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A brief tribute to ARTE, the French-German television station that for years has been producing some of the most provocative television (and film) work to be found anywhere. arte has been a particularly powerful force in the field of documentary, providing support for several recent Frederick Wiseman films as well as for Jennifer Dworkin's Love and Diane, which premiered at this year's New York Film Festival. Join us for two ARTE-produced looks at America.
PUBLIC ENEMY
Jens Meurer, France, 1999; 85m
Almost more a legend than a part of history, the Black Panther Party came to stand for the radicalization of both the civil rights struggle and the American left in the late 1960s. Subject to brutal police harassment and at times even murderous assaults, the Party fought its own internal demons while attempting to articulate a program that could expand their base of support. Filmmaker Jens Meurer offers a fascinating look at the contemporary lives of several members of the Party - including co-founder Bobby Seale, Kathleen Cleaver and Jamal Joseph - while exploring the legacy of the Panthers for today's America.
Mon Nov 25: 2 & 6:30
AMERICAN DREAM / EIN TRAUM VON AMERIKA
Christoph Corves & Delia Castiņeira, Germany, 2002; 84m
In 1955, Wulf, son of a farmer in the mountains of southern Germany, emigrated to the United States with only pennies in his pockets. Forty years later he's the successful, proud owner of a 3,000-acre farm in Idaho that provided good lives for Wulf, his wife and their six children. Yet the changes sweeping American farming finally begin to catch up with Wulf; a major, multinational agro-business, ConAgra, starts taking over the local food processing plants, grain facilities, and outlets for fertilizer and pesticides. The prices being offered for Wulf's crops, cattle and sheep reach an all-time low, as concepts such as "shareholder value" and "globalization" suddenly become realities to Wulf and his neighbors. Following Wulf and his
sons Brian and Chris as they struggle to keep their farm alive from 1997 to 2001, AMERICAN DREAM offers a fascinating look not only at the
contemporary farm crisis but also at one man's extraordinary engagement with a dream of a certain kind of America.
Mon Nov 25: 4:15 & 8:45
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