Crossing the Line: Border Films
 In honor of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cinematheque presents three films that examine borders both past and present. As borders ostensibly do the practical work of delineating impermanent national boundaries, they exact heavy political and psychological tolls on those who are either constrained within or excluded from their gates. Whether it be the political hotbed of the U.S.-Mexico border of From The Other Side, the divided Berlin of One, Two, Three, or The Center's constantly redrawn map of Europe, borders (and their ensuing complications) only seem to multiply. This series is a partnership with the conference "The Wall Came Down: On the Twentieth Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall," sponsored by the Department of German, CGES, CES (Center for European Studies), CREECA, Department of History, Center for Humanities, Global Studies, and Consulate General of Germany in Chicago. Special thanks to Marc Silberman (Department of German). For more information, please visit the Department
of German's site.
Friday, October 23, 7:30 p.m.
One, Two, Three
USA, 1961, 35mm, b/w, 115 min.
Directed by Billy Wilder
With James Cagney, Liselotte Pulver, Horst Buchholz
Filmed on location in Berlin just before the Wall went up (its construction actually halted production), Billy Wilder's cold war farce ridicules ugly Americans and beatnik commies alike. In a sly bit of casting, archetypal Hollywood gangster James Cagney plays a Coca-Cola heavy charged with hocking capitalism's favorite beverage in a divided Berlin. "At once hysterical and ironic, sophisticated and vulgar...celebrates as it satirizes American cultural imperialism" (J. Hoberman, Village Voice).
Screening sponsored by CGES.
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Friday, October 30, 7:30 p.m.
From the Other Side (De l'autre côté)
France, 2002, Beta SP, color, 99 min.
In Spanish with English subtitles
Directed by Chantal Akerman
Acclaimed director Chantal Akerman (Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles) takes on the hot button issue of illegal immigration with striking patience and lucidity. Turning her camera on the U.S.-Mexican border towns of Agua Prieta, and Douglas, Arizona, Akerman elicits testimonials from both border jumpers and local sheriffs. "Stunning! As human testimony it's unforgettably forceful" (Stuart Klawans, The Nation).
Screening sponsored by CGES.
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Friday, November 6, 7:30 p.m.
The Center (Die Mitte)
Germany, 2004, 35mm, color, 85 min.
Directed by Stanislaw Mucha
Within a 2,000 mile radius, there are over a dozen towns claiming to be Europe's "one and only" true geographical center. In this comic road documentary, a film crew sets out with the tongue-in-cheek mission of determining which is the real deal. Ambling throughout central Europe, director Stanislaw Mucha inspects cockeyed maps and dubious plaques while his subjects ruminate on European borders past and present.
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