Department of Visual and Media Arts

bright lights film series Spring 2018 Calendar

Web: emerson.edu/brightlights /BrightLightsEmerson @BrightLightFilm BrightLightsEmerson

All screenings are free and open to the public and start at 7:00 pm.

Paramount Center 559 Washington Street Boston, MA One of Us explores the opaque world of Hasidic Judaism through a cadre of fascinating Mother! characters. Through unique and intimate access over the Good Time Tuesday, January 30 span of three years, acclaimed Mother! observational filmmakers on a mad descent into violence and Rachel and mayhem as he races against Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Grady (Jesus Camp, ) the clock to save his brother and mystery/thriller, 121 minutes, delve into the lives of three himself, knowing their lives hang USA, 2017 brave individuals who have in the balance. Discussion led A couple’s relationship recently made the decision by VMA Affiliated Faculty Robert is tested when uninvited to leave the insular ultra- Ribera to follow. guests arrive at their home, orthodox community at the D disrupting their tranquil expense of all else, including existence. From filmmaker relationships with their family Thursday, February 8 Darren Aronofsky (Black members and—in one case— Loving Vincent Swan, Requiem for a Dream), their personal safety. With a Mother! stars Jennifer sensitive and compassionate Directed by Dorota Kobiela and Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed eye, One of Us chronicles the Hugh Welchman, animation/ drama, 94 minutes, UK/Poland, Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer achingly cinematic journey of 2017 in this riveting psychological people in search of a personal thriller about love, devotion, freedom that comes only at Loving Vincent is a stunning, and sacrifice. Discussion led a very high cost. Discussion fully painted animated feature, by VMA Associate Professor with alum editor JD Marlow starring Douglas Booth and Harlan Bosmajian and Director to follow. Oscar-nominated Saoirse Ronan that explores the life and of Religious and Spiritual Life W SJ EC & Campus Chaplain Harrison controversial death of Vincent Blum to follow. Tuesday, February 6 Van Gogh, told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit F Good Time them. The intrigue unfolds Thursday, February 1 Directed by Josh and Bennie through interviews with the Safdie, drama/thriller, 101 characters closest to Vincent and One of Us minutes, USA, 2017 through dramatic reconstructions Directed by Heidi Ewing After a botched bank robbery of the events leading up to his and , documentary, lands his younger brother death. Discussion led by VMA 95 minutes, USA, 2017, in prison, Constantine Nikas Professor Cher Knight to follow. English and Yiddish with (Robert Pattinson) embarks English subtitles W F D I on a twisted odyssey through New York City’s underworld Loving Vincent in an increasingly desperate- and dangerous-attempt to get his brother out of jail. Over the course of one adrenalized night, Constantine finds himself

One of Us Tuesday, February 13 Key The Blind Boys of F Feminist (Bath Film Alabama: How Sweet Festival rating) the Sound Heroin(e) W Directed by women Directed by Leslie McCleave, documentary, 89 minutes, USA, Directed by Elaine McMillian POC Directed by or featuring 2016, English with subtitles Sheldon, documentary, 39 people of color minutes, USA, 2017 The Blind Boys of Alabama EC Emerson College first met in the 1930s at Once a bustling industrial community a segregated state-run town, Huntington, West D Dealing with vocational school and these Virginia, has become the disability issues friends since childhood epicenter of America’s modern I International cinema comprise the last of the great opioid epidemic, with an Gospel quartets. Combining overdose rate 10 times the LGBTQ Dealing with LGBTQ issues national average. This flood verite shot over 10 years SJ Social Justice cinema with current and archival of heroin now threatens this performances, the film Appalachian city with a cycle COM Comedy examines the past, present, of generational addiction, and future of the group. lawlessness, and poverty. About the “F-Rating” Discussion led by director and But within this distressed VMA Assistant Professor Leslie landscape, Sheldon highlights The F-rating was founded by Holly Tarquini at Bath three women working to McCleave to follow. This film Film Festival 2014, where will be presented with audio change the town’s narrative she wanted to highlight description for the vision and break the devastating films that feature prominent