 p.m., Carroll Room |
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