MoMA presents GLOBAL LENS, 2008, The fifth annual exhibition
of cinema from the developing countries.
Lineup Highlights Emerging Filmmakers from Croatia, the Pacific Rim, China,
India, the Middle East, and South America
GLOBAL LENS, 2008 – January 10–24, 2008
The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters
NEW YORK, December 18, 2007
The Museum of Modern Art presents Global Lens, 2008, its fifth annual exhibition of world cinema, in collaboration with the Global Film Initiative (GFI), a San Francisco–based organization established to promote cross-cultural understanding through the medium of cinema. As the inaugural venue for the nationally touring film exhibition, MoMA will present Global Lens, 2008 from January 10 to 24, 2008, in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.
Eight fiction features from countries with developing and emergent film cultures will be screened. The exhibition is organized by Jytte Jensen, Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. Two films in Global Lens will each receive a weeklong run at the Museum: Kubrador (The Bet Collector, 2006), which is presented January 10 through 16, features a powerful performance by famed Filipino actress Gina Pareño in a tale that hovers around the edges of Manila’s underworld. Director Jeffrey Jeturian will discuss this film and the broader topic of filmmaking in the Philippines at the January 14 screening at 7:00 p.m. as part of Modern Mondays, the Museum’s weekly focus on contemporary cinema. Indonesian director Garin Nugroho’s 2006 film Opera Jawa (January 16–21) is a version of The Abduction of Sinta, a highly stylized musical fable, often dramatized in Javanese dance and puppet theatre, in which King Rama and Rahwana fall in love with the goddess Sinta, with tragic consequences. These weeklong runs afford audiences a broader opportunity to acquaint themselves with some of the original new voices from the vibrant independent cinema of Indonesia and the Philippines. Global Lens, 2008 is a project conceived by the Global Film Initiative to encourage filmmaking in countries with developing film communities. The films presented in this annual collaboration represent a selective survey of contemporary filmmaking from areas where local economic realities make such expensive and technology-driven endeavors a challenge. The eight films selected for the program are thought-provoking, entertaining, and deeply rooted in the social
and political realities of the countries in which their directors live and set their stories.
Several films are part of an educational project between GFI and MoMA’s Department of Education, and will be screened separately for participating educational institutions and schools in the New York area.
The other films in Global Lens, 2008 hail from Argentina, China, Croatia, India, Iran, and Lebanon. Their subjects range from the grim realities of daily existence in the post-conflict Balkans (Antonio Nuiç’s Sve DÏaba (All for Free, 2006) to the repressed life of an Argentinean politician’s bodyguard in Rodrigo Moreno’s El Custodio (The Custodian, 2006).
Societal conflicts in contemporary nations characterize several other titles in the series: Indian director Partho Sen- Gupta’s story of prevarication in Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow, 2004), and familial decay in modern-day China in Wang Chao’s Jiang Cheng Xia Ri (Luxury Car, 2006). These same conflicts propel a story of thwarted love in Iranian director Ali Raffi’s Mahiha Ashegh Mishavand (The Fish
Fall in Love, 2006), while Randa Chahal Sabbag’s Le Cerf-Volant (The Kite, 2003), a high-profile release that won prizes at several festivals and represented Lebanon as its Academy Award entry in 2004, tells the story of a young woman married to a stranger in spite of her love for another.
Global Lens, 2008 will tour a variety of art- and community-based venues throughout the United States during the course of the year. Please see www.globalfilm.org for the national schedule.
Global Lens, 2008 is a collaboration between The Global Film Initiative and the Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.
Screening Schedule:
Thursday, January 17 2008
6:00 Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow). 2004. India/France. Directed by Partho Sen-Gupta. With Aniket Vishwasrao, Nishikant Kamat, Rajshri Thakur.
At the height of nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, eighteen-year-old student Arjun and his best friend Chabia, a garage mechanic, are restless. Privileged lifestyles are within their sight but out of reach, and the two are tempted to apply for work in the Persian Gulf, where wages are high. Chabia is generally resigned to his fate, but Arjun must weigh the value of finishing college and a cerebral career against the mere pursuit of money. Conflicted over his choices and overwhelmed by the nihilistic atmosphere of the nuclear standoff, Arjun seeks the company of a young privileged woman. Sen-Gupta alludes to the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna’s counsel to Arjuna, as Arjun is forced to consider the philosophical, and possibly tragic, ramifications of his indecision. In Hindi,
English; English subtitles. 93 min.
Wednesday, January 23 2008
8:00 Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow).
https://press.moma.org/wp-content/press-archives/film_archive/GlobalLens08_RELandSCH1.pdf