impaired. cycle of drug abuse one women both behind the person at a time. Fire Chief camera and in front of it. EC W POC SJ D Every film that ticks “yes” Jan Rader spends the majority to one of the following of her days reviving those questions receives the who have overdosed; Judge F-rating of approval: Patricia Keller presides over (1) Does it have a female drug court, handing down director? (2) Is it written by a woman? empathy along with orders; (3) Is/are there complex and Necia Freeman of Brown female characters on screen Bag Ministry feeds meals who exist in their own The Blind Boys of Alabama to the women selling their right (not simply there to bodies for drugs. As America’s support the male lead)? The F stands for feminist. opioid crisis threatens to tear Thursday, February 15 Feminism is: communities apart, Heroin(e) Heroin(e) “The belief that men and shows how the chain of women should have This screening will take compassion holds one town equal rights and place at 5:00 pm (instead together. Discussion led by opportunities.” We believe that feminism benefits of the usual Bright director to follow via Skype. Lights screening time of everyone. W SJ EC http://f-rated.org 7:00 pm) as she and her ragtag playmates fearlessly explore the utterly unique world into which they’ve been thrown. Unbeknownst to Moonee, however, her delicate fantasy is supported by the toil and sacrifice of Halley, who is forced to explore increasingly dangerous possibilities in order to provide for her daughter. The Killing of a Sacred Deer Discussion led by VMA Assistant Professor Korbett Matthews Tuesday, February 20 confronts Steven with a long- to follow. forgotten transgression that The Killing of a Sacred Deer F will shatter the Murphy family’s Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, domestic bliss. Discussion led by drama/thriller, 121 minutes, UK/ VMA Distinguished director in USA/ Ireland, 2017 Residence Regge Life to follow. Dr. Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) F I is a renowned cardiovascular surgeon presiding over a Thursday, February 22 spotless household with his Free in Deed ophthalmologist wife Anna The Florida Project Tuesday, February 27 (Nicole Kidman) and their two Directed by Sean Baker, drama, exemplary children, 12-year-old 111 minutes, USA, 2017 Free in Deed Bob (Sunny Suljic) and 14-year- Set on a stretch of highway just Directed by Jake Mahaffy, drama, old Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Lurking outside the imagined utopia 100 minutes, USA, 2017 at the margins of his idyllic of Disney World, The Florida Set in the distinctive world of suburban existence is Martin Project follows six-year-old storefront churches, and based (Barry Keoghan), a fatherless Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and on actual events, Free in Deed teen who Steven has covertly her rebellious mother Halley depicts one man’s attempts taken under his wing. As Martin (Bria Vinai) over the course of to perform a miracle. When a begins insinuating himself into a single summer. The two live single mother brings her young the family’s life in ever-more week to week at “The Magic boy to church for healing, this unsettling displays, the full Castle,” a budget hotel managed lonely Pentecostal minister is scope of his intent becomes by Bobby (Willem Dafoe), forced to confront the seemingly menacingly clear when he whose stern exterior hides a incurable illness of the child… deep reservoir of kindness and and his own demons as well. The compassion. Despite her harsh more he prays, the more things surroundings, the precocious seem to spiral out of his control. and ebullient Moonee has no Discussion led by producer trouble making each day a and VMA Assistant Professor Mike celebration of life, her endless S Ryan to follow. afternoons overflowing with mischief and grand adventure POC D EC The Florida Project Thursday, March 1 Lady Bird Co-sponsored by the MIT Women Take the Reel Series Directed by Greta Gerwig, drama/comedy, 94 minutes, USA, 2017 Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) Matters of Life fights against but is exactly and Death like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed Emerson Professor Robert Todd industry that has dominated mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse presents a selection of his the landscape of West working tirelessly to keep latest 16mm films in a program Virginia for over a century is her family afloat after Lady of cinematic poems that being replaced by natural Bird’s father (Tracy Letts) loses follow the changing tides of the gas. In the Hills