Works by filmmakers who studied or taught at Yale will be screened during the fifth annual Film Fest New Haven, to be held Friday-Sunday, April 7-9.
This year's festival will feature over 60 films -- from documentaries to dramas to animated shorts -- many of which are rarely seen on the big screen. The works will be shown at three venues: the
Whitney Humanities Center at Yale, 53 Wall St.;
the York Square Cinema, 61 Broadway; and the
Little Theatre, 1 Lincoln St.
The Connecticut Film Commission will honor
St. Clair Bourne, a former Yale lecturer, at the opening night ceremony at 6:45 p.m. on Friday in York Square Cinema. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer and producer, Bourne has explored diverse aspects of African life around the world in over 40 films and television productions for PBS, NBC, BBC and National Geographic.
Two of Bourne's feature-length documentaries will be screened at the Whitney Humanities Center during Film Fest New Haven: "Paul Robeson: Here I Stand" and "John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk." The former will be shown at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday; the latter at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Originally created for Thirteen/WNET's "American Masters Series," the film about Paul Robeson traces the African-American entertainer's rise to stardom and later fall from popularity during the McCarthy era. It will be shown with the short film "The Box." The film on African-American historian and Pan African activist John Henrik Clarke follows his life from the 1930s when he was an advisor to Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana; to the 1960s when he was a confidant to Malcolm X; to his later work as a leading proponent of an Afrocentric view of history and culture and vocal critic of Eurocentric education. The screening of this film, which will be shown with the short "Dream," is sponsored by the Coalition of 100 Black Women and the SANKOFA Cultural Arts Festival.
Film Fest New Haven's opening night ceremony will also feature a screening of "Shadow Boxers" by Yale alumna Katya Bankowsky (1985 B.A.) at 8:15 p.m., who will take part in a post-screening discussion of her work. The feature-length documentary -- which will also be shown at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Whitney Humanities Center -- offers a behind-the-scenes look at the world of women's boxing. "Shadow Boxers" begins with coverage of the 1995 New York Golden Gloves, the first time in the 68-year history of the amateur boxing tournament when women were allowed to compete, and then moves to the world of professional women's boxing. From there, the film follows Dutch boxing sensation Lucia Rijiker inside and outside the ring as she pursues the world championship. Both screenings will also feature the short "Our First Fight."
Other films being screened at the Whitney Humanities Center during Film Fest New Haven include "Rendezvous in Samarkand," about four travelers' trek across the Sahara in a smuggled 4x4, with the short "Earl and Edna" (1 p.m. Saturday); three short films on the theme "Life's Big Questions" -- "God at Seven," "Crush" and "Through Riley's Eyes" (11 a.m. Sunday); and "Anima," about refugees of Nazi Germany whose lives are disrupted by a young man determined to uncover their past, with the short "A Good Life" (12:45 p.m. Sunday).
The world of independent filmmaking is the setting of "The Auteur Theory," the first feature film by Yale graduate Evan Oppenheimer (1985 B.A.), which will be shown at 7 p.m. on Saturday at York Square Cinema. A satire set at a student film festival where the directors are being killed off one by one, "The Auteur Theory" centers around budding British documentary filmmaker George Sand (played by Alan Cox, co-star of "Mrs. Dalloway"), who decides to make a film about the search for the killer. When Sand finds himself drawn to one of the chief suspects, Rosemary Olsen (played by Natasha Lyonne, star of "Slums of Beverly Hills"), he must decide how far he's willing to go for his documentary.
The final former Yalie featured in Film Fest New Haven is Luke Jaeger (1986 UGrd.), whose "Out the Fire" will be shown at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Little Theatre as part of an evening of short films on the theme "Passion for Music & Art." The 16-minute long animated film is a retro "music video" set to a 1946 calypso tune about the New York Fire Department. It features firefighting bulldogs, flaming subways, rocket-powered fire extinguishers and cavorting skeletons.
Other highlights of Film Fest New Haven include a program of "Family Shorts" (10:30 a.m. on Saturday, York Square Cinema); a screening of "Kusah Hakwaan," the first feature film made in Alaska by Alaskans (11 a.m. on Sunday, York Square Cinema), which will be followed by a live storyteller; a 3-5 p.m.; a forum, co-sponsored by the Media Arts Center, which will feature four young filmmakers and will be chaired by Louis Leray (3-5 p.m. on Saturday, 70 Audubon St.); and a reading of the screenplay for "The Bagel King" (1 p.m. on Sunday, Little Theatre). Many of the screenings will be followed by question-and-answer sessions with the featured filmmakers; actress Julie Harris, who appears in the family drama "The First of May" (1 p.m., Saturday, York Square Cinema), will take part in the discussion following that screening. A complete schedule is available online at www.filmfest.org.
Admission to all shows (except the opening night showing of "Shadow Boxers") is $5. There is also a one-day pass for all shows on Saturday for $20 ($15 for students and seniors); a weekend pass for Saturday and Sunday for $30 ($25 for students and seniors); and a Film Buff Pass for Friday through Sunday for $50. Admission to the opening night reception ranges from $50 for a single ticket to $500 for a package that includes two Film Buff Passes and invitations to all events. The festival schedule and passes can be picked up at the Little Theatre; tickets (when available, since seating is limited) will also be on sale at the venue one hour before each screening. For tickets or further information, call (203) 776-6789.
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