and Hollows his job. Set in Sacramento, living world, and the shifting documents the lives of California, in 2002, amid a textures of both inner and outer rural West Virginians and rapidly shifting American light. Films containing both their communities, steeped economic landscape, Lady unity and distance: a space in history and heritage, Bird is an affecting look at the to come together as we stand responding to yet another relationships that shape us, (and walk) apart, a reflection uncertain future. Discussion the beliefs that define us, and of our fragmented worlds that with director and MFA the unmatched beauty of a seem to overlap, a shared candidate Keely Kernan to place called home. Discussion illusion of community, rendered follow. led by Institute for Liberal Arts harmoniously, entering the W SJ EC and Interdisciplinary Studies envelope of life, moving Assistant Professor Eileen through and touching upon its McBride to follow. many layers, with their In the Hills and Hollows W F embedded joys and sorrows. Discussion with filmmaker and VMA Professor Rob Todd to follow. EC Thursday, March 15 In the Hills and Hollows Co-sponsored by the MIT Tuesday, March 20 Lady Bird Women Take the Reel Series Sighted Eyes/Feeling Tuesday, March 13 Directed by Keely Kernan, Heart documentary, 77 minutes, USA, Co-sponsored by Wicked Queer Matters of Life and Death 2016. and the MIT Women Take the Short films by Robert Todd The boom and bust coal Reel series Thursday, March 22 Unrest Barracuda Co-presented with the ReelAbilities Film Festival and MIT Women Take the Reel Series Tuesday, March 27 Directed by Jennifer Brea, Barracuda Sighted Eyes, documentary, 98 minutes, USA, Feeling Heart 2017 Co-sponsored by the Independent Film Festival of Boston and MIT Jennifer Brea is an active Women Take the Reel Series Directed by Tracy Heather Strain, Harvard PhD student about Directed by Julia Halpern and documentary,118 minutes, USA, to marry the love of her life Jason Cortlund, drama, 100 2017 when suddenly her body minutes, USA, 2017 Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart starts failing her. Hoping to is the first-ever feature shed light on her strange A young British woman named documentary about Lorraine symptoms, Jennifer grabs a Sinaloa comes to Texas to find Hansberry, the visionary camera and films the darkest Merle, her half-sister by way playwright who authored the moments unfolding before of their dead country musician groundbreaking A Raisin in the her eyes as she is derailed by father. It doesn’t take long for Sun. An overnight sensation, M.E. (commonly known as Sinaloa to charm her way into the play transformed the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), a Merle’s life, and her singing American theater and has long mysterious illness some still awakens something in Merle been considered a classic, believe is “all in your head.” and erases any lingering doubts yet the remarkable story of Panel discussion on myalgic about their shared bloodline. the playwright faded from encephalomyelitis/chronic But an all-too-familiar chaos view. With this documentary, fatigue syndrome to follow. comes with it, which soon starts filmmaker Tracy Heather This film will be presented to unravel Merle’s stable world. Strain resurrects the Lorraine with audio description for the Discussion led by director and Hansberry we have forgotten—a vision impaired. VMA Assistant Professor Julia passionate artist, committed Halpern to follow. W POC D SJ activist, and sought-after W F EC public intellectual who waged an outspoken and defiant Unrest Thursday, March 29 battle against injustice in Three Billboards Outside 20th-century America. The film Ebbing, Missouri reveals Hansberry’s prescient works tackling race, human Directed by Martin McDonagh drama, 115 minutes, USA, 2017 rights, women’s equality, and sexuality that anticipated After months have passed social and political movements without a culprit in her on the horizon. Discussion led daughter’s murder case, by Writer, producer, director Mildred Hayes (Academy Award Tracy Heather Strain. winner Frances McDormand) makes a bold move, painting W SJ POC LGBTQ three signs leading into her town with a controversial message directed at William Willoughby (Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson), the town’s revered chief of police. When his second- in-command Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), an immature mother’s boy with a penchant for violence, gets involved, the battle between Mildred and Ebbing’s law enforcement is only exacerbated. Discussion Professor Marston and the led by VMA Associate Professor Wonder Women Jean Stawarz to follow. her “sexual perversity,” he was a group of activists goes to F keeping a secret that could battle for those stricken with have destroyed him. Marston’s HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish muses for the Wonder government agencies and major Woman character were his pharmaceutical companies wife Elizabeth Marston and in bold, invasive actions. The their lover Olive Byrne, two organization is ACT UP, and its empowered women who members, many of them gay Three defied convention: working and HIV-positive, embrace Billboards with Marston on human their mission with a literal behavior research while life-or-death urgency. Amid Tuesday, April 3 building a hidden life with rallies, protests, fierce debates, him that rivaled the greatest and ecstatic dance parties, the Professor Marston and of superhero disguises. newcomer Nathan falls in love the Wonder Women Discussion led by VMA with Sean, the group’s radical Co-presented as part of the Assistant Professor Sarah firebrand, and their passion Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT Zaidan to follow. sparks against the shadow of Film Festival mortality as the activists fight W F LGBTQ SJ Directed by Angela Robinson, for a breakthrough. Discussion drama, 108 minutes, USA, 2017 Thursday, April 5 led by VMA Senior Scholar-in- In a superhero origin tale Residence Ken Feil to follow. BPM (Beats per Minute) unlike any other, the film F LGBTQ SJ is the incredible true story Co-presented as part of of what inspired Harvard the Wicked Queer: Boston LGBT psychologist Dr. William Film Festival BPM Moulton Marston to create Directed by Robin Campillo, the iconic Wonder Woman drama, 140 minutes, France, character in the 1940s. While 2017, French with English Marston’s feminist superhero subtitles. was criticized by censors for In Paris in the early 1990s, The Bright Lights Film Series is sponsored by the Department of Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College. The mission of the series is to create community through cinema and welcomes both I, Tonya Emerson faculty, students, and staff as well as the general public. Bright Lights seeks to create an Tuesday, April 10 glory. Discussion led by environment where cinema is not I, Tonya VMA Associate Professor only viewed and appreciated but Miranda Banks to follow. where a dialogue is fostered and a Directed by Craig Gillespie, F COM community of media makers, comedy/drama, 119 minutes, academics, and aficionados are USA, 2017 Thursday, April 12 engaged and supported. The series is committed to screening at least Based on the unbelievable The Disaster Artist 50 percent of films directed by but true events, I, Tonya is women and crafting a diverse a darkly comedic tale of Directed by James Franco, program including filmmakers of American figure skater Tonya comedy, 104 minutes, USA, color, queer cinema, and films 2017. Harding and one of the dealing with disability. The Disaster Artist details the most sensational scandals Screenings take place every Tuesday in sports history. Though incredible true story behind and Thursday evening during Harding was the first American the making of The Room, a the semester with the exception of woman to complete a triple 2003 film that quickly became occasions when the College is axel in competition, her a cult hit due to its reputation closed (such as holidays, spring break, inclement weather). Sessions as “the Greatest Bad Movie Ever legacy was forever defined are always free and open to the by her association with an Made.” This comedy-drama public. This series is curated and infamous, ill-conceived, and chronicles its production and managed by the director of even more poorly executed how it emerged from the programming, Anna Feder. attack on fellow Olympic friendship between weirdo Contact: Anna Feder auteur Tommy Wiseau (James competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Director of Programming Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya is Franco) and struggling actor [email protected] an absurd, irreverent, and Greg Sestero (Dave Franco). 617-824-3805 piercing portrayal of Harding’s Discussion led by VMA Assistant life and career in all of its Professor Ed Lee to follow. unchecked—and checkered— COM

Short films to precede documentary features curated by alum Kori Feener of the Non- Fiction Cartel. The Non-Fiction Cartel is a working collaborative that supports, creates and enhances short form, documentary media making in The Disaster Artist New England. www. thenonfictioncartel.